My brother wanted me to help him put together a hunting rifle as we ate starting to do more and more western hunting.
We talked about what he wanted. Something capable of taking elk and deer and extending his range. He is a bit of a novice shooter but was pretty set on a 7mm RM. Which I personally feel is one of the best choices. I couldn't convince him to go full custom. But I think we ended up with about the next best thing.
Tikka T3x roughtech 7mm Remington Mag.
Put in a Bell and Carlson Medalist.
Nightforce 20 moa base.
ARC rings.
Nightforce nx8 2.5-20
Harris 9-13 bipod.
He also picked up a set of Sig BDX binos which really helped him understand the dialing of the scope. Once we started comparing it to the ballistic calculator it helped it all click.
We started at the local range and to be honest the B&C stock was a real piece... we spent 1.5 hours sanding the barrel channel until we could get the action to drop in free floated. After that the hammered like Tikkas do. Ammo being what it is we only shot 2 or 3 round groups, but my shots were always touching when I wasn't making corrections. We were sorting Hornaday 162gr ELD-X factory ammo.
We out to a buddy's place the next morning to get long range practice in. Started at about 500 and stretched it out all the way to 1120ish yards. My brother had a light bulb moment making his first 1000+ yard shot. And then going back to the 500 yard range. His effective range went from maybe 200-yards to 400,500, or even 600. Obviously this is subjective but the concept was no longer science fiction.
All in all it was a great weekend, and he learned alot.
Next up I've got the rifle for a few weeks, going to glass bed the action and work up some loads for him. We got a bunch of Mountain Tactical toys coming such as bottom metal, mags, trigger spring, and a few other accessories to finish it out.
I expect this rifle to put the hurt on a few animals in the up coming seasons.
We talked about what he wanted. Something capable of taking elk and deer and extending his range. He is a bit of a novice shooter but was pretty set on a 7mm RM. Which I personally feel is one of the best choices. I couldn't convince him to go full custom. But I think we ended up with about the next best thing.
Tikka T3x roughtech 7mm Remington Mag.
Put in a Bell and Carlson Medalist.
Nightforce 20 moa base.
ARC rings.
Nightforce nx8 2.5-20
Harris 9-13 bipod.
He also picked up a set of Sig BDX binos which really helped him understand the dialing of the scope. Once we started comparing it to the ballistic calculator it helped it all click.
We started at the local range and to be honest the B&C stock was a real piece... we spent 1.5 hours sanding the barrel channel until we could get the action to drop in free floated. After that the hammered like Tikkas do. Ammo being what it is we only shot 2 or 3 round groups, but my shots were always touching when I wasn't making corrections. We were sorting Hornaday 162gr ELD-X factory ammo.
We out to a buddy's place the next morning to get long range practice in. Started at about 500 and stretched it out all the way to 1120ish yards. My brother had a light bulb moment making his first 1000+ yard shot. And then going back to the 500 yard range. His effective range went from maybe 200-yards to 400,500, or even 600. Obviously this is subjective but the concept was no longer science fiction.
All in all it was a great weekend, and he learned alot.
Next up I've got the rifle for a few weeks, going to glass bed the action and work up some loads for him. We got a bunch of Mountain Tactical toys coming such as bottom metal, mags, trigger spring, and a few other accessories to finish it out.
I expect this rifle to put the hurt on a few animals in the up coming seasons.
