Daughter #1's friend will be hunting antelope and elk with us this year so we all went to the range this morning to get his .300WSM (and his Dad's .30-06) sighted in. The guy is clearly a novice when it comes to long guns. After getting the .300WSM on paper and sighted in with some 180g handloads, he informed me he plans to use Nosler Trophy Grade 190g ABLR ammo for hunting. We checked the zero with that and made the necessary adjustments. Nothing about zeroing that rifle was easy as it either throws wild fliers on occasion or he is less than consistent as a shooter. Having never seen him shoot before I don't know which it is. Frustrating. When we finally got the .300WSM "good enough" (not nearly good enough for my rifles, but thank God this one wasn't mine), he tried the 500 yard steel. He was consistently hitting to the left of the steel, but every now and again he would have one to the right of the target. Clearly the rifle/shooter/ammo combo are not up to live game at 500. We tried a few shots with his Dad's his Dad's .30-06. After several inches of adjustment It was shooting about 2"goups with a center about 1-1/2" high at 100 using Remington 180g PSP ammo. Good enough for today as it isn't likely that it will be going hunting with us.
Did a bit better with my rifles, although didn't get to shoot them all. One thing that made it difficult with him as a spotter was he started out by calling them high/low/left/right, etc. with respect to the intended POI rather than POA (target center). Had me confused a hell because I could clearly see my shots were about 2.5-2.8" high, not 1/4" low or whatever he was calling. After a couple shots we had a discussion and got that straightened out. For the .300WM I had some 180g Barnes LRX that I built last night based on a development session last year. With H4350 they were zipping along at just under 3100fps. The first shot was .25" left and 2.6" high at 100. The next two shots were high at 12 to 1 o'clock at 500 yards. That puzzled me for a moment as I was expecting hits. Then I realized the LRXs were shooting flatter than the 180TTSX I have been shooting. I made an aiming adjustment and rang the 500 and 600 yard steel with the next two consecutive shots.
Next I tried the .338WM with 225g SSTs at an average 2786fps. the SSTs are stand-ins for 225g AB I use when hunting and shoot pretty much to the same POI. First shot 4" high and 1-1/2" right at 100. Not sure that I didn't yank it, I tried another. This one hit .15" right and 2.8" high, pretty much perfect. Taking that as confirmation that I screwed up the first shot, I tried a shot each at the 500 and 600 yard steel, hitting both.
Last I tried my original .30-06, a tang safety Ruger M77. It printed two 168g A-MAX within .8" wiith a group center about 1/2" below POA. Since this was not my hunting ammo I didn't make any adjustments but rather just put the rifle away.
I've been wondering which rifles to take hunting this year but I think today may have answered the question. Thinking the .280 Rem again for antelope and the .300 and .338 for elk, where I will probably be shooting last again.
