First day at the range - Ruger Precision Rifle in 308

MikeinCalgary said:
Hey Jerry - have read that dry firing is ok on centerfires, but I was always worried it would cause havoc with the firing pin. It's OK?
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A quality centerfire action can be dry fired as much as desired....

Wear eye protection ALWAYS...

If recoil continues to be a problem, you can make light recoil ammo which is very accurate... so handloading has many positives.

If costs become an issue, rimfire is your friend.

Jerry
 
Mystic Precision said:
You are off to a really good start but here are a few tips that can help.

Most important - if it hurts, make it not hurt. I would recommend putting on a muzzle brake and/or a shoulder recoil pad. Flinching will never help you shoot. Noise is another huge part of recoil... ear plugs and the best muffs you can get (33db) Under cover, things are going to be way louder and that will cause some shooters to "shut down" as their brains want them to stop and run away.

Sounds like the scope is not adjusted properly in location and focus for you. Did you set up the scope yourself or did a "shop"? When you are in a comfy shooting position, the view through the eye piece should be right there and clear. If you have to move, it is not right. If you find you need to lean forward to get a full view, move the scope back. If you keep getting "black out" in the eye piece, move it forward. You would never ask a stranger to choose shoes for you... why would you want someone else to mount your scope?

If the family is ok with this, make the rifle safe (take bolt out), set up the rifle on a table to replicate your bench, play with scope position fore and aft AND higher and lower.... move the comb up and down. close your eyes, get comfy behind the rifle, open your eyes, if the scope view is not right there, move the scope. Keep adjusting until you have found it..... now come back off and on over a few days and make sure it really is in the right spot.

The ocular focus may be off and that will also cause issues with comfy viewing as your eye/brain fights to keep things in focus.

Now that you are comfy with the rifle.... go over EVERYTHING and tighten it up. The design doesn't work well if parts are loose and often they aren't.... Rock solid?

Practise dry fire....get comfy, aim at a small object out a window... the reticle should be dead steady at this stage of learning... sand bags, rests, whatever to cradle and hold the rifle in place. Light grip, squeeze and click... if you have a smooth trigger pull and not jerking, your view of the reticle will not move during the entire process. Keep watching the target and reticle through the entire process.. do not blink or close your eyes.

If you see the reticle hop when the trigger breaks, you are likely jerking the trigger. Put a video camera on yourself and record your dry firing. It should be the most boring 5 min video where NOTHING is moving. bolt cycles, click, cycles, click... but YOU stay in the same point during each trigger break and the rifle doesn't move at all.

Practise for a few weeks until you know you can keep the reticle steady before, during and after that trigger breaks. NOW go shoot, and I bet things will be more consistent.

If the rests and position/follow through is good, the rifle will move very little after the shot (some bipods like the MPOD are far better at keeping tracking true). Try shooting with lower mag... not the best scope and optics tend to fade at the highest mag so you may get a better/easier to use view at lower mag.

practise, practise, practise... know where the reticle was when the shot broke. YES, you will need to keep your eyes open.

Enjoy the journey.

Jerry
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Thanks for the advice! I will definitely try those tips. I should have some free time over Christmas for some dry fire practice.
 
Awesome rifle Costco! I'm shooting the same optics (but in mildot) and really love it for the money. There is some great advice here, one of the guys I know who shoots for a job made a recommendation to me that has helped a ton. With your optics try shooting around the 10-12x for zoom(especially under 400). That way it will give you enough field of view you should still be able to keep an eye on your target. Once you send your round down range having your optics around mid power your recoil won't effect your focus on target as much.

You can also easily make shooting bags for the butt of your stock by stiching socks, or fabric in to a bag and filling it with Lima beans. I made mine out of old woodland camo pants, and used my sewing machine to stitch it in to a square bag. It works fantastic to help support the back of your stock on the table.

Enjoy the gun!
 
Looks like you're off to a great start CostcoSamples. I'm in Lethbridge as well and always enjoy finding new people to shoot with, be happy to help you out.
 
Awesome rifle, and welcome to the addiction! I'm shooting the same glass on my 700 and LOVE it, only difference being I prefer SFP to FFP. Just a thought, TO ME anyway, it looks like you have very high rings yet your riser seems to be set all the way at the bottom of its travel? Try bringing that up, or bringing your optic down to the point you are comfortable, as Jerry has mentioned.
 
Regarding the flinch~

Many years ago in basic training, out rifle instructor had us pair up and practice dry firing the FN C-1, which was known for it's shoulder blackening effects on those who did not hold the weapon securely or had a misadjusted gas regulator. What we would do is partner up and the recruit who was not dry firing would place a nickel on the receiver of the rifle. Then the shooter would squeeze the trigger until the rifle "fired". The trick was to keep the nickel from falling over. If it did, you would be doing another round of push ups. if it didn't, the recruit was learning the first lesson of not flinching and proper follow through.
Maybe you could give it a try. The push ups could be optional, but by god they helped a person catch on fast!
 
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I've never done this on a bolt gun, but it worked extremely well with a revolver:

If you reload, make some dummy rounds, if not, buy some snap caps. At the range, get a buddy to randomly load your magazine with both live rounds and dummy rounds. Then, while practising all the fundamentals of shooting on a target, empty the mag. You won't know whether it will go click or bang, and you'll see very quickly not only that you flinch, but also how you flinch. That way you can work on avoiding whatever bad habit is making you flinch.

I remember doing this with my brother's 686 and it was both funny and embarrassing to see myself flinch so bad when it just went click. Over time with practise the flinch will deminish.
 
Fullfusion said:
I've never done this on a bolt gun, but it worked extremely well with a revolver:

If you reload, make some dummy rounds, if not, buy some snap caps. At the range, get a buddy to randomly load your magazine with both live rounds and dummy rounds. Then, while practising all the fundamentals of shooting on a target, empty the mag. You won't know whether it will go click or bang, and you'll see very quickly not only that you flinch, but also how you flinch. That way you can work on avoiding whatever bad habit is making you flinch.

I remember doing this with my brother's 686 and it was both funny and embarrassing to see myself flinch so bad when it just went click. Over time with practise the flinch will deminish.
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A very useful and powerful test... Yes, it is quite funny how much some shooters actually flinch.. even when they say they don't.

One of the best things to practise if you want to get good at accurate shooting.

Jerry
 
freedomintheskies said:
Regarding the flinch~

Many years ago in basic training, out rifle instructor had us pair up and practice dry firing the FN C-1, which was known for it's shoulder blackening effects on those who did not hold the weapon securely or had a misadjusted gas regulator. What we would do is partner up and the recruit who was not dry firing would place a nickel on the receiver of the rifle. Then the shooter would squeeze the trigger until the rifle "fired". The trick was to keep the nickel from falling over. If it did, you would be doing another round of push ups. if it didn't, the recruit was learning the first lesson of not flinching and proper follow through.
Maybe you could give it a try. The push ups could be optional, but by god they helped a person catch on fast!
Click to expand...

Fullfusion said:
I've never done this on a bolt gun, but it worked extremely well with a revolver:

If you reload, make some dummy rounds, if not, buy some snap caps. At the range, get a buddy to randomly load your magazine with both live rounds and dummy rounds. Then, while practising all the fundamentals of shooting on a target, empty the mag. You won't know whether it will go click or bang, and you'll see very quickly not only that you flinch, but also how you flinch. That way you can work on avoiding whatever bad habit is making you flinch.

I remember doing this with my brother's 686 and it was both funny and embarrassing to see myself flinch so bad when it just went click. Over time with practise the flinch will deminish.
Click to expand...

These are great! Definitely going to run these drills.

I've been taking 15 minutes every night to dry fire with some snap caps. I can already notice a difference in comfort handling the rifle! I also adjusted the scope position and it feels much better - except I noticed the eye relief changes with scope magnification. Do you guys think it is better to set it at optimum eye relief for half power, or perhaps 3/4 power to make it more comfortable in the upper range of magnification?
 
CostcoSamples said:
These are great! Definitely going to run these drills.

I've been taking 15 minutes every night to dry fire with some snap caps. I can already notice a difference in comfort handling the rifle! I also adjusted the scope position and it feels much better - except I noticed the eye relief changes with scope magnification. Do you guys think it is better to set it at optimum eye relief for half power, or perhaps 3/4 power to make it more comfortable in the upper range of magnification?
Click to expand...

Dare I say... "get a better scope".

:)

Bad me...

Jerry
 
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