Should I use my hunting rifle for target shooting?

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hot_reuben

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So I’ve recently discovered I’m not as good a shot as I should be, and I want to get better. I figure the best way to do that is to shoot more. I shoot a Sako Finnlight and I’m hesitant to take it to a range and put 20+ rounds through it a couple times a month because it’s a light gun and the barrel tends to heat up pretty quick. Am I worrying about nothing? Or should I look at a dedicated target rifle to get my practice in?
 
It is your rifle, and you can shoot it as much or as little as you want. You've identified the critical weakness is not the rifle (as far as you know), but the Butt Nut needs tightening. I wouldn't suggest you try to shoot a full match course of fire, but make a sincere effort to get to know what you are holding across your chest.

Once I had a whiz-bang combination 300 Win Mag that was going to do everything I wanted. I had some ammo, a place to hunt, had my gear, organized my share of the work for the hunting party. Great! Out to a friend's place. Fired some groups. Ok size, but tolerable. In for a penny, in for a pound, I fired the rest of the boxes. Crap! I kept getting fliers and the group weren't behaving to how I was twisting the knobs or aiming. Stop then. Consider the problem. It seems the recoil had shocked the Tasco scope and no wonder it was shooting awful; the recticle was damaged. Found some more money for another scope and ammo. Back out. Phew! Big relief when it did what I wanted and stayed consistent for as long as I owned that rifle. My lesson was - distrust everything until proven wrong.
 
Attilathecanuk said:
I put 50-100 rounds through my main hunting rifle every month. I want to be sure I am confident and comfortable with every rifle I take hunting. Plus they are fun to shoot lol
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Same here, I also have a .22 that’s pretty similar to my one hunting rifle. Same style of stock and heavy barrel, I use it as my training rifle as I can shoot a lot more .22 for the price of a box of hunting ammo. Aside from felt recoil the fundamentals are the same, ergos are nearly identical to my hunting rifle and I hunt small game with my .22 as well.
 
Most hunting is done from a cold barrel.

Try to make your training as close to that as possible. I have one rifle with a light barrel. The groups open up after 7 or 8 shots unless I let it cool off a bit after 3 or 4 shots.

Some of the fanatic hunter at my club have even installed a refrigerator to cool their rifles simulate a cold fall hunt condition.
 
If I was worried about shooting 20-40 rounds slow fire, I would get a different rifle.
Mind you if it kicks the hell out of you , well same answer. I had a 270 one time, I could not get use to that rifle.
 
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I shoot my kimber mountain ascent at the the range a lot, especially for load development. I also practice long range shooting out in the bush. The only way to become a competent shooter is to practice. I have several rifles, none of them are heavy barrelled target rifle's. Allow your barrel to cool between shots.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, basically this is exactly what I’m looking for, just someone to tell me it’s fine to put 100 rounds thorough my expensive hunting rifle. It’s a Finnlight in 30-06 so the kick isn’t nothing, but it’s manageable. I’ve mostly just felt like it wasn’t a good idea to heat the barrel up with repeated shooting, but if I take my time and let it cool between groups that shouldn’t be an issue.

Pretty much just want to get comfortable shooting out 300-400 yds, and shooting from different positions. There’s a story behind that desire, it involves a missed deer on opening day, but I’ll save that for the Hunting forum. Thanks
 
Butcherbill said:
Same here, I also have a .22 that’s pretty similar to my one hunting rifle. Same style of stock and heavy barrel, I use it as my training rifle as I can shoot a lot more .22 for the price of a box of hunting ammo. Aside from felt recoil the fundamentals are the same, ergos are nearly identical to my hunting rifle and I hunt small game with my .22 as well.
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I purpose a similar route.
Myself I own two 788 rifles.
My primary deer rifle is the 308 however the 222 is my off season rifle. I sometimes felt I should have located a 541-T to complete this circle.

However a small bore Mauser appeared instead.
 
maple_leaf_eh said:
It is your rifle, and you can shoot it as much or as little as you want. You've identified the critical weakness is not the rifle (as far as you know), but the Butt Nut needs tightening. I wouldn't suggest you try to shoot a full match course of fire, but make a sincere effort to get to know what you are holding across your chest.

Once I had a whiz-bang combination 300 Win Mag that was going to do everything I wanted. I had some ammo, a place to hunt, had my gear, organized my share of the work for the hunting party. Great! Out to a friend's place. Fired some groups. Ok size, but tolerable. In for a penny, in for a pound, I fired the rest of the boxes. Crap! I kept getting fliers and the group weren't behaving to how I was twisting the knobs or aiming. Stop then. Consider the problem. It seems the recoil had shocked the Tasco scope and no wonder it was shooting awful; the recticle was damaged. Found some more money for another scope and ammo. Back out. Phew! Big relief when it did what I wanted and stayed consistent for as long as I owned that rifle. My lesson was - distrust everything until proven wrong.
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Has been my thinking and experience, exactly!! When it breaks or messes up, I want to be on a range shooting at targets, not after many hours walking into no-where. 100 shots at the range - pretty sure it will be working for shot #101. 3 shots at range?? Not so confident about shot #4...
 
Target practice with the rifle you are going to use for hunting is most relevant to the hunting you will do with that rifle. But if you are worried about the wear from shooting thousands of practice rounds use a .22 rimfire for much of your practice and at the shoot a group with the hunting rifle to see if you are maintaining or improving your accuracy with it.
 
Definitely, I shoot all kinds of stuff during the off season, but for a couple months before the moose opener I shoot my handful of hunting rifles almost exclusively. Starting off the bench to ensure zeros are where I want them. I'll shoot off the bench more if I'm testing handloads as well. Once I'm good and happy with everything from the bench, I'll practice off-hand shots because everyone could use more practice.

When I go to the range I'll hang a whole bunch of targets on the stand. That way I can fire off a magazine from one rifle, set it down to cool off, and pick up on of my other ones and shoot a string with that. Hate sitting around waiting for barrels to cool, this way I keep busy with the others.
 
As a few have said if you were to toss your spare change every week into a jar, you'd probably have enough to replace the barrel by the time you wear it out. A quality rimfire can offset the costs of ammunition and spare some wear while allowing you to focus upon the basics of marksmanship without the recoil or other distracting forces.
 
Generally speaking, I will have 200 rounds on a hunting rifle at the range before it is hunting ready, between load development, scope zeroing and trajectory confirmation. After that it is just confirming POI before hunts or rezeroing after a scope change. My dedicated hunting keepers probably have 500 - 600 rounds on them, they will still last the rest of my life.
 
You need to practice with your hunting rifle to insure that you are competent and capable of using it effectively out to the 300 - 400 yards you mentioned.
I would suggest that acquiring the skill to effectively use a hunting rifle under field conditions at unknown distances out to 400 yards is going to take some effort, and careful practice.
Shooting a target rifle on a known distance range is all very well, but it is not the same thing.
If you are worried about overheating your barrel, shoot three shot groups, and let the barrel cool. And don't shoot them all from a bench on a known distance range.
Once you have a solid zero, and a good idea of the trajectory out to the maximum range at which you expect to develop competence, practice under field conditions using field positions.
 
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