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Joined: Apr 2010
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Joined: Apr 2010
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but unfortunately not very helpful when it comes to shooting! Nothing wrong with being ignorant....as long as it doesn't interfere with something you wish to do! I'm ignorant in reference to knowing how to perform brain surgery....but I could be taught how to do it! A lot can be done for ignorance.....but nothing can be done for stupidity!

I had a young man on my range yesterday that wanted to shoot 800 yards with his rifle. He had a 270 Mag in long action topped off with a Zeiss scope. When he pulled it out of the rifle case I knew there was a problem as this was a hunting type scope with no target knobs! When I related to him this problem....he pointed to the knob on the left hand side of the scope and told me...."all I need to do is rotate this to the number 800 and it'll be right on for 800 yards!" Yep....there's a problem! When I explained to him that this was and adjustment for removing parallax and how it can cause problems...he understood. I could tell from his facial expressions that he was quite 'torqued' about his prior thinking. I asked him at what distance the rifle was zeroed he told me 200 yards so down to the 200 yard line we went and I put the rifle in a fixture and bore sighted it. As it turned out the reticle was centered approximately 20" to the right when bore sighted. He told me that he'd taken two bucks with it this past year and I was wondering......how??

We forgot his rifle for the afternoon as for shooting from the 800 with it but the afternoon was not lost because we went back to the 800 and I told him "I'd like for you to shoot my rifle from here." I sat him down at the bench and got my .308 Winchester with heavy barrel for him and proceeded to explain a quick course in bullet drop and MOA requirements. I've got a NF 5.5x22x56MM mounted on this rifle and I told him to close the bolt on the rifle, get into shooting position and try the trigger on it. A very accurate load for this rifle is the Sierra 155 gr. Palma bullet with 47 grs. Varget and F210M primers, Winchester brass/neck turned. We had a fairly good breeze coming in from the 4 o/clock position and I told him to take Right 4 MOA which I watched him do and told him to take 22 MOA up elevation. He broke the shot and it was about 2" from dead center of the plate. The young man proceeded to shoot a very respectalbe ten shot group for me and was well pleased with his shooting. As it was getting late we finished the shooting.

Two hours later he texted me and wanted to know just what equipment he needed and would I help him get it together. I told him I'd do so gladly! He told me "that scope of yours is fantastic!" I agreed with him on that also!

This fellow has had previous instruction but not to the degree that some others I have taught because he's been knee deep in university studies and just hasn't had the time to shoot. He played linebacker for his high school team and when he wasn't on the ball field or in school...he was shooting ducks and deer hunting full bore! He's gonna make a good shooter though!

He's my 20 year old grandson and a heck of a great kid!


Even birds know not to land downwind!
BP-B2

Joined: Feb 2013
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I had a friend here last fall, that is a city dweller and hunts, but does not shoot often. One day the antelope were not cooperating and I wanted to shoot for practice. We went to an area were some steel targets are on the prairie. As I rolled out the equipment ,I told him to laser our target. He said what target I do not see anything. I pointed out a small white spot on the distant hill and went back to what I was doing. Once set up I had him get comfy behind the gun and dry fire a few to see how the trigger felt. We then discussed our individual thoughts on the wind and made a decision on hold. After making an elevation adjustment , he settled in and took a shot. As the trigger broke ,there was definite break in the wind. I spotted his miss , he adjusted his hold and dropped three in a row into about a 6 " group on target at 885 yards. He was impressed by this as he never has shot on a target passed a 100 yds. We spent the rest of his time here chatting about wind, and holds and Ballistic programs and bullets and everything else to do with hearing that dink sound ......

Joined: Jul 2005
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One of my favorite things to do is to introduce someone into a new realm of the shooting world.
This past year my counterpart in NM stated he had picked up a rifle his Dad had left him. It was a perfect rifle for the woods of New Jersey, not so good for longer ranged shooting. I invited him to come with me to Whittington for a weekend of general rifle mayhem.
The range that was open was the 500 m silhouette range. We put the flag up and hunkered down. I'd brought a couple of 25-06's, a 243, 308, 358 and a 264 WM. He had his Dad's 30-30 and an AR.
While I proceeded to shoot the rams, he was trying to hit the 200 meter chickens. After explaining the trajectory of a 30-30 150 gr, he finally nailed one. He had to stop shooting because the locals were wandering between the 200 and 300 m targets (locals as in the antelope).
I spotted the buffalo. It's a target at 1000 meters. I figured what the heck. I grabbed the 25-06 (magnums aren't allowed on that range) and on my 3rd shot, nailed the buffalo. Now, it's not a small target. The buffalo is 10' long and 6' high with a 16" bullseye. My friend wanted to try it.
I set it up about where I held (it's a hunting scope so Kentucky windage was involved) and had him set up behind the rifle.
He looked through the scope and turned to me and said "I'm aiming at a tree on the top of the mountain!". I again explained the trajectory the bullet will travel to hit a target 1000 meters away.
On his second shot, he hit the buffalo. He quickly turned to me and said "I got to get me a rifle!". He was hooked.

The next month he called me at least once a day to discuss cartridges and rifles. He wanted a hunting rifle that was capable of taking anything in NM out to 500 yards. He stumbled into quite the deal on a Tikka T3 w/ a Leupold 3-9x40 in 308 and grabbed a couple of boxes of target loads. Out to BLM land he went. He sent me a picture of a 3-shot group that was about dime-sized that he shot at 200 yards.
After that, it was questions about what could we hunt with it that year.
We ended up going to Colorado for OTC elk.
Yup, he's hooked. He's now looking for a 'back-up' rifle to take on our hunt this year.


Support your local Friends of NRA - supporting Youth Shooting Sports for more than 20 years.

Neither guns nor Liberals have a brain.

Whatever you do, Pay it Forward. - Kids are the future of the hunting and shooting world.

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