New to Firearms

SurvivorRye

SurvivorRye

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Ontario
Hey Guys/Girls,

I'm brand new here and a noob when it comes to firearms. I challenged the CFSC test and passed it 100% on written and practical and then waited and waited and waited and finally got my license in the mail last week. :dancingbanana:

I pretty much immediately went and picked up a Savage 111 .300 Win Mag , mounted a Nikon Prostaff 3-9x40mm scope and signed up at the local gun club. I got that gun because of the price and the calibre, I wanted something that could pack a punch! :D

Anyways, I'm here to learn and take in any advice you have to give!

I'm interested in learning how to improve my accuracy. I took 14 shots when I went to the range the other day and I ended up doing ok for my first time. I think I need to relax a little more and not be so worried about the recoil, which ended up taking it's toll on my shoulder after only 14 shots lol. :D

Here's a video I took while at the range, once again feedback and opinions are always appreciated! :D

[youtube]KxxUnBpD7xA[/youtube]

Here's the groupings at 25, 100, and 185 yds. I ended up missing the paper completely with 2 shots at 185 yards.

DSC02945.jpg


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you need to relax a whole lot more, no flinching and hard trigger pulls. Im no expert compared to the guys who regularily post here but id say starting with a 300 win mag is way too big and will teach you really bad habits aswell as not letting you shoot often.
 
mikeman20 said:
you need to relax a whole lot more, no flinching and hard trigger pulls. Im no expert compared to the guys who regularily post here but id say starting with a 300 win mag is way too big and will teach you really bad habits aswell as not letting you shoot often.
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Thanks. :D Was I flinching? I didn't think so....
 
The first shot looks like I flinched a little bit...but I got used to it pretty quick. :D This video shows it pretty good:

[youtube]F7fESSLduI8[/youtube]

I think playing goalie helps since I'm used to people firing frozen rubber discs at me, if I don't flinch at that it should help with the 300 win mag! lol :D
 
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First get yourself a 22 LR and shoot it. 300 Winchester Magnum might be great for moose or whatever, but not what I would recommend to learn from. You are supporting your rifle on a box. Sand bag would be more appropriate, and it is a hunter bob stock so you should support it as close to the action as possible not up front as in the movie. The stock is flimsy probably pinching the barrel throwing harmonics off. You could also get rear bag to support the stock. Anyway most important advice is get a 22LR and shoot it and shoot some more. For the price of some ammo for your 300 you can buy a decent savage that you can actually learn something from.

Welcome to the forum now get out:) You should post your questions in the hunting subforum and not the precision rifle. Here people discuss precision shooting like benchrest and F-Class. While nobody here can agree on what a precision rifle is they can probably agree that yours is not. Good luck and enjoy the forums.
 
I don't want to put a crimp on your excitment at getting started and being new but by running out and buying the gun and scope you've already bypassed alot of the advice you would have gotten.
A large winney mag is usually a poor choice for a starter. Something smaller, cheaper to feed and easier to accept the recoil from would have been a better choice.
A decent .223 Rem will shoot a long way. It's easy / cheap to reload for and it won't have you flinching or quitting early due to bruises.
If you wanna knock something down a long way away you,ve bought the right caliber but it's not necessary for just target shooting.
The cheaper it is for you to shoot the more you CAN shoot and the better you'll get because of the extra trigger time.
Look into reloading, ask questions about it BEFORE you buy equipment and be safe.
Get out to the range and see what everyone else is using that's hitting bullseyes.
Ask questions at the range, make notes on what works for you and what doesn't.
Join your local prov. shooting body (o.r.a.) and get trigger time.
Put some weight on to make up for the bruises, laff.

M.
 
Thanks guys.

I don't think this will be the only rifle I ever own, and the wife is interested in shooting as well so I will probably pick up a smaller calibre rifle soon so she can shoot when she comes out to the range with me.

I work from home and sit on my computer most of the day, I bought this as a form of stress relief, I haven't had that much fun in a while! I will probably only get out a couple times a month as time permits so I want to have as much fun as possible, and for some reason bigger and more powerful seemed like more fun to me. lol This thing just puts a smile on your face when you shoot it!

And no bruising yet! LOL :D



* If a mod wants to move this to the appropriate section then by all means please do! :D
 
It's good to have you survivorrye. It's good you got yourself a decent set up right from the get go. I, aswell as some of the other posters, wouldn't have gone the way you did but if it works for you, well have fun man. I hope you got a good sims or limbsaver recoil pad on that big brute. If not, it's something to look into. Happy hunting.

Dorian
 
Welcome to the fraternity, have fun with the mag. Get your wife a 22 rimfire or 223 for starters much cheaper for you as well if shooting a lot. Remember your #### will fall off if you don`t get a m14 real soon.:p::D
 
You've received good advice about picking yourself up a decent .22LR. You will be able to shoot a lot more (no more sore shoulders or empty wallets) and you can perfect your technique. The .300WM will still be there when you feel like a wallop. And welcome to CGN! :)
 
At the risk of sounding like a nagging housewife I really must say you should get a decent set of earmuffs on top of those foam plugs.

Happy shooting!
 
Congratz or entering the wonderful world of shooting. Now get out and buy some smaller calibre rifles. Everyone should own a .22LR. Shoot it. Shoot it lots. Theirs also plenty of intermediate calibres like .223/.243/.308 between the .22 and .300WM. Any one of them can be shot cheaper and with considerable less recoil, meaning you shoot better and more.

And a +1 to the get better ear protection comment. As well as being better for the ears, they're easier to take on and off.
 
A 300 is a big piece of pie to start with, but you're groups look pretty darn good for someone starting out, and they'll only get better.
You'll get used to the recoil as long as you shoot regularly. As others have mentioned you may want something cheaper to practice with as well.

I love shooting my 300 and my 450, but I also shoot lighter calibres as much for cost to shoot as anything, and they're all fun and challenging. (when I got my first 300 and when I got my 450 they both took awhile to get used to, but both calibres are definitely worth it)

Just keep having fun.

Once you get the bench groups consistant, I'd suggest shooting standing, kneeling, and prone. Ain't no benches where the deer & antelope roam. :)
 
Dorian Gray said:
It's good to have you survivorrye. It's good you got yourself a decent set up right from the get go. I, aswell as some of the other posters, wouldn't have gone the way you did but if it works for you, well have fun man. I hope you got a good sims or limbsaver recoil pad on that big brute. If not, it's something to look into. Happy hunting.

Dorian
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Thanks Dorian! I know I will be picking up some more rifles soon...so I'll be looking around for advice here when I do! :D A recoil pad might be a good option but I don't find the recoil as bad now that I've put about 40 rounds down the barrel. Every little bit helps but if I was worried about recoil I would have bought a smaller calibre to begin with. :D

zupermann said:
Welcome aboard!! You should try some "black rifles" for the uber cool factor:)
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Thanks Zuperman! :D

dead meat said:
Welcome to the fraternity, have fun with the mag. Get your wife a 22 rimfire or 223 for starters much cheaper for you as well if shooting a lot. Remember your #### will fall off if you don`t get a m14 real soon.:p::D
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lol! :D

CV32 said:
You've received good advice about picking yourself up a decent .22LR. You will be able to shoot a lot more (no more sore shoulders or empty wallets) and you can perfect your technique. The .300WM will still be there when you feel like a wallop. And welcome to CGN! :)
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That's the plan! :D And thanks for the welcome! :D

Rickyy101 said:
At the risk of sounding like a nagging housewife I really must say you should get a decent set of earmuffs on top of those foam plugs.

Happy shooting!
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Yes that's on the ever-growing list! :D I just picked up some butler creek flip up scope caps and a bipod so the muffs may have to wait. :D

And thanks! :D

blasted_saber said:
Congratz or entering the wonderful world of shooting. Now get out and buy some smaller calibre rifles. Everyone should own a .22LR. Shoot it. Shoot it lots. Theirs also plenty of intermediate calibres like .223/.243/.308 between the .22 and .300WM. Any one of them can be shot cheaper and with considerable less recoil, meaning you shoot better and more.

And a +1 to the get better ear protection comment. As well as being better for the ears, they're easier to take on and off.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the welcome Blasted! I just bought a rifle! haha :D I plan on getting some more in the future, I don't think I can buy just one.... :D I'll probably check out a .22LR since the ammo is nice and cheap, and the wife can come out and shoot with me sometimes too!

Suka said:
A 300 is a big piece of pie to start with, but you're groups look pretty darn good for someone starting out, and they'll only get better.
You'll get used to the recoil as long as you shoot regularly. As others have mentioned you may want something cheaper to practice with as well.

I love shooting my 300 and my 450, but I also shoot lighter calibres as much for cost to shoot as anything, and they're all fun and challenging. (when I got my first 300 and when I got my 450 they both took awhile to get used to, but both calibres are definitely worth it)

Just keep having fun.

Once you get the bench groups consistant, I'd suggest shooting standing, kneeling, and prone. Ain't no benches where the deer & antelope roam. :)
Click to expand...

I have shot a lot of bb's in my day :D, I know it's not a powerful firearm by any means but I think it helped a little with technique.

Thanks for the words of encouragement! I did try some prone shots at the range, and I was even able to capture some vapour trails at 200 yards on my high-speed camera! :D

This is the biggest multi-reply I have ever done. :D
 
Keep your rifle clean. And personally, I believe you need to go old school before the M14. Grab a Marlin 336 or Win 94 in .30-30. And a 10/22 that you can make tacticool
 
If you put a break on the barrel it will help with recoil, but to shoot better there are a number of factors for example, breathing, how you grip rifle, in what fasion you are using the trigger and a whole lot more. Focussing on the basics with make you a better shooter. I shoot long range with my .300 win mag out to 1000 yards but my rifle is much easier on me due to it weighting in around 13 pounds it feels like a .308 with no break on it.
 
J_MIL_20 said:
Keep your rifle clean. And personally, I believe you need to go old school before the M14. Grab a Marlin 336 or Win 94 in .30-30. And a 10/22 that you can make tacticool
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Yes clean is good! I couldn't believe the crap that came out of it the first time I cleaned it (I bought it used). I think I'm going to pick up some Wipeout and give that a try to get rid of anything that's left in there.

garradh said:
If you put a break on the barrel it will help with recoil, but to shoot better there are a number of factors for example, breathing, how you grip rifle, in what fasion you are using the trigger and a whole lot more. Focussing on the basics with make you a better shooter. I shoot long range with my .300 win mag out to 1000 yards but my rifle is much easier on me due to it weighting in around 13 pounds it feels like a .308 with no break on it.
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The recoil isn't so bad I need a brake on it, maybe one day if it becomes painful but it's definitely tolerable as is. I think I'd rather get a new stock first.

I did just reduce the pull on my trigger though. I set it on a scale, the gun weighed in just under 7lbs with the scope mounted. I pressed down on the trigger until it clicked and noticed the scale said 13lbs. Makes sense since factory savage triggers are 6lbs. So I took the stock off and there was a little bolt in there you can turn that relieves or tightens the tension on the spring. I reduced that to about 3lbs now and I think that should help quite a bit, since I won't have to pull the trigger so much as press it now.

One thing I know I need to work on is getting my heart rate to slow down! I think my breathing technique is great but it's hard to control your heart rate! Got any tips?
 
Advice

SurvivorRye said:
Yes clean is good! I couldn't believe the crap that came out of it the first time I cleaned it (I bought it used). I think I'm going to pick up some Wipeout and give that a try to get rid of anything that's left in there.



The recoil isn't so bad I need a brake on it, maybe one day if it becomes painful but it's definitely tolerable as is. I think I'd rather get a new stock first.

I did just reduce the pull on my trigger though. I set it on a scale, the gun weighed in just under 7lbs with the scope mounted. I pressed down on the trigger until it clicked and noticed the scale said 13lbs. Makes sense since factory savage triggers are 6lbs. So I took the stock off and there was a little bolt in there you can turn that relieves or tightens the tension on the spring. I reduced that to about 3lbs now and I think that should help quite a bit, since I won't have to pull the trigger so much as press it now.

One thing I know I need to work on is getting my heart rate to slow down! I think my breathing technique is great but it's hard to control your heart rate! Got any tips?
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Slow, deep and steady breathing - the heart rate will follow. Practice the breathing when not shooting as well, that way it is familiar and doesn't become a distracting factor

Also - you may want to get out of the habit of lifting your head so soon after taking the shot. Try to re-acquire the target trough the scope; keeping your weak eye open will help in this regard. Get ready for a follow-up shot.
 
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