New here, won a 7mm rem mag

[Wallythe7mmWeatherby]

So as the title says, I'm new to these forums although I've lurked around here a bit getting answers when I nearly bought a 308 rem 700 a couple years ago, and when deciding on a scope for my current 7mm rem mag. Just looking for some starting knowledge and to introduce myself (horrible screen name and all)

I won a Weatherby vanguard series 2, 7mm rem mag with a beautiful wooden, engraved stock for $40 in raffle tickets at a Duck's Unlimited event I got an entry ticket through work too. Overjoyed is an understatement. I purchased a Leupold VX3i 4.5-14x40 with side parallax, CDS, and a windplex reticle to put on it. Goal of this gun it to a be do it all hunter, from long shots at whitetails in open fields of Wisconsin to joining cousins out in Oregon for Elk, Grandpa in Montana for antelope, and best friend who is moving up to Alaska for moose up there.

Few questions to the members here as I'm not an acclimated long range hunting although I've always wanted to be, just that in college it's not exactly financially feasible. Most of my hunting has been done with a bow and shotgun, Did spend a decent amount of time summers of highschool with my Dad's old 30-06 hitting out to 300, but not any impressive grouping.

Is there anything about barrel break in I should do to get the best out of this rifle or is that all a myth? I bought 3 boxes of cheap (still $30 sadly) ammo from different manufacturers as I want to make sure my gun at least fires it all even if it prefers some, and I'll just be sighting in at 100 for now and can fine tune for 200 later.

Is there any recommended factory ammo for a 7mm? I'm thinking of getting comfortable with a 140 grain for longer range shots and deer, and then also a 175 grain for moose and elk. What is the accuracy/range tradeoff on them? Or should settle on a ~160 to do each? (Is anything less than 175 enough for a 7 to consistently bring down an AK moose? and at what ethical range?)

Any strongly recommended articles to help a beginner, who isn't a complete novice, starting out? I'm pretty familiar with ballistics as I did a project where I and a team programmed a range finding scope to use stepper motors to adjust the elevation turret automatically based on the range and user downloaded coefficient and muzzle velocity.

I likely won't get as good as the 1,000 yard shots I see people on this forum taking, but my goal would be hunting accuracy (not sharpshooter) out to 600 with enough work put in from this gun.

Wally the Weatherby (as it was unfortunately named by a too cute 5 year old and stuck)

https://i.imgur.com/kR8bMJJ.jpg
I tried to embed and it got huge. How do you downsize an image?

 

[Axl]

welcome and congrats on the rifle
Plenty of stuff online about barrel break in. just clean before you shoot then after each of the first 3 to 5 then every 5 for about 20 or so. my first 15 rifles were before i had ever heard of this and i shot some 100+ times before the first cleaning and they all are fine. More important is while you are cleaning it lets the barrel cool some. Overheating will ruin a barrel.

Find a load your gun likes and stick with it for everything. Just shoot as often as possible and dont take shots farther than you have successfully made during practice. The weight of the bullet wont matter if you miss.

Last thing get that 5 year old out in the woods!

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Lucky dog! That rifle is beautiful. This stuff is not too complicated. If you can get into reloading it will open up your options and make your accuracy much better.

Steve

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Check out this thread.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/bullet-choice-moose-173110/?highlight=takni

Steve

 

[WildRose]

At three hundred yards the 140's are fun. Out to 400 they are ok. Beyond that you probably need to move up to the mid 150's to mid 160's in a good quality high BC hunting bullet.

Congrats.

 

[264WM]

Great job snagging the Weatherby and joining the forum. Should be a great shooter and keep us posted on your shooting practice is everything enjoy.

 

[Frank in the Laurels]

The main thing now is working on your shooting skills, there's a lot more to this than just spending money ... Shooting form, trigger control, reading wind/mirage and a million other variables.. You now must get yourself to the range, start short at first 100-300 yards and work on the above..DO NOT EXPECT ONE HOLE GROUPS, it's not going to happen ...be reasonable with your expectations !

 

[ctw]

Fine looking rifle. As far as buying factory ammo, a good place to start would be with federal blue box ammo, surprisingly very accurate. Your scope choice is pretty good for what you want to use rifle for.

 

[Dosh]

Wally, beautiful Lasermark stock. Try the custom search top right for barrel break-in procedure. The Vanguard has a 24" barrel which might restrict your long range aspirations. Coupled with factory ammo don't expect bughole groups. Nice rifle, good luck.

 

[bpcrshooter]

great looking gun!!!! 1/2-3/4in groups should be easy (with time) @ 100yrds with that rifle. Just had a buddy buy one and he settled in the 162 hornady, so far he's shooting 1in groups @ 200m. I know its hard to find extra $$$ when your in school but if you can get into reloading it will save you lots down the road and you can then tweek your loads to find exactly what your rifle likes for bullets and powder. DONT get discouraged in shooting long rage either, its takes a long time to achieve the shots that some of the people here are making, just try and learn from your mistakes and you WILL get better. Join a club, go shoot matches, sometimes just watching other shooters can help. Good luck. Matt

 

[Wallythe7mmWeatherby]

Thank you all for the very warm welcome to the forum Sadly, weather and wedding planning needs didn't cooperate this weekend to get out. Long ways off, but this Saturday here so far is looking cold but no drizzle or high winds to finally get Wally to the range. I'll be following this for the break in, and stopped to pick up some copper solvent (previously only had regular bore solvent and gun oil) at Gander last week. https://www.nosler.com/blog/news-and-articles/2016/2/24/custom-rifle-barrel-break-in-procedure

Last thing get that 5 year old out in the woods!

I've had the little guy out fishing for panfish in my canoe and he loved it. I'll win him over yet from his city parents Future nephew in law

Check out this thread.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f19/bullet-choice-moose-173110/?highlight=takni

Steve

Very fun thread to read, coupled with a success story before all was said and done. Thanks

At three hundred yards the 140's are fun. Out to 400 they are ok. Beyond that you probably need to move up to the mid 150's to mid 160's in a good quality high BC hunting bullet.

So your suggestion would be to forgo the light and heavy dedicated rounds, and find something ~160 to use for all? Fusion 140s had a high muzzle velocity and higher BC than most light rounds and that was giving them some good looking ballistics at longer ranges. ((Whoops. I double checked and those fusions were actually 150s))

The main thing now is working on your shooting skills, there's a lot more to this than just spending money ... Shooting form, trigger control, reading wind/mirage and a million other variables.. You now must get yourself to the range, start short at first 100-300 yards and work on the above..DO NOT EXPECT ONE HOLE GROUPS, it's not going to happen ...be reasonable with your expectations !

Yep. I know this is gonna take time and practice and probably wince worthy cost of ammunition. I plan on just drilling at 100, even with cheaper ammo, and maybe a little play at 300, until I have my groups at an inch before starting to expand out.

Fine looking rifle. As far as buying factory ammo, a good place to start would be with federal blue box ammo, surprisingly very accurate. Your scope choice is pretty good for what you want to use rifle for.

Thank you. Right now I have Winchester 140 grain whitetail XP because they were on sale for $25, and 175 grain core lokts. I figured they were as opposite end of the spectrum as could get. I'll grab some of the cheap Federals next and see if they shoot better than this stuff, which hopefully they do as I'm seeing nothing but good things about Federal nosler's and accubond for when I want to shoot better hunting ammo

great looking gun!!!! 1/2-3/4in groups should be easy (with time) @ 100yrds with that rifle. Just had a buddy buy one and he settled in the 162 hornady, so far he's shooting 1in groups @ 200m. I know its hard to find extra $$$ when your in school but if you can get into reloading it will save you lots down the road and you can then tweek your loads to find exactly what your rifle likes for bullets and powder. DONT get discouraged in shooting long rage either, its takes a long time to achieve the shots that some of the people here are making, just try and learn from your mistakes and you WILL get better. Join a club, go shoot matches, sometimes just watching other shooters can help. Good luck. Matt

If that's true I will be amazingly happy. I've been out of school for two years now, getting married this summer though, but hoping that perhaps next year if I'm really enjoying this stuff I could get some entry level reloading gear. Looked to me like the payoff is around ~1000-1500 rounds. And then plus the tighter tolerances to make your own better long range stuff


One issue I know I have and will likely have to learn to settle is the flinching. When shooting my 12 guage slug gun with a horrid trigger, as much as I try to pull smoothly and let the shot and recoil "surprise" myself, there hit times when my body things the gun is about to go and I subconsciously and pushing my shoulder forward into the stuck and sending my reticle off target by about 6 inches. I know I am doing that on shots as well. Besides simply practicing more, what are ways to eliminate this when shooting? Obvisouly, it's not a problem when dry firing due to me and my body knowing there's going to be no kick

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Thank you all for the very warm welcome to the forum Sadly, weather and wedding planning needs didn't cooperate this weekend to get out. Long ways off, but this Saturday here so far is looking cold but no drizzle or high winds to finally get Wally to the range. I'll be following this for the break in, and stopped to pick up some copper solvent (previously only had regular bore solvent and gun oil) at Gander last week. https://www.nosler.com/blog/news-and-articles/2016/2/24/custom-rifle-barrel-break-in-procedure



I've had the little guy out fishing for panfish in my canoe and he loved it. I'll win him over yet from his city parents Future nephew in law



Very fun thread to read, coupled with a success story before all was said and done. Thanks



So your suggestion would be to forgo the light and heavy dedicated rounds, and find something ~160 to use for all? Fusion 140s had a high muzzle velocity and higher BC than most light rounds and that was giving them some good looking ballistics at longer ranges. ((Whoops. I double checked and those fusions were actually 150s))



Yep. I know this is gonna take time and practice and probably wince worthy cost of ammunition. I plan on just drilling at 100, even with cheaper ammo, and maybe a little play at 300, until I have my groups at an inch before starting to expand out.



Thank you. Right now I have Winchester 140 grain whitetail XP because they were on sale for $25, and 175 grain core lokts. I figured they were as opposite end of the spectrum as could get. I'll grab some of the cheap Federals next and see if they shoot better than this stuff, which hopefully they do as I'm seeing nothing but good things about Federal nosler's and accubond for when I want to shoot better hunting ammo



If that's true I will be amazingly happy. I've been out of school for two years now, getting married this summer though, but hoping that perhaps next year if I'm really enjoying this stuff I could get some entry level reloading gear. Looked to me like the payoff is around ~1000-1500 rounds. And then plus the tighter tolerances to make your own better long range stuff


One issue I know I have and will likely have to learn to settle is the flinching. When shooting my 12 guage slug gun with a horrid trigger, as much as I try to pull smoothly and let the shot and recoil "surprise" myself, there hit times when my body things the gun is about to go and I subconsciously and pushing my shoulder forward into the stuck and sending my reticle off target by about 6 inches. I know I am doing that on shots as well. Besides simply practicing more, what are ways to eliminate this when shooting? Obvisouly, it's not a problem when dry firing due to me and my body knowing there's going to be no kick

Let someone else load it for you so you can't see and every now and then put in a dummy. This will let you know if the flinch is there. Fixing a flinch is tough. Lighter trigger can help. Then just mind over matter. You have to talk yourself into letting the rifle hit you.

I put muzzle breaks on my rifles now.

Steve

 

[bpcrshooter]

forget about aiming and recoil. just focus on trigger pull dont worry bout where its hitting in fact just shoot at the berm. Also like others have said try dummy rounds and let someone else load it. guys here at work grab a box of 22's and hit the range. flinching is a hard habit to break shooting smaller calibers should help

 

[Wallythe7mmWeatherby]

Let someone else load it for you so you can't see and every now and then put in a dummy. This will let you know if the flinch is there. Fixing a flinch is tough. Lighter trigger can help. Then just mind over matter. You have to talk yourself into letting the rifle hit you.

I put muzzle breaks on my rifles now.

Steve

I've used snap caps with a buddy loading and that helped tremendously with my handgun work.