Bought my first rifle, now what?

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Nikuser

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Hi all,

Incontinence (suposed to read "I", not sure how my phone autocorrected to that) come from a family of hunters or firearm people. I don't really know anyone who hunt, but i want to learn. That's why I'm here reading and talking to you.

Yesterday, after far too much research, I bought my first rifle. A Weatherby Vanguard 2 DBM IN .270

My question to you all is, now what?

The scope is bore sighted.

How do I clean it?
How well do I need to clean it?
How do I break it in?

Today I purchased the necessary cleaning paraphernalia. Hooke's no. 9 oil, cleaner, rod, patches, wire brush, cotton brush.

Do you have references you can share with me?

Thanks.
 
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Since its only bore sighted, take it out and sight I'm the scope. Lots of good you tube videos on how to do this
 
Nikuser said:
Hi all,

Incontinence come from a family of hunters or firearm people. I'm don't really know anyone who hunt, but i want to learn. That's why I'm here reading and talking to you.

Yesterday, after far too much research, I bought my first rifle. A Weatherby Vanguard 2 DBM IN .270

My question to you all is, now what?

The scope is bore sighted.

How do I clean it?
How well do I need to clean it?
How do I break it in?

Today I purchased the necessary cleaning paraphernalia. Hooke's no. 9 oil, cleaner, rod, patches, wire brush, cotton brush.

Do you have references you can share with me?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Go out and shoot it. Get it sighted in. Maybe take out a.craigslist or Kijiji ad, looking for a direct local, physically present mentor/shooting /hunting partner, rather than relyy on unknown internet sources. When asked boxer or briefs>>>>answer depends. This will go a long ways to explain the smell, since you are incontinent.

Sorry bout that. Given your location, I am betting English isn't your first language.....or you have a hyperactive autocorrect. Funniest autocorrect oops I have seen for awhile.
 
Shoot it!

I wouldn't worry too much about cleaning a bolt action beforehand, just run a couple of patches down the bore and go.


tarcher said:
sell it and buy a different one then do it again, lol
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Definitely don't take this advise. Nothing at all wrong with a Vanguard 2, and .270 (Despite all the crap it gets here... Seems like people like obscure, expensive cartridges) is a great choice.
 
You bought yourself a quality gun that will last you into your senior hunting years. I own over 30 hunting rifles and of those, 3 are now Vanguards.
Prepare to shoot with several things. FIRST AND FOREMOST: GET REALLY GOOD HEARING PROTECTION, along with a pair of eye shields/Safety glasses.
secondly, decide what kind of game you wish to hunt. If you don't want to hunt until you become more proficient with your gun, that's good too. (I say this to help narrow down which type of ammo to buy, as I shoot the same type of ammo I hunt with)
Get something stable to shoot from (either a rifle cradle, a bi-pod, or a sandbag to steady the rifle while shooting and zeroing your scope)
A normal method to "break in your gun" would be to buy the cheapest box of ammo you can find. Shoot a round. Clean gun until patches come out almost clean.......you'll never get the patches completely clean, so don't fret over that). Do this shot/clean routine for 10 shots. Then clean every 2 shots for the last 10 rounds of the cheap 20 shot box.
Once you have this done, you can commence to sight-in your scope. Use a NEW target (without piles of holes from a previous shooter. If you cannot find a clean, new target, break out a roll of cheap Xmas or wrapping paper. Cover your target in new paper, so that any of your first shots (that probably won't be on the target) will still be able to be seen. This one step has saved me Tons of money and time.
Remove your scope windage/elevation caps. Shoot 3 shots. Once you have your first "group", you can adjust the crosshairs toward the bullseye according to how far your first group is from there. I would definately , definately try to have another shooter with you. It helps to have someone to show you how to adjust the reticle the first time.
Take your time with your shots during sighting in. Leave 5 or so minutes between shots. This is so you don't overheat the barrel with quick shots. As a barrel heats up, it curves towards the area of the barrel that is uncovered. (upwards) and this will give your shots a vertical dispersion, which is not indicitive of how your gun will shoot normally. All guns string shots a bit when the barrels start to heat. If you try to adjust the scope to meet a hot barrels point of impact, your scope will never actually be pointing where a bullet will go when you shoot with a cold barrel (how it normally is when you hunt). If you are a bit time limited while you are at the range, I sometimes take an airbed inflator and a few bottles of cold water. It pour cold water on the barrels (sometimes.........on 29 Celcius days) and aim the blowing air down the bore in between shots to cool off the barrel a bit quicker.
Any more questions, we love to help.
 
Bore sighting is roughed in, now you need to sight it.
So..
Take your cleaning kit, use a patch with Hoppes on the little hook part at the end of the rod, push from action to muzzle, then remove the patch. Remove rod and do it again, twice with new patches, no cleaner. Then once more with gun oil, followed by one dry.

Your gun is clean.

Find your shooting spot and put a target 25yd out. Fire 2 rounds. Enjoy the rush. If they hit near center of paper, move the paper to 100yd. Fire a round, aimed at centre of target.

At 100 yards;
If you miss 4 inches low and 3 inches right, adjust.
The top turret adjust up and down, in this case you'd adjust 4 moa up, or likely 16 "clicks" up.
The turret on the right side of the scope is left/right, windage. You'd adjust 3 moa left, or 12 "clicks" left.
The turrets have arrows and or labeled up/down left/right.

Start slow and methodical, but more important, enjoy it.
If scope adjustments become frustrating, stop. Take a breather and ask for help.

There's also nothing wrong with just firing the gun at 25 yards, just to learn it.

Use a safe backstop for everything.

Concentrate on keeping your eyes/eye open, from start to finish. The noise and recoil will tell your body to close your eyes. Resist.

Good luck
 
Just so you know.........a M.O.A is considered "minute-of-angle" which roughly translates to a 1" distance at 100 yards. So a gun that shoots 1 moa can put 3 or 5 shots all in a 1" or less cluster at 100, a 2" cluster at 200, etc. This seems to be the "gold standard" for hunting rifles, but any hunting rifle that can put 5 shots into 1.5-2" is more than adequate for anything but the longest shots. 9x19p mentioned something important. A 270 is a fairly powerful round, so if it is your first gun, it may induce a flinch(closing your eyes during the shot, which means you won't hit what you aimed at when they were open). This is something that everyone has to master if you shoot anything bigger than a .243 winchester. It is startling to hear 60 grains of gunpowder go off in your hands. Do not be afraid of the gun. IF you hold it tightly, and don't let it fly backwards, you have no worry. BUT, if you hold it like a silk hanky, you run the risk of the scope edge contacting your eye socket. (scope eye) I have seen this happen 5 different times. Everytime, it was because the person didn't know exactly how powerful the gun was they were holding, or they held it with one hand. Respect the power. Hold it firmly.
Generally, 25 yards is the best distance to start as the bullet often hits roughly the same spot on a target at 25 and 100 yards. (It flies at a slight upward angle upon release from the barrel and comes back down as it hits 100 yards at generally the same height. So, it you are close to the bullseye at 25, you should be close at 100.
 
I'm trying to wrap my brain around the "Incontinence" part of your opening line. But ... in the meantime ...

Take your gun out to the range and sight it in properly. I come from a family of hunters, but I only ever go out once or maybe twice a year and only with my dad. If he wasn't around, I wouldn't actually hunt at all. But I have a few hunting rifles that I just like to take out to the range or to my brother-in-law's farm and just target practice shooting targets at various distances. I find it a very mindful activity that brings me a sense of well being and helps to centre me. You don't need to hunt to find a pleasure or meaning in the practice of shooting firearms.
 
I wasn't sure what you were talking about, until I realized I had made an autocorrect error in my post. Had a nice laugh about it.

Thanks for your input. I'll try to find someone who can guide me locally.
 
Nikuser said:
I wasn't sure what you were talking about, until I realized I had made an autocorrect error in my post. Had a nice laugh about it.

Thanks for your input. I'll try to find someone who can guide me locally.
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Try the good staff at Dante Sport. Congrats on your first rifle. It is a solid choice.
 
Nikuser said:
Hi all,

Incontinence (suposed to read "I", not sure how my phone autocorrected to that) come from a family of hunters or firearm people. I don't really know anyone who hunt, but i want to learn. That's why I'm here reading and talking to you.

Yesterday, after far too much research, I bought my first rifle. A Weatherby Vanguard 2 DBM IN .270

My question to you all is, now what?

The scope is bore sighted.

How do I clean it?
How well do I need to clean it?
How do I break it in?

Today I purchased the necessary cleaning paraphernalia. Hooke's no. 9 oil, cleaner, rod, patches, wire brush, cotton brush.

Do you have references you can share with me?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

My opinions are similar to others but here I go.

Before you shoot I would do a pull through of barrel and wipe everything down to make sure all the factory oil/grease is off it.

Then shoot it. Be aware that bore sighting only gets you close to zero. There will probably be a bunch of adjusting. So bring the tools needed to tighten the scope rings and adjust the turrets. Same applies for iron sights. A Leatherman will probably have everything you need. Then shoot till your broke, unfortunately it won't take long since 270 is pricey

After shooting I always clean my guns but you don't have to. Its not going to blow up or rust out. Some people will tell you cleaning it will reduce accuracy, I think its too minor to notice if that is true. Don't take the scope off, that will screw up all the sighting in you did. Your cleaning paraphernalia is plenty adequate. I start with the barrel, Pull through the brush once or twice. then pull through a patch with cleaner on it through then some with out. To clean the rest just wipe everything you can reach by hand with cleaner on a patch and end with a dry cloth. You can put a persevering oil on it but a modern gun with modern ammo its not needed. Again with modern ammo and a bolt gun it won't even be that dirty. Most of the dirty bits just fly out the muzzle when shooting.

Like I said the cleaning tools you have a plenty adequate but if you want to get fancy bore snakes do work well. Some people say they will scratch the barrel but I think that is a load of crap. I have recently discovered cleaning jags. (seen below) they work fantastic. I am crazy about having a super clean gun so this is not needed at all. Just to state again nothing will happen if you don't clean it. Make it as clean as you want. Keeping in mind that at some point a never cleaned gun will jam, loose accuracy and have a sticky bolt.
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Don't worry about breaking it in. Just shoot it and enjoy

Some extras:

- reloading does save you money AFTER you break even. I recommend learning with a lee loader classic. Its cheap, simple, portable and it works. It is safe, I use them all the time. It really is not that much more work to use. unless you want to make hundreds or thousands of round at a time. Considering you bought a 270 spending hundreds on a press is silly. Just my opinion, remember reloading is suppose to be cheaper

- A cheap Canadian tire safe is plenty fine but if you want to cheap out these trigger locks can be had at the canadaammo website. They are cheap and meet the minimum for locking a gun
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