Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Competitive Shooting Where to start?????

For several reasons my big game hunting is going to get limited for a short time. One major reason is the area that I live/hunt in is a CWD area. Like any of us here, I love to shoot. So, I want to get into a very basic target rifle and want to know where to start. I have to have something to do to satisfy my shooting bug I'm thinking of a 700 short action with a 6BR barrel as a good starting point. I believe the 700 action can be modified easy to something more or pedaled easier if I get more serious about this and the 6BR can make the leap to a hunting round should things get better for my hunting situation. Suggestions on equipment and literature for basic target shooting for someone just getting their feet wet in this arena would be helpful. I'm looking at some books by Brian Litz for starters. Just looking for something to shoot on my off days that will be enjoyable. No plans to go to Camp Perry.

Nothing wrong with that action or round. I watched a man who shot long range IBS & he did very well with a basic 700 action, a heavy Bartlein barrel in 6BR & a Shehane Tracker stock. Here is an interesting read that takes only a few minutes.

http://www.6mmbr.com/6mmbr.html

What distance are you intrested in shooting?

Well, where I live (western Michigan) they're aren't many ranges that stretch beyond 500 yards and more like 300. I think Camp Grayling may have 1K. But I'm sure once I get into it I will find more places to shoot. I will say out to 500 for now but the farther the more fun. I'm sure the 6BR will reach what I need. Of course a good quality 6.5 Creed makes a lot of sense too and that would be pretty much an off the shelf solution covering any hunting need.

Yes, we shoot 1000 yards F-Class at Camp Grayling. The Michigan Rifle & Pistol Assoc. has exclusive rights to that range. Check out their web site (long range division) for more info. Also Oscoda, Cadillac and Midland have 600 yard ranges. Another one to look into is Marksman Training Center north of Lake City. A little pricey, thay have a UKD range with steel plates out to over 1000 yards.

Thanks. I'll give it a look. Do they have a shooting class for someone who just wants to have some fun shooting and doesn't care about trophies or sponsorships????

All of the clubs I mentioned have a practice day where you can shoot a string. Also, you can shoot a practice match at Camp Grayling where your score isn't recorded. We set-up the range at Grayling on Friday afternoon and shoot a practice session afterwards, matches are held on Saturday & Sunday. Show up, people are more than willing to help you. This is all prone shooting.

I tried several times to get into rifle shooting....it was fun but rather a whinny type crowd...full of quirks and routines....one thing I never tried was the steel target shoots which I think would be way more appealing than paper....I really enjoy clay shooting....

Think about short range benchrest. There are matches that include a class for factory guns in MI. We shoot 100 yds. at Winn, MI which is just west of Mt. Pleasant. Ditto at Tawas. This is an excellent venue to learn loading and tuning and you will find benchrest shooters to be very helpful to new guys. They shoot a lot at Holton but I don't know if they have matches for factory guns. FWIW at our matches a factory gun is anything that isn't a full out competition rifle.

Hummm,
Never experienced that in my 30+ years of shooting comps. I'll bet Dick will back me up on this. Much better group to hang around than the local crowd that lives at the range day in and day out just telling everybody how well their 23-86 wildcat shoots.

With my current employment I have a connection where I would be able to pick up a used tac rifle from The Michigan State Police. Rem 700 7.62. Tactical rifles. Not really opinionated either way on the 308/7.62. It is pretty plain vanilla to me but would make a cheap and easy fix until I burned out the barrel completely. Then I could screw on a 6BR or 6.5 Creed. Thoughts.

I would suggest a Tikka T3x in 6.5 or 308 as a off the shelf starter gun. There are a few variations but basically a target stock with a great barreled action and trigger, and chassis upgrades available. At a very reasonable price too.

http://cdn1.tikka.fi/sites/default/files/Technical_specs_T3x_CTR_0.pdf

Really long range shooting is about a "system" not a rifle. It comes down to ammo, gun, scope, trigger, shooter and a few other things.

Didn't mean to imply all bench target shooters...just my experience with the particular club I belonged to...
The meaning was more to try dif rent things and see where you fit in...for me it's funny. I love rifles the most but like clay shooting the best...maybe because the conversations are not much about equipment and loads....you can't buy success in clays....a million dollar shotgun won't improve scores one oz...

If you're entertaining the thought to learn how to shoot a .308 long distance prone you live in one of the best states to do it in. Michigan is the home of a bunch of outstanding F-TR shooters...