Report from the Buckskin Hills range

Barn

Barn

Active Member
I took the .30/30's out to the 100 yard range earlier this week.

Some guy showed up with a 14 pound rifle chambered in 260. Heavy stainless steel barrel, muzzle break, black plastic stock, bipod, and a huge scope. He was shooting pointie match bullets that you could remove slivers from your hand with.

Some old fellow on the other side of the range was shooting some .30/30's with cast bullets and getting better 5 shot groups.

I suspect he was crying all of the way home.
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Nah, he wasn't crying. He was trying to figure out what he needed for equipment to make up for the fact he can't shoot. Wait, must be the ammo, he can shoot, of course. Just ask him.


Takes a good trigger puller to shoot small groups no matter the ammo or rifle.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
I was fighting it out with a bone-stock .308 Savage at my local range a couple years ago, trying to get past the 2200 fps barrier and not getting it right yet. 2.5-3", 10 shot clusters all over my big white paper backer at the hundred yard range. Some fellow next to me with a tacticool rifle similar to the one just described complimented me on my groups. I cringed, I really don't like to be patronized. Then I saw his target, one group which could almost be covered with a sheet of paper. I asked him earnestly if his scope was loose or if he was having trouble getting his dials to adjust properly, and offered him the use of my torque screwdriver, bits, and Loctite that I always pack in my range bag. He looked at me like I had kicked his dog. Guess he has a different way of looking at "accuracy" than I do.
 
I

Intheshop

Banned
OK,good stuff.Just need to be real careful on ranges.Obvious safety....oh wait,some folks have a hard time with that.And to that point,once considered,what makes anything different in any information someone gives or gets on a public range?

Equipment,arms races,is predicated on mimetic theory.Meaning,we humans tend to covet things.In this case it's a dangerous exercise...your wallet,your marriage,and usually your pride is gonna take a serious hit.

Be careful of the guy with one gun.....I'd agree,but gotta add bow.I,and a bunch of others,can take old recurves and get 80-90% up the score board competing against state of the art factory endorsed compound shooters.Heck,my matched pr of '71 Bears are "million mile" bows.Past wore out.

So,take lessons when first meeting folks at the range,very politely....they could be a world class shooter?But if you look at their equipment....don't be shocked if it looks wore out.Looks can be misleading.

30/30's can be some darn good shooters.Some folks just can't get past their own desire for "new".Good shooting,BW
 
KHornet

KHornet

Well-Known Member
Ian, I have noted that spraying rather than grouping seems to be the norm with some of the
"Tacticool" rifles. A couple of weeks ago, had one of them at 50 yds sighting in a new one.
He put 10 rounds down, and it probably did about a 6" cluster before he moved down to
the 100. Didn't see what he was shooting there, but he shot probably 100 or more rounds
and went home.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
The targets left up after the clubs hunter sight in day today didn't look promising for a lot of folks. Some deer may be enjoying a good margin of safety this year.
 
KHornet

KHornet

Well-Known Member
I have noted that at a number of gun clubs over the many years that I have
observed same. Often it is a brand new rifle, for a brand new shooter, with
a Mag rifle and factory ammo, and a built in flinch based on fear of the new
weapon.

Paul
 
smokeywolf

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
One of my better days at the range was a couple of years ago when there was a gent, mid to late '60s, 2 benches down from me who was shooting black powder; a muzzle loader. Modern reproduction with open sights. Don't remember what the repro was modeled from.
He was maintaining a 3" group at 100 yards and was happy, but confident he could do better. He would shoot 3 in a row over about 6 or 8 minutes, then rest and reflect for 10 or 15 minutes. Those are the fellows I watch, because those are the ones you can learn from.

We talked a little bit and he was impressed with my boys shooting the '03 Springfield.
 
Pistolero

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
There are lots of different ideas on what a "good group" are.

I had a guy come up to me when I was testing ammo on the 25 yd pistol range a few years ago.
He asked me to shoot his revolver, a 6" S&W " to see if this ammo is accurate". After a quiz, I
decided to try it. The story was that it was his dead father's target pistol and loads, and they were labeled,
and the load was reasonable, decided to risk it. Glad I did.

I shot a 5 shot group at 25 yds with a .38 Spl that you could cover with a nickel with nothing showing.
I asked him if he would consider selling the pistol. Of course, no - family heirloom and all. I told him
to make sure he kept the information on that load because that is about as good as ANY pistol can
EVER shoot.

Then there are the guys putting up paper plates at 10 yds and keeping most of their shots on them.

Bill
 
KHornet

KHornet

Well-Known Member
Have a guy at our range, nice guy, with very expensive rifles and very expensive gear.
Puts out wind flags at 25-50-75. Shoots 1000.00-1500.00 dollar rifles, w/very expensive'
glass on top, and usually produces a few close to 1- 1 1/2 in groups, but mostly are a
lot wider than that. Is very happy with what he is doing.

Paul
 
waco

waco

Springfield, Oregon
I don't get to enjoy too much of this kind of thing because I don't shoot much at my local range. For one it is limited to 100 yards. Two, they charge $10 to shoot there. Three, you can only hang two targets up at a time and they make you wait about an hour between times when they close down the range to change targets.

No thanks. I'll drive a few more miles up in the hills and shoot as much as I like at whatever distance I like.
I do like looking to see what, if any, brass is left behind at the range though!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.