One Day At the Range
07-28-2007, 12:26 PM
#1
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Rocky (by God!) Mountings
Posts: 572
One Day At the Range
I went to the range to play around with my new backup rifle, a Ruger 77 30-06. I belong toa private club that runs just about every kind of shooting event possible, including military rifle classes and benchrest competitions.
After getting my new rifle pretty close on the 25 yard zero table, I move over to the 100/200 area and set up next to two fellers with a custom '03 rifle they're messing with. They immediately took an interest in my spotting scope. Apparently, they don't think too much of Leopold optics. Ok, to each their own. Thanks for the comments, guys.
"What kind of rifle you got their?"
"It's just a Ruger 77 MKII. An unbedded, stockbackup rifle,but I put a new trigger on it."
"A Jewell trigger?"
"No, Rifle Basix, adjusted to 2 lbs."
"Never heard of it."
After getting my rifle to hit 2" high at 100 yards (sub 1" groups), I put a target down at the 200 yard area and start popping away. Real nice groups but I'm not yet zero. After adjusting my Luppy 3x9 VariX II, I do as I always have, and bump the butt on the table a lil' to settle the crosshairs. My neighbors inform me that I shouldn't have to do that, and why do I have such a weak powered scope? The only way I could possibly expect good groups was with a 20x scope. I inform them that I'm a hunter, not a benchrest shooter, and I'm only trying to zero the rifle and test some loads.
"What kind of load are you using?" the older one replied.
"Well, right now I'm using a 180 Hornady and 54 grains of 4350," I politely respond.
"Lemme see one of those," the younger one says. After inspecting my reload, he immediately chirps, why you ain't got that anywhere near the lands.
"No, I haven't even measured my chamber on this rifle yet, I just seated them a bit over book COL, which makes them good to use in both my '06s."
"You ain't done much benchrest shooting, have you?"
Well, this kind of back and forth criticism goes on for 2 hours, during which the pair (father and son, by the way), inform me that mountain rifles are useless for any game, and if I don't have a 10 lb rifle, I don't have a chance of scoring on an elk. Besides those light sporter barrels make it impossible to hit anything because of the recoil. I point to the muzzle break on my mountain rifle and say, "Not so, this one feels like a 223."
"You wasted your money on that, a guide will never take you out with one of those things on your rifle. We know, we went elk hunting once."
At this point, I'm a lil' frustrated, and club or not, I decide to induce a new orafice on this loud mouth. "Guides don't dictate what their clients carry in the field. And in all my seasons of guiding, I guess I've only guided about a hunnert hunters carrying braked or ported rifles."
Response: "How come you haven't got an adjustable cheek piece on those rifles? You can't possibly get on target quick enough with your eye automatically aligning with your sights."
God bless rifle ranges. If only ear muffs were 100% sound proof.
After getting my new rifle pretty close on the 25 yard zero table, I move over to the 100/200 area and set up next to two fellers with a custom '03 rifle they're messing with. They immediately took an interest in my spotting scope. Apparently, they don't think too much of Leopold optics. Ok, to each their own. Thanks for the comments, guys.
"What kind of rifle you got their?"
"It's just a Ruger 77 MKII. An unbedded, stockbackup rifle,but I put a new trigger on it."
"A Jewell trigger?"
"No, Rifle Basix, adjusted to 2 lbs."
"Never heard of it."
After getting my rifle to hit 2" high at 100 yards (sub 1" groups), I put a target down at the 200 yard area and start popping away. Real nice groups but I'm not yet zero. After adjusting my Luppy 3x9 VariX II, I do as I always have, and bump the butt on the table a lil' to settle the crosshairs. My neighbors inform me that I shouldn't have to do that, and why do I have such a weak powered scope? The only way I could possibly expect good groups was with a 20x scope. I inform them that I'm a hunter, not a benchrest shooter, and I'm only trying to zero the rifle and test some loads.
"What kind of load are you using?" the older one replied.
"Well, right now I'm using a 180 Hornady and 54 grains of 4350," I politely respond.
"Lemme see one of those," the younger one says. After inspecting my reload, he immediately chirps, why you ain't got that anywhere near the lands.
"No, I haven't even measured my chamber on this rifle yet, I just seated them a bit over book COL, which makes them good to use in both my '06s."
"You ain't done much benchrest shooting, have you?"
Well, this kind of back and forth criticism goes on for 2 hours, during which the pair (father and son, by the way), inform me that mountain rifles are useless for any game, and if I don't have a 10 lb rifle, I don't have a chance of scoring on an elk. Besides those light sporter barrels make it impossible to hit anything because of the recoil. I point to the muzzle break on my mountain rifle and say, "Not so, this one feels like a 223."
"You wasted your money on that, a guide will never take you out with one of those things on your rifle. We know, we went elk hunting once."
At this point, I'm a lil' frustrated, and club or not, I decide to induce a new orafice on this loud mouth. "Guides don't dictate what their clients carry in the field. And in all my seasons of guiding, I guess I've only guided about a hunnert hunters carrying braked or ported rifles."
Response: "How come you haven't got an adjustable cheek piece on those rifles? You can't possibly get on target quick enough with your eye automatically aligning with your sights."
God bless rifle ranges. If only ear muffs were 100% sound proof.
07-28-2007, 01:26 PM
#2
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Elizabeth Colo. USA
Posts: 4,413
RE: One Day At the Range
Kind of makes me wonder if they'd EVER been elk hunting, or any other big game hunting for that matter, unless of course they concider shooting paper as hunting!
A guy just has to shrug his shoulders and move on when confronted with the "un-educated"!
A guy just has to shrug his shoulders and move on when confronted with the "un-educated"!
07-28-2007, 05:13 PM
#3
Fork Horn
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Hamiltucky, OH
Posts: 485
RE: One Day At the Range
... and why do I have such a weak powered scope? The only way I could possibly expect good groups was with a 20x scope.
.................................................. ...............................................
the pair (father and son, by the way), inform me that mountain rifles are useless for any game, and if I don't have a 10 lb rifle, I don't have a chance of scoring on an elk.
.................................................. ..............................................
"How come you haven't got an adjustable cheek piece on those rifles? You can't possibly get on target quick enough with your eye automatically aligning with your sights."
[/quote]
WOW, I heard EXACTLY this same line o' crap from a guy at my local range only last month! I had hoped, vainly, that this kind of idiocy was confined to my area.
FC
.................................................. ...............................................
the pair (father and son, by the way), inform me that mountain rifles are useless for any game, and if I don't have a 10 lb rifle, I don't have a chance of scoring on an elk.
.................................................. ..............................................
"How come you haven't got an adjustable cheek piece on those rifles? You can't possibly get on target quick enough with your eye automatically aligning with your sights."
[/quote]
WOW, I heard EXACTLY this same line o' crap from a guy at my local range only last month! I had hoped, vainly, that this kind of idiocy was confined to my area.
FC
07-28-2007, 07:09 PM
#4
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 3,145
RE: One Day At the Range
ORIGINAL: BeaverJack
"You ain't done much benchrest shooting, have you?"
"You ain't done much benchrest shooting, have you?"
08-02-2007, 03:52 PM
#5
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Missouri
Posts: 1,429
RE: One Day At the Range
So they dislike Leupold optics and they claim to be BR shooters????
Funny thing cuz at the BR matches I've been to I seen approx. 90% Leupold glass on those rigs.
Sounds to me like you ran into a couple of the infamous "chuckle heads" Not true riflemen. There is always chuckle heads around willing to give you advice. Idiots..... The true BR's I've been around don't give advice unless asked, and when they talk you had better be listening.
Funny thing cuz at the BR matches I've been to I seen approx. 90% Leupold glass on those rigs.
Sounds to me like you ran into a couple of the infamous "chuckle heads" Not true riflemen. There is always chuckle heads around willing to give you advice. Idiots..... The true BR's I've been around don't give advice unless asked, and when they talk you had better be listening.
08-05-2007, 05:43 AM
#6
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 15
RE: One Day At the Range
You know, it's a wonder any military sniper has ever gotten a kill since all they use are fixed 10x scopes. At least until recently that was all that was used....oh yeah with Leupold scopes. As for the rifle weighing 10lbs they have never humped aheavy rifle through miles of dark timber a day, and I have a sneaky suspicion that elk don't really know how much your gun weighs?
