setting my sons 30/06 for his 1st Elk hunt

[milkie62]

I am taking my son on his 1st Elk hunt next year to Wyoming. He has a 1982 Remington 700 BDL in 30/06. I had bought the gun new back then and oiled it and put it back in the box for a future son or daughter. Gave it to my son in 2004 ,he was 12 but it was too much gun for him so he used my BLR 243 his 1st yr hunting. Fast fwd to now. I had changed out the great looking wood stock for a factory black stock and from what I recall it shoots OK. Plan on getting him out to a 300 yd range to start practicing for next year. I did buy some Black Hills ammo along with a couple other brands for testing. If I am not happy with the 300 yd groups, where should I start in improving accuracy ? Also putting on a Vortex 4-16x50 viper scope also. Bedding and then maybe Timney trigger ? Or I thought about adding a Boyd's laminated stock.

 

[MkJose]

Good Luck on your Hunt, Post some Pic and also invite me for dinner

 

[Patton63]

I typically start with the trigger and ammo. Find the ammo that the rifle likes the best. I've also replaced all of my Remington triggers with either Timney or Huber Concepts (if you like two stage). A clean, lighter trigger pull should help. I next would check the free float on the barrel and ensure that my action screws are torqued equally. From there, bedding the stock becomes an option (but may not lead to significant gains). How many rounds do you have through the rifle? What is the state of the barrel? Some rifles take a number of rounds before their barrels settle in. If it really is not a shooter, you could consider a rebarrel.

 

[hunter67wa]

crown and bed then trigger then ammo.

Have a great time

 

[Don A Parsons]

As above...

Not sure if you reload,,, if so,,, try a few different boolitz from 165/68's to 178/180's in the middle high node...

My Remmy likes H 4350/ 4831 as well as the IMR powders...

53.3 is one of my favourite soft loads,,, 55.3 is my all round go to since its deadly accurate... And my Hot hunting load is a shy above max,,, or should I say """was""".

My shoulder dose not like that load. Ha...

A fellow at our range came out with 150gr Cord Locks,,, Some 165's and 180...

The winning round for his Hog hunt is the 150's for his Ought-6.

PS,,, Check the fore arm of stock to barrel,,, make sure the free hand fingers are not touching the barrel,,, and let boy do lots of dry fire while preventing rifle hand twist...

This was my down fall many years ago...
Now I rock at this stuff...

The above is oily a suggestion since I don't have enough info on what's happening...

If in dought,,, go visit your gun Smith to check things out,,, and set those action screws as needed,,, I'm all about zero stress bedding since it eliminates that part of the factor out...

Good luck Mike,,, please keep us up to date on what you find out on the dial in project thing...

 

[Dr. Vette]

Trigger. Odds are that the factory trigger is probably 5 pounds, and you're not going to get accurate groups with that.

Then play with different ammo to see what it likes. If you find one that's good you can be done. If you get "close but not quite" then you look into a different stock and bedding it to try to shrink the group of the ammo it favors.

 

[Laelkhunter]

Did I understand your post to say you are going to start at 300 yards? I would start at 50 yards for the first couple of shots, so he can gain some confidence (groups are generally smaller), then move to 100. Sight it in about 2 inches high at 100.

After getting an idea how it shoots at 100 with various ammo, you can find which load the rifle likes the best. Then move the target to 200 or 300.

 

[J E Custom]

Obviously, loading and bedding have the most effect on a rifles accuracy and should be a priority if the factory ammo doesn't give good enough accuracy.

Starting with things like the trigger that you know are less than desirable may allow you to find a good load quicker because it will help the shooter and eliminate as much shooter error as possible.

The cheapest way, is to find an ammo that fills your needs. for the long run, Trigger, bedding, re loads or factory ammo is the recommended progression. If you later bed, the ammo that you started may not work as well and you have to start over.

J E CUSTOM

 

[KurtB]

Personally I prefer the old wooden stocks to the Rem factory synthetics. I'd bed the lug, remove the forearm pressure points if present, and just replace the trigger with a 2# timney. My early 80s bdl 30-06 shoots sub moa with 180 accubonds.

And this is just me, but I would buy a Seekins rail and rings and an SWFA 6x scope for it. Which is what I have on mine and it is quite capable out to 600 yards. Scopes and mounts are quite subjective but again, that is what I did and it has been very sturdy and reliable.

 

[Another Casual]

I'd go back to the factory wood stock or pick up a grayboe stock. As above, try more ammo, practice on smaller calibers etc and move up to the 30-06 when ready .

 

[milkie62]

Did I understand your post to say you are going to start at 300 yards? I would start at 50 yards for the first couple of shots, so he can gain some confidence (groups are generally smaller), then move to 100. Sight it in about 2 inches high at 100.

After getting an idea how it shoots at 100 with various ammo, you can find which load the rifle likes the best. Then move the target to 200 or 300.

I have a 200 yd range at my house but the local club goes out to 300.He never played much past 100 since most of his hunting is 50-100 yds so if he was able to keep shots into a 2" circle he was happy.So now he will have to see what his gun can actually do.

 

[just country]

morning, the old rem. triggers were fully adjustable. the more
your son shoots his rifle the more accustomed he will become
with the trigger. IF he is recoil shy this caliber might b
a little more than ur son can handle. some of the older rem.
in this caliber can kick. u can spend money putting
a good recoil pad, replace the trigger, H&S stock, and
bedding for accuracy. ur choice. the 25-06 has
less recoil. there r any # of rifles made that r very accurate
in this caliber. the black hills ammo u mentioned is very
good ammo. I use as back-up. justme gbot tum

 

[73driver]

Bell and Carlson or H&S Precision composites stock with aluminum bedding block. Another trigger to consider is Trigger Tech. Federal Fussion ammo has shot well for me in several 270's and a 243 so try 30-06 Fed Fussion in 180gr. Also I have had very good results with Hornady Precision Hunter ammo. Taken a number of Elk including one at 370 yards with an 06 that consistently shot 1 to 1.5 inch groups, so don't need to get to crazy on group size. good luck to your son this coming hunt.

 

[John Polk]

Bell and Carlson or H&S Precision composites stock with aluminum bedding block. Another trigger to consider is Trigger Tech. Federal Fussion ammo has shot well for me in several 270's and a 243 so try 30-06 Fed Fussion in 180gr. Also I have had very good results with Hornady Precision Hunter ammo. Taken a number of Elk including one at 370 yards with an 06 that consistently shot 1 to 1.5 inch groups, so don't need to get to crazy on group size. good luck to your son this coming hunt.

Trigger Tech makes a superb trigger.