Rifle practice with large calibers and expensive ammo.

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delboybc

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Hi All

I have been doing a bit of practice with the rifle in anticipation for hunting season in a few weeks and it got me thinking about how much practice to do with the 22lr compared to shooting the rifle I will be using (30-06). I find I hit a sweet spot were too much shooting of the 30-06 affects my performance.

I was wondering what people do who shoot large calibers like the 375 H&H were recoil is significant and your almost looking at $5 a shot for factory ammo, cannot imagine that someone is putting lots of bullets down range for practice, do you just limit your shooting distance or do you find the practice you do with small calibers transfers across.
 
cast or EE bullets will help you to save sometimes ...

i got very good 9.3 and 375 here to practise (hornady and speer) that i wont use for hunting but good for plinking ...
 
delboybc said:
I find I hit a sweet spot were too much shooting of the 30-06 affects my performance.
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Everybody has a limit as to how much noise and recoil they can tolerate. The tolerance will increase the more you shoot, but there's still a limit. When you find yourself flinching or losing your concentration, quit the centrefire for the day and go back to the .22 and remind your nervous system that shooting is supposed to be fun. Dry firing helps tremendously too.
 
Here are a few tips:

For starters, handloading will significantly reduce your cost of ammo, and you can use cheap bullets for practice then rezero with hunting ammo prior to hunting.

A .22LR is a great training aid, but the best tool for training for hunting is a .223, preferably in the same style rifle that your hunting rifle is. Buy 1000 rounds of .223 for $500 and you can shoot as much as you want every range session, and it gives you meaningful centerfire hunting rifle experience.

Going to the range more often but shooting less ammunition at each visit will reduce your chances of developing a flinch.

A good hunting rifle practice regime can look like this- In the months preceding hunting season, go to the range at least once a week. SHoot some 22LR. Shoot 10 .223. Shoot 2-3 30-06. Then put the 30-06 away for a bit and use the other 2 rifles. FInish up with a few more rounds of 30-06. Go home and come back soon. Any similar variation works well.

The most I put through a 375 Ruger at one sitting at the bench was 36 rounds, while working up a couple of loads. The 375 Ruger doesn't have punishing recoil, but it is indeed cumulative, and the last half dozen rounds I had to really concentrate to make sure I wasn't going to flinch. Most I've shot form my 50 BMG was 8 in a row, then decided I needed a bit of a break. :)
 
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Most people have a limit. One guy runs out of recoil tolerance, the next guy runs out of concentration, and the next guy runs out of money. Its human nature to think that whatever stops you affects everyone the same way but it really doesn't. Every serious volume shooter I know has a lot of money, and some border on recoil proof. Nothing much is going to stop these guys, and when the store shelves are bare they can still go for years.

There is a certain amount of cross-over between rifles. A .22 can help with your form, and cast loads are a cheaper practice load with a less recoil. Some things just cant be simulated; long range shooting is going to take a pile of the same ammo. Think thousands of rounds. If you want to learn how to rapid fire a big-bore as casually as a .243 its going to take a serious commitment. It makes long range look cheap, so if you can learn to shoot with something cheaper do it.
 
The cost of becoming good at anything is expensive........golf, archery, trap, pistol, racing ANYTHING, whatever. Chances are you will never attain a high level of proficiency at center fire rifle unless you handload, and I don't find rimfire shooting to cross over much. Yes it is good for the basics of shooting, trigger control, sight alignment and follow through. But it will never desensitize you for centerfire shooting and shooting an '06 will never get you familiar with the recoil of the mid bores, and the biggies are a good step up from the mediums. The reality is if you want to be extremely proficient with rifles in the 458 WM-500 NE class you must shoot these rifles often and a lot. I have regularly shot 50 rounds from my .470 NE in an afternoon, but this is after 40 years of shooting 375H&H and up. I'm not super human and am of fairly regular size and build, a little heftier now than 20 years ago, but that's no help with recoil, but I have pretty much totally desensitized myself to recoil, in fact I love it. The more rock 'n roll the better, as far as I'm concerned.
But your concern is the cost, and yes it is expensive, very expensive, but most hobbies are unless you're a basket weaver or crochet nut. I shudder to think what I have spent on loading components in the past 45 years that I have handloaded, and that would be only a fraction of what I have spent hunting.......fun is expensive !!!
 
delboybc said:
...I was wondering what people do who shoot large calibers like the 375 H&H were recoil is significant and your almost looking at $5 a shot for factory ammo....
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I handload my .416's for less than $2 per round which makes frequent practice more feasible compared to $5 per factory round. :sok2

416%20cal%20projectiles_zpsk9cburqn.jpg


416%20RM%20Carbine_b_zps3zvf5ttr.jpg

Zastava Carbine .416 Remington Magnum

Ruger_416_Alaskan_Nikon15x45Monarch_zps1c7d449d.jpg

.416 Ruger Alaskan
 
Hand load and cast.
Doug is right...fun is expensive. trucks guns and women. They'll keep you broke lol

The best practices are to change your life style. Sacrafice where you can. Give up a daily coffee. Pass on a night at the club. Car pool to work. If you want it bad enough any thing is possible
 
Gatehouse said:
Here are a few tips:

For starters, handloading will significantly reduce your cost of ammo, and you can use cheap bullets for practice then rezero with hunting ammo prior to hunting.

A .22LR is a great training aid, but the best tool for training for hunting is a .223, preferably in the same style rifle that your hunting rifle is. Buy 1000 rounds of .223 for $500 and you can shoot as much as you want every range session, and it gives you meaningful centerfire hunting rifle experience.

Going to the range more often but shooting less ammunition at each visit will reduce your chances of developing a flinch.

A good hunting rifle practice regime can look like this- In the months preceding hunting season, go to the range at least once a week. SHoot some 22LR. Shoot 10 .223. Shoot 2-3 30-06. Then put the 30-06 away for a bit and use the other 2 rifles. FInish up with a few more rounds of 30-06. Go home and come back soon. Any similar variation works well.

The most I put through a 375 Ruger at one sitting was 36 rounds, while working up a couple of loads. The 375 Ruger doesn't have punishing recoil, but it is indeed cumulative, and the last half dozen rounds I had to really concentrate to make sure I wasn't going to flinch. Most I've shot form my 50 BMG was 8 in a row, then decided I needed a bit of a break. :)
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.... this is the advice OP should be following imo.
 
reloading saves a lot on the practice ammo. with some searching for cheep components my "plinking" 30-06 fmj load is under 60cents a shot. another thing that lots of guys seem to miss when out practicing is get off the bench! standing up soaks up a pile of felt recoil and hones skills that will actually be useful in hunting situations.
 
You need to handload to be proficient with the big bores. The cost would be stupid to try and do it with factory ammo, never mind availability.

As Doug says, even with handload, fun costs money.
 
Yeah, fun costs money. One thing that always strikes me as funny is how most rifle shooters, even those that consider themselves enthusiasts don't really shoot that much. Shotgunners, handgunners, even the SKS crowd think of 100O rounds as nothing and they shoot them like kid with a pellet gun. Rifle guys would rather talk about their guns than burn up one of their precious cartridges. Of course, there are exceptions but they tend to be rare.
 
Dogleg said:
Yeah, fun costs money. One thing that always strikes me as funny is how most rifle shooters, even those that consider themselves enthusiasts don't really shoot that much. Shotgunners, handgunners, even the SKS crowd think of 100O rounds as nothing and they shoot them like kid with a pellet gun. Rifle guys would rather talk about their guns than burn up one of their precious cartridges. Of course, there are exceptions but they tend to be rare.
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Let's remember that if shotguns shells were a few bucks a pull, not many guys would be shooting skeet either.
 
heronfish said:
Let's remember that if shotguns shells were a few bucks a pull, not many guys would be shooting skeet either.
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True, but if you add up the total dollars trap and skeet shooters still put almost all hunters to shame. A kid with an SKS will too. Theres always a excuse, not enough time, saving the barrel (for what?) too much money.
 
Dogleg said:
True, but if you add up the total dollars trap and skeet shooters still put almost all hunters to shame. A kid with an SKS will too. Theres always a excuse, not enough time, saving the barrel (for what?) too much money.
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No you're right there. I fall into that boat too. Shooting paper with my hunting rifle is dreadfully boring, but I'll buy cases of shotgun shells.
Then again my lever action rossi goes through a few thousand rounds a year.
 
tbrwlf said:
I have a 338 Edge, 7 Rem Mag, and a 375 Ruger.

Two words "Muzzle Break"

It is amazing the difference it makes
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Yah, the difference is amazing. You can take any old rifle and make the guys on either side of you think you are a d-bag.

Brakes have their place, but it's on 50bmg and 338 lapua, not a 7mag hunting rifle... i was ready to slap my buddy for putting a brake on his sks because they really suck for the people around the shooter...
 
heronfish said:
No you're right there. I fall into that boat too. Shooting paper with my hunting rifle is dreadfully boring, but I'll buy cases of shotgun shells.
Then again my lever action rossi goes through a few thousand rounds a year.
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Shooting steel put the fun back in shooting hunting rifles and long range rifles for me. We seldom shoot closer than 300 and if so its usually offhand. There's a lot of advantages over paper, not the least of which are instant feedback and instant gratification. Sort of like busting clays.
 
Suther said:
Yah, the difference is amazing. You can take any old rifle and make the guys on either side of you think you are a d-bag.

Brakes have their place, but it's on 50bmg and 338 lapua, not a 7mag hunting rifle... i was ready to slap my buddy for putting a brake on his sks because they really suck for the people around the shooter...
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Muzzlebrake guy doesn't care.
 
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