Hi guys and especially girls!
Long story short, I tumbled across this site every now and then when googling about shooting so I decided it's a good idea to create a profile and start posting. I'm turning 30 in a few years and bought my first rifle, or actually rifles, last autumn and since then I've been trying to hit better...
About my background: I've been trying to become a hunter for years, but the only places where I have been able to hunt have been far away. Also, during my studies, the time and money were more than often needed for something more important, such as beer or books. During the past two years I've managed to gain just a little bit of hunting experience, and I've shot my first birds (with a shotgun). But the shotgun shooting isn't why I registered here.
Last autumn I suddenly, for the first time in my life, had some money to spend on a rifle. I bought a used Tikka M65 in .30-06 which happened to be for sale nearby. For cheaper and more silent practice I also bought a rimfire and ended up buying a cheap Russian TOZ with a cheap scope and a silencer. I also happened to come together with a cheap (if you can say that) Zeiss Classic 3-12 x 56, which I bought and bolted on top of my Tikka rifle. These rifles have never been used in hunting yet, but it's a matter of months before that will happen. The main game to be hunted is, which might seem a bit odd, are moose and birds. Yeah, they aren't very similar, but these are the two I can hunt where I live. Both of these will be mostly shot with the .30-06 because of the laws we have here (.22LR is not legal for most of the birds I'm looking for). The moose hunting demands for abilities to shoot a moving target fast, and bird hunting is closer to long distance sniping. I'd like to become a lot better in both, but probably because of some mental problems being able to shoot long distances seems to be more important for my self esteem
I just want be able to hit a coin in 100 meters more often than my friends, even if that's obsolete.
As most of you have already probably noticed, my native language isn't English. It doesn't actually matter where I'm from, but I'll give you a hint: the city where I come from happens to be the hometown of a quite known gun manufacturer also known for one of the best sniper rifles in the world.
The reason why I created a profile is that in my other hobbies and topics I've interested in I've found that discussion forums are a great source for knowledge and the best way to get it and give it back is to be active in the discussions. I want to become a better shooter, and the best way seems to be shooting, the second best way seems to be dry practicing, and the third best is to discuss with people smarter than myself.
As I said, I'm a beginner, and most of my problems, questions and solutions will be those beginners are struggling with. The last time I went to the range and shot 8 groups of 3 shots, the average group of three shots at 100 metres was around 40 mm (1.4 MOA) and I think me and my gun should be able to do better. In this topic I try to raise discussion about what should be done to make it better. With my rimfire I'm probably able to shoot 19 shotgun shells out of 20 from 50 meters away. My best groups of five with the rimfire has been 7 mm from center to center and the best group of three with my centerfire rifle was 25 mm. The average with both guns is more than 1 MoA but every now and then I do better than that, mostly with the rimfire.
My current set-up is as follows:
-Tikka M65 .30-06, hunting stock, thin barrel, less than 300 shots fired through the barrel
-Zeiss Classic 3-12 x 56
-Quality bases
-Cheap but solid bipod
-Sand bag to be used below the gun stock
-Factory ammunition
When I'm going to the range next time, the following things will change:
-The bipod is not going to rest on concrete but on a softer pad to reduce the effect of recoil
-I'm going to build a temporary cheek rest from duct tape and sleeping pad. I've been shooting without any kind of cheek weld and from what I tried in my living room, even a folded T-shirt between the cheek and stock makes a huge difference. A hunting stock designed for iron sights and a 56 mm scope isn't a perfect combination.
-I'm going to let the barrel cool down for a while between the shots. Now I've been firing 3-5 shots at intervals of about 10-20 seconds which might cause weird things with thin barreled guns if I'm right. I'm not in hurry, so why hurry?
-Concentrate better in the trigger action, place my palm the same way each shot and concentrate on placing my finger on the trigger more consistently.
From practicing and testing my prone position in the living room I'd say it's difficult to get the stock firmly on your shoulder when you're in prone position. When standing it's not a problem as the rifle is mostly designed for shooting while standing, but I guess there's a reason why sniper rifles look the way they do... It seems the stock could be longer, the cheek pad should be way higher and the wrist should be in a more vertical position to get a firm stance.
I'm not trying to make my gun into a sniper rifle, and definitely not trying to change it into a benchrest gun. I'm trying to make myself a better shooter with better abilities in killing the game and not wounding it. I want to be able to trust myself and my guns when I must hit. Plus I want to shoot tighter groups than most of my friends
Oh yeah, I also took a two day course about sniping. The course didn't cover too much about the shooting technique but was merely about ballistics, which of course was also useful. At least now I know it's not important how tight groups a sniper shoots from 100 meters, because a good shooter can be a terrible sniper if that tight group is not where it should be when shooting from longer distances.
I try to keep this post alive and update what I learn, think and realize.
Long story short, I tumbled across this site every now and then when googling about shooting so I decided it's a good idea to create a profile and start posting. I'm turning 30 in a few years and bought my first rifle, or actually rifles, last autumn and since then I've been trying to hit better...
About my background: I've been trying to become a hunter for years, but the only places where I have been able to hunt have been far away. Also, during my studies, the time and money were more than often needed for something more important, such as beer or books. During the past two years I've managed to gain just a little bit of hunting experience, and I've shot my first birds (with a shotgun). But the shotgun shooting isn't why I registered here.
Last autumn I suddenly, for the first time in my life, had some money to spend on a rifle. I bought a used Tikka M65 in .30-06 which happened to be for sale nearby. For cheaper and more silent practice I also bought a rimfire and ended up buying a cheap Russian TOZ with a cheap scope and a silencer. I also happened to come together with a cheap (if you can say that) Zeiss Classic 3-12 x 56, which I bought and bolted on top of my Tikka rifle. These rifles have never been used in hunting yet, but it's a matter of months before that will happen. The main game to be hunted is, which might seem a bit odd, are moose and birds. Yeah, they aren't very similar, but these are the two I can hunt where I live. Both of these will be mostly shot with the .30-06 because of the laws we have here (.22LR is not legal for most of the birds I'm looking for). The moose hunting demands for abilities to shoot a moving target fast, and bird hunting is closer to long distance sniping. I'd like to become a lot better in both, but probably because of some mental problems being able to shoot long distances seems to be more important for my self esteem
I just want be able to hit a coin in 100 meters more often than my friends, even if that's obsolete.As most of you have already probably noticed, my native language isn't English. It doesn't actually matter where I'm from, but I'll give you a hint: the city where I come from happens to be the hometown of a quite known gun manufacturer also known for one of the best sniper rifles in the world.
The reason why I created a profile is that in my other hobbies and topics I've interested in I've found that discussion forums are a great source for knowledge and the best way to get it and give it back is to be active in the discussions. I want to become a better shooter, and the best way seems to be shooting, the second best way seems to be dry practicing, and the third best is to discuss with people smarter than myself.
As I said, I'm a beginner, and most of my problems, questions and solutions will be those beginners are struggling with. The last time I went to the range and shot 8 groups of 3 shots, the average group of three shots at 100 metres was around 40 mm (1.4 MOA) and I think me and my gun should be able to do better. In this topic I try to raise discussion about what should be done to make it better. With my rimfire I'm probably able to shoot 19 shotgun shells out of 20 from 50 meters away. My best groups of five with the rimfire has been 7 mm from center to center and the best group of three with my centerfire rifle was 25 mm. The average with both guns is more than 1 MoA but every now and then I do better than that, mostly with the rimfire.
My current set-up is as follows:
-Tikka M65 .30-06, hunting stock, thin barrel, less than 300 shots fired through the barrel
-Zeiss Classic 3-12 x 56
-Quality bases
-Cheap but solid bipod
-Sand bag to be used below the gun stock
-Factory ammunition
When I'm going to the range next time, the following things will change:
-The bipod is not going to rest on concrete but on a softer pad to reduce the effect of recoil
-I'm going to build a temporary cheek rest from duct tape and sleeping pad. I've been shooting without any kind of cheek weld and from what I tried in my living room, even a folded T-shirt between the cheek and stock makes a huge difference. A hunting stock designed for iron sights and a 56 mm scope isn't a perfect combination.
-I'm going to let the barrel cool down for a while between the shots. Now I've been firing 3-5 shots at intervals of about 10-20 seconds which might cause weird things with thin barreled guns if I'm right. I'm not in hurry, so why hurry?
-Concentrate better in the trigger action, place my palm the same way each shot and concentrate on placing my finger on the trigger more consistently.
From practicing and testing my prone position in the living room I'd say it's difficult to get the stock firmly on your shoulder when you're in prone position. When standing it's not a problem as the rifle is mostly designed for shooting while standing, but I guess there's a reason why sniper rifles look the way they do... It seems the stock could be longer, the cheek pad should be way higher and the wrist should be in a more vertical position to get a firm stance.
I'm not trying to make my gun into a sniper rifle, and definitely not trying to change it into a benchrest gun. I'm trying to make myself a better shooter with better abilities in killing the game and not wounding it. I want to be able to trust myself and my guns when I must hit. Plus I want to shoot tighter groups than most of my friends
Oh yeah, I also took a two day course about sniping. The course didn't cover too much about the shooting technique but was merely about ballistics, which of course was also useful. At least now I know it's not important how tight groups a sniper shoots from 100 meters, because a good shooter can be a terrible sniper if that tight group is not where it should be when shooting from longer distances.
I try to keep this post alive and update what I learn, think and realize.
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