Guns

[Wade E]

Believe it or not but everytime you clean your rifle it will fire different so resighting after cleaning will improve results. My friend's brother is a sniper on Swat and professional caliber target shooter.

 

[upper]

For all intentents ann pourposes that is not true Wade.Unless you only clean your carboy every 20 batches. Just saying.......Upper

 

[Old Philosopher]

Believe it or not but everytime you clean your rifle it will fire different so resighting after cleaning will improve results....

Absolutely true, Wade. Check your sights before every hunting season, and then don't clean the bore until you're ready to hang it up 'til next year.
Also, if you're rifle is scoped, any unusual bump to the rifle warrants another trip to the range.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

I hand load all my own ammunition, to my own preferences. We hunt with a 22/250, and the heaviest bullet weight in factory loads is 55 gr. (Only 15 gr more than a .22 LR!) I load a 70 gr SP. In the field, the difference is obvious.


There's a lot to be said for visiting the target range before each season.

agreed. i had visited the range, but we traveled to get to my families property the night before going out.

i wish i had a hard case for it. it shoots amazingly accurate once sited in. always clean it before siting it in! i was lucky enought that the deer had trouble gathering what direction the shots were fired from.

does repacking the bullets make the less accurate or powerfull? i wonder as the casing wouldn't be "fresh" anymore.

 

[Old Philosopher]

... it shoots amazingly accurate once sited in. always clean it before siting it in!...

When you're sighting in for the season, put that first round from a clean barrel anywhere down range, but don't count it. Then zero your weapon with a dirty barrel, then don't clean it until you're done for the year. As was stated previously, a bullet performs differently from a clean bore.

does repacking the bullets make the less accurate or powerfull? i wonder as the casing wouldn't be "fresh" anymore.

I've been reloading for about 40 years. The reason I reload is the cartridges I turn out are more accurate, and often more powerful than "factory loads". I can control the grains in the powder load down to .01 of a grain. Bulk loads from the factory are never that precise. By varying the amount of powder, and the type of powder, I can make them faster or slower than factory loads, depending upon what I want them to do. I have brass (cases) that have been reloaded a half dozen times over 20 years. As long as they are inspected and measured, they are as good as new.
A new box of cartridges for my 300 H&H right now runs about $65. My reloads cost me about $5.

 

[arcticsid]

Here ya there O.P. if we can't afford to eat, grow it. Can't afford to shhot it, pack em yourself. Can't afford to drink tea....grow it. My buddy just bought a box of rot gut .45acp, almost 70 skins, better make it grow, load it, and smoke it, sure doesn't look like we can afford to buy it

 

[Mud]

One year I took a bad fall on the ice. So did the gun. It re-zero'd ok, and a little later I gut shot a deer at 60 yards. Thought I flubbed it, but the next day I had a good hold on another deer (bonus tag) and hit it in the knee, then the liver. Worst season of my life. It turned out the scope was broken and held just long enough to make me think it was ok. That was the last year I hunted with that rifle. Not because the scope was broken, but because I was dumb. Wish it was still mine. It was a Marlin lever action 30/30.

Incidentally, the lever action is the only truly American action-type. All others came from Europe. I think. Probably. Don't quote that. Nevermind.

 

[Old Philosopher]

I must have trained my kid right. My 15 year old shot his deer this evening, and after the dust settled, he handed me the empty brass! Waste not, want not!
$70 for .45 ACP??? My eyes are still watering.

 

[arcticsid]

No offence here intended. Any gun is only going to stay sighted in for"x" amount of time.

Handling, shooting. cleaning. All these things may be factors on the accuracy, but I am willing to bet, it's all in "the eye of the beshooter"!

If you want to shoot it, make sure it goes where you aimed. Go out and shoot as much as you can/afford!!

I'm not buying the cleaning idea, but I know for a fact, while cleaning my guns, I have knocked it out of "sighting", but that was definitely me, the gun itself shot the same, but not in my direction.

Troy

 

[arcticsid]

O.P., can't top that. Nothing else to say. In the words of UPPER..."dig it".

 

[upper]

I can hit wine bottles in the air from the hip with my 22 ruger single six.Of coarse they are reloads fired from a clean barrel,wood barrel,light toast Dig it.....Upper

 

[Old Philosopher]

Was there a wine tasting seminar tonight, and y'all didn't invite me?

 

[Mud]

Boy's first gun

My oldest son will be 6 this spring and I'd like to get him his own .22. Any suggestions? I've seen Cricket .22's in the sporting goods store but am unsure of the quality. Are there any other options?

-Mud

 

[Old Philosopher]

My oldest son will be 6 this spring and I'd like to get him his own .22. Any suggestions? I've seen Cricket .22's in the sporting goods store but am unsure of the quality. Are there any other options?

-Mud

IMHO, 6 is a little young to be shopping for a .22 rimfire. Not too young to teach to shoot, and safety protocol, though.
I'd be looking for a single-shot pellet rifle that is light enough for him to hold properly. Something like a breach break, spring actuated rifle. Once he learns proper handling, muzzle control, etc., and depending upon how fast he grows, step up to a .22 when he's strong enough to hold it. Don't get a "youth" rifle; get one you can easily get a replacement stock for, and cut down the original stock to fit him. Then he has an action that will satisfy him all his life, and the stock can grow with him.

I'll bore you with a short story:
My Grandfather taught me to shoot when I was 10-11. We had a Mod 52 Winchester pump with a peep sight. After I was good enough to hit pop bottle tops off the fence at 25 paces, he told me I was ready to go hunt rabbits. Wheee! I ran to the gun cabinet and grabbed the pump. He took it away from me asking, "What are you doing?"
"We're going hunting! We're going hunting!", I answered.
He put the 15 shot pump rifle back in the cabinet, and handed me the old Savage single-shot .22.
"This is your hunting rifle," he explained, "As good a shot as you are, if you can't get the rabbit in one shot, the rabbit 'wins'!"
He was a good teacher, in more ways than one.

 

[Mud]

We're practicing with a pellet gun regularly as it is. He's doing well at safety and is coming along on aiming. Slowly. We started with a 1x scope as he had a terrible time getting the sights aligned. Right now he can hit a paper plate at 30 feet consistently. Another 6 months of practice and he might be ready for a rifle. I won't give it to him if not. Don't mean to be dismissive. He is pretty young. But he won't get it until he's ready.

-Mud

 

[Old Philosopher]

We're practicing with a pellet gun regularly as it is. He's doing well at safety and is coming along on aiming. Slowly. We started with a 1x scope as he had a terrible time getting the sights aligned. Right now he can hit a paper plate at 30 feet consistently. Another 6 months of practice and he might be ready for a rifle. I won't give it to him if not. Don't mean to be dismissive. He is pretty young. But he won't get it until he's ready.

-Mud

Cool! I stand by what I said about getting a common brand .22 that can be re-stocked, if necessary, down the road. I know my youngest son got a little turned off in the beginning, because (out of necessity) we were trying to fit him to the rifle, instead of fitting the rifle to him. The weight was another factor. I failed to take that into consideration because I never went through that. I was 5'11" and 195 pounds when I was 12, so it wasn't a problem using an "adult" length rifle.
Sounds like you have him on a good program.
I'm sure I'm not telling you anything you don't know, but my first shopping stop would be a local pawn shop.
Another thing that's obvious is kids like to win. Bench shooting isn't "real life", but hitting the target all the time is encouraging. My son favored the sitting or prone positions, since off-hand shooting was difficult with the rifle he had to use.

 

[Greenman]

I have been a Weapons Technician in the Canadian Military for over 20 years. Have bought and sold dozens of weapons over the course of my career. Alas, I have spent so many years with weapons as my job, I am pretty much ho-hum about them all now. It was a fun career though

 

[Old Philosopher]

I have been a Weapons Technician in the Canadian Military for over 20 years. Have bought and sold dozens of weapons over the course of my career. Alas, I have spent so many years with weapons as my job, I am pretty much ho-hum about them all now. It was a fun career though

I made the comment on another site that when an avocation becomes a vocation, it sorta takes the fire out.

 

[Maestro]

So after digging through old posts here I stumble upon this thread. My wife and I are avid gun enthusiasts and shooters. I love talkin' guns with people and hitting the range whenever possible. I just recently finished building my first AR-15. I took my time with it and built it to mil-specs. So, here's our arsenal as of now...(not afraid to share it with the group here)

Daniel Defense/LMT AR-15 Carbine Length 5.56
Savage Rifle .270
Mossberg 935 UltiMag Pump Shotgun 12 ga.
S&W Sigma .40
Sig Sauer P6 9mm
Ceska Zbrojovka CZ-82 9x18mm Makarov
Taurus PT1911 in stainless steel finish .45 Auto
MPA Mini-Defender 9mm

In the works is another AR-15 for the wife and a .50 BMG for me. Get some!

 

[Old Philosopher]

We were looking to pick up a Marlin XL7 in .30-06 as a graduation present for my son, but not sure the piggy bank can handle it right now. He'll have one by hunting season, though!