Idempotent
Zombies' Worst Nightmare
- Apr 12, 2010
- 1,623
First, some background info: My dad bought me a .22 rifle 10 years ago because he wanted me to learn how to shoot. Up until today that was pretty much all I had experience with (save the occasional shot on some kind stranger's firearm at the range).
I'd been debating what to get as my second rifle for nearly the past year. Two weeks ago I finally pulled the trigger and bought a Remington 700 5R (milspec) chambered in .308 Win. I got a nice 4-14.5x40 Leupold Mark 4 scope to go along with it. Needless to say, I really blew my budget on this one (I originally wanted to spend no more than $700! Hah!), but screw it. I know myself well enough to know that when I really want something, I should just go ahead and get it, instead of trying to save money on something cheaper, then getting dissatisfied with it, and ultimately spending more in the long run.
And because I know you guys well enough by now, I know if I don't provide a photo you'll all just ask for one and possibly post some unpleasant images in the interim, so here it is:
So I took the Remington 700 5R to Cresap today (nice to meet you tacman!) and had an absolute blast with. First, I should preface this post by saying that up until today I had never shot a rifle chambered in anything but .22 LR, and I had never even used a scope before, so keep that in mind.
Recoil on a .308 is, unsurprisingly enough, a tiny bit more than on a .22 LR. The anticipation of the recoil more than anything else was what kept screwing me up. I could keep my scope well-aligned enough with the bulls-eye, but my actual trigger squeeze just wasn't up to par. I definitely need more practice on that. And I realized I need to wear more layers or get a shooting jacket for next time, because my shoulder is kind of sore. This was never a problem with the .22, obviously.
So, during the entire course of the day, I put about 50 rounds downrange. Most of that was cheap Russian ammo, but the last 7 was -- and I'll just quote from the website here -- ".308 Winchester American Eagle Centerfire Rifle Cartridge, 150-Grain Full Metal Jacket Boat Tail Bullet, 2820 fps". So it was decent, but it still wasn't the 168 or 170 gr ammo that my rifle is supposed to love. Soon I'll start getting the good stuff.
Anyway, here's the last target that I shot (at 100 yards). Ignoring the one "flyer" it's about a 2 MOA grouping. This rifle and scope should theoretically be capable of 1/2 MOA shooting, so, eh, chalk it up to user inexperience. Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll at least be doing this rifle some justice and have some really clean targets to brag about on here.
Oh, and big thanks to the RSO at Cresap who helped me sight in my scope. I didn't have much of a clue what I was doing. His patient assistance, even after I messed up the zeroing the first time, was very helpful. Sorry I didn't get your name though!
I'd been debating what to get as my second rifle for nearly the past year. Two weeks ago I finally pulled the trigger and bought a Remington 700 5R (milspec) chambered in .308 Win. I got a nice 4-14.5x40 Leupold Mark 4 scope to go along with it. Needless to say, I really blew my budget on this one (I originally wanted to spend no more than $700! Hah!), but screw it. I know myself well enough to know that when I really want something, I should just go ahead and get it, instead of trying to save money on something cheaper, then getting dissatisfied with it, and ultimately spending more in the long run.
And because I know you guys well enough by now, I know if I don't provide a photo you'll all just ask for one and possibly post some unpleasant images in the interim, so here it is:
So I took the Remington 700 5R to Cresap today (nice to meet you tacman!) and had an absolute blast with. First, I should preface this post by saying that up until today I had never shot a rifle chambered in anything but .22 LR, and I had never even used a scope before, so keep that in mind.
Recoil on a .308 is, unsurprisingly enough, a tiny bit more than on a .22 LR. The anticipation of the recoil more than anything else was what kept screwing me up. I could keep my scope well-aligned enough with the bulls-eye, but my actual trigger squeeze just wasn't up to par. I definitely need more practice on that. And I realized I need to wear more layers or get a shooting jacket for next time, because my shoulder is kind of sore. This was never a problem with the .22, obviously.
So, during the entire course of the day, I put about 50 rounds downrange. Most of that was cheap Russian ammo, but the last 7 was -- and I'll just quote from the website here -- ".308 Winchester American Eagle Centerfire Rifle Cartridge, 150-Grain Full Metal Jacket Boat Tail Bullet, 2820 fps". So it was decent, but it still wasn't the 168 or 170 gr ammo that my rifle is supposed to love. Soon I'll start getting the good stuff.
Anyway, here's the last target that I shot (at 100 yards). Ignoring the one "flyer" it's about a 2 MOA grouping. This rifle and scope should theoretically be capable of 1/2 MOA shooting, so, eh, chalk it up to user inexperience. Hopefully by the end of the summer I'll at least be doing this rifle some justice and have some really clean targets to brag about on here.
Oh, and big thanks to the RSO at Cresap who helped me sight in my scope. I didn't have much of a clue what I was doing. His patient assistance, even after I messed up the zeroing the first time, was very helpful. Sorry I didn't get your name though!
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