New guy looking for advice

[JoeCoastie]

For the ADD folks: FNG to the board. Looking for advice. Don't have any formal training on precision shooting. Thought about getting a .50 cal and ditched the idea. Now leaning to .338 Lapua. Am set up for reloading. Shoot expert consistently at range quals. Good fundamentals just never applied it to long range/precision. Advice on caliber/rifle is appreciated.

Ok, so I've been on ar15.com for about 4 years and decided that I now want to get into the art of precision shooting. There are some decent fellows over there but I figured that y'all would be more adept at the questions I may have as I delve into this new world.

So, that said, here are my questions.
I've always wanted a .50 cal (go ahead, groan) and having recently moved out to the midwest, never really had a chance to shoot longer than 100 yards on a fairly consistent basis. Now I have the opportunity. I thought about the 50 for a few weeks and started asking for advice over on AR15.com and a lot of them suggested that I not start off with a .50 since my experience is very limited.

I think that line of thinking is rather sound but I have no idea where to start at. I used to have a Savage 10FP that I ditched because, well, I never got to shoot it. I'm into reloading now and have the means to make very accurate rounds so caliber selection really isn't too much of an issue. I just don't really know what direction to take.

I ditched the idea of the .50 beacause:
Lack of range availability.
Initial cost of reloading set up.
Cost of reloading. Everything is double.

I started leaning toward .338 Lapua. Don't know why. I'm just kind of enamored with the idea of throwing big fast rounds down range. I'm not certain if this is a bad round to learn on. I'm all ears for suggestions from you guys. Budget including glass is 3k

Sorry for being so long winded on the first post and for posting in here. I just didn't know where to put this. If a mod could move it, I would appreciate it!

 

[KYpatriot]

Re: New guy looking for advice

My standard advice is to get a Remington 5R in 308win, and some good glass. The rifle and say a Nightforce of your liking together should go right around that 3k budget. Torque the action screws and ring screws properly and this combo will most likely outshoot you at least initially, and probably for quite awhile.

The advantages to this approach are many...first, the lower recoil allows you to learn the long range fundamentals without that considerable distraction. It is inexpensive to shoot so you are likely to shoot more. The rainbow like trajectory gets you some practice at and forces you to make and learn good corrections in elevation and windage at different ranges. It is an inherently accurate round that is easy to reload for as well. After some time behind this rifle, you will likely have a better idea of where you want to go in the sport, and what components to use for a custom build. You could sell the 308, pull off the nightforce, and stick it on custom build that is built to your specs, now that you know what you want and why.

The other school of thought is: jump right in with both feet and go right to what you think you want...an ELR rifle like the 338LM. It's gonna be alot more expensive, and imho harder to drill down the fundamentals on, but nothing wrong with going that way if you can mitigate those issues. Either way, you will be applying the same process and fundamentals to get hits at long range.

You may consider a middle road, like one of the 7mms, like the .284, .280, or on the faster end the 7 mags like 7RM, 7RSAUM, or 7WSM rather than the .338LM if you go that route. The 7mags especially will give you the performance of the 338LM (except energy) with less recoil, at the cost of barrel life. If you can affords the 338Lm then I assume barrel life is not that important to you.

 

[Valere]

Re: New guy looking for advice

+1 to everything KY said. I was in almost the exact same boat as you (and still am a little) because I always have loved big calibers.

Like KY suggested, after settling myself down a little, I decided to get a .308 to learn on. I bought a good condition used one and nice mid-range glass. The gun can still easily outshoot me. Best thing is, the resale is about the same as what I paid for it.

I had the opportunity to shoot a .338 Lapua Mag two weeks ago. This was my "dream rifle caliber" about a year ago and I was finally getting the opportunity to shoot it. I lined her up and sent one down range. I started laughing from the concussion but after a couple shots, it was easy to see that would get old real quick. Don't get me wrong, I still want one, or a 50 for that matter but I wouldn't consider trying to learn on it even if I owned it. It's not about being tough enough to handle it, its about getting the repetition and muscle memory that goes along with good marksmanship (as you know). I can afford to shoot way more .308 than .338 not to mention its difficult enough to shoot well without also managing the heavy recoil and concussion of the big stuff. It's easy to see why guys have a quality 22LR to practice with. You said you had about $3K for the gun and glass. I'd say you're looking at another $3K to feed the rifle for a year on reloads.

If you still can't back down from a big caliber, see if someone has one you can try out for a range session of 40 rounds. Pay them the $60-$160 for the ammo (this is reloaded prices depending on caliber) and see if you're still focusing on the fundamentals rather than thinking about how you're getting your ass kicked or how expensive that range day was. LOL

Good luck with your search, more power to ya if you go big. I say learn on something smaller and sell it when you're ready to move up.