Guy at the gunshop said its Too much of a rifle for me...

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I have seen one of those being shot in F Class at 1000 yards.
It did ok but not up to full house match rifles... of twice the price.
Of course that might have been the shooter, not the rifle.
Size doesn't matter, you will be shooting prone or off a bench.

Is money a consideration?
Rifle $1606.
Scope $1000 (8-25X Leupold like I use.)
Add for scope mounts, bipod/rest, lots of little accessories and knick-nacks.

You don't mention handloading:
1000 rounds Black Hills .300 W.M. $2200
 
Never let some one damper your dreams or goals, that so so expert in the gun shop just cost him and his boss some big bucks. Go get it, shoot it enjoy it. What the heck if it don't work out for you trade it and try something else.
Good luck in your venture.
 
I think that if a new shooter starts out with something as punishing as a 300 Win Mag, that He/She would more than likely develop a terrible flinch.
I am not in the camp of skip the BB Gun and go streight to the .50 Cal myself.
I think a person needs to work up to a powerfull rifle.
 
The rifle you have chosen comes with muzzle brake.......at least according to the pic. That should bring the recoil down to about .308 Win. or less. Inexpensive ammo is available at w-mart (remington). The good stuff will cost you a lot more. Just get yourself set up with some reloading equipment, buy the cheap stuff for getting used to firing the rifle and reload the spent casings.

You can get your reloading equipment for the price of a few boxes of the match grade ammo. Once you develop a load, it will be more accurate than anything out of a box and cost less than the cheap remington.

I have hunted with a 300WM for 40 years and also spend a lot of time on the range with it. I like the fact that it is flat shooting, will strike with authority at long range, and is perfectly capable of 1000yd+ target shooting.
 
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It wouldn't hurt if you had friends that let you fire their rifles at the range in order to make you feel a little more comfortable. Some ranges even rent them. I'd rather do that than buy some rifle I really didn't want. I love the 300wm and shooting it in my Sako's a piece of cake. In this rifle it would even be easier. How well you're gonna shoot is a different story. But if I were buying that rifle I'd go for the 338, cause if you enjoyed the 300 then down the road your gonna just have to get that 338.
 
Long Range Rifles

First, buy what you want. You won't be happy with something that you don't want.

Second, what a surprise that the gun shop guy was looking out for you and not just trying to sell a gun at all costs!

Before I make my suggestion, let me say that I've been lucky enough to shoot the 5.56, 7.62 NATO, 300 Winchester Magnum and the 338 Lapua as well as the 50 Cal Barret in some pretty refined rifles all at the expense of Uncle Sam.

My suggestion for starting out?

The 7.62 NATO / 308 Winchester.

It's easy to load for and with good 175 grain Sierra MK bullets it is a solid performer out to 1,000 yards and everything in between. If you don't reload, there is a plethora of ammo from white box M-80 ball to good match grade ammo that duplicates the current M118LR round issued to snipers for the M24 SWS.

Several posts above have mentioned cost in their suggestions and I agree with that. The more you save per shot, the more shooting you can do. Another cost factor with the 300 magnums is that barrel life is only about a half of what the barrel life of a 7.62 NATO is. Having worn barrels out on my National Match rifles, I can tell you that replacing a match grade barrel is a pretty pricey affair.

Oh, one more thing; with regard to that reference to scopes ... don't skimp on a bargain priced scope and mount! It needs to have superlative optics and repeatable deflection and elevation adjustments. While not absolutely needed, it should probably also posess a paralex adjustment too. For what you want to do, the scope may very well cost at least half of what your rifle will set you back.
 
First, the sales person was very presumptive in giving you that advice.


But there are some things you might want to consider before you make your purchase.

You haven't gotten a taste of recoil yet so you don't know what your limits are. You won't know until you have shot the .300 Win Mag.
Also, shooting a high recoil rifle a lot at one sitting, tends to build bad habits rather than build good shooting technique.

I shoot a lot of rifles and have shot over 2000 rounds with a Savage 10FP .308 in the last year and lots of other calibers also.
I shoot at 100 and 200 yards just about every weekend with my .308 averaging 0.5 MOA with about 25 different hand loads.

That said, my buddy bought a Savage in .300 Win Mag about 2 months ago and let me shoot it.
I would say that it is just about the perfect Western elk rifle that I have shot.
It is an accurate rifle and shoots incredibly well with factory ammo BUT it has about twice the recoil of a .308.

Neither he or I would want to shoot it more than 10 rounds at one sitting.
It is just too uncomfortable.

My .308 is a pussycat compared to the .300 Win Mag and I can shoot it all day long and have. It shoots accurately given that I clean it after about 100 -150 rounds depending upon the powder I'm loading for it.

There is some wisdom in what some of the posters are saying.
There is no reason why you couldn't just buy the rifle, but based upon my experience, it may not the best rifle to learn with simply because you won't be able to shoot it enough to hone your skills.

I hone my bolt action skills with a .223 bolt action and several 22LR bolt action rifles. The technique is the same as with a .300 Win Mag but I can shoot lots more rounds without damaging my pocketbook or my shoulder.

If you learn to shoot with high recoil rifle, you can easily learn to flinch as much as you can learn to shoot.
The cure for flinching is to shoot a similar rifle that doesn't recoil as hard and doesn't sound as loud.
I would strongly recommend that even if you buy the .300 Win Mag that you consider getting a "practice rifle" that you can shoot enough to become very proficient at shooting so when you do take out your .300 Win Mag, you will be able to really enjoy it.
 
Since you are just starting out, I might recommend something a bit easier to shoot, like a 308 or one of the smaller bore rifles. Check out the Savege F Class in 6.5X284 or F/TR in 308. Either will reach out to 1,000 and beyond, and won't break the bank starting out. Probably won't look as cool, but who cares?

Or just get what you want and go for it. I can't see the recoil or a 300 Win Mag ruining anyone.
 
My first personally owned rifle was/is (still got it) a 300WM and it never bothered me a bit <twitch-twitch>. Of course its a straight Win model 70 and doesn't weigh much. After 20-30 shots it does leave a bit of a mark but is not terribly uncomfortable to shoot.
 
That .300 would be fine for the propose use. But for a new shooter? There's a bunch of learning curve before having the trained-in skill to have enjoyable results.

And that's why a lot of us old guys suggest starting up the curve with a rimfire in order to learn at least cost. I have no clue as to how many thousand rounds I'd shot of .22 rimfire and then .30-'06 before I felt confident out at 300 and 400 yards.

Uniformity, consistency of sight picture. Same for eye-finger coordination. Same for how the rifle is held for each and every shot. It takes a while to learn to press the trigger between heart beats. Even longer to learn to anticipate where the sights will be in 0.2 seconds after you tell your trigger finger to, "Do it!"

The nice thing about a .22 is that it will last pretty much forever. My old schutzen rifle was made sometime around 1900, and it's still a tack-driver.
 
I have fired the AR30 in 338 Lapua and the AR50 in 50 BMG.

In both cases,the felt recoil at the shoulder is something that most 14 yr old kids of either gender could comfortably handle.The muzzle brakes are exteremly effective.

Now,as far as you being welcome around other shooters on a firing line,the physical concussion of the blast isinteresting.I do not think you would keep your welcome.It reminds me of being in proximity to military grenade and artillery simulators.

Just a disclaimer so I do not mislead,I am not a Veteran.

Part of why the military uses a 7.62 Nato for sniper school has to do with the useful life of a barrel.You will discover the barrel life of a .300 Win Mag may be roughly 1/2 that of a 7.62Nato.Mileage will vary,but a ballpark figure may be 6000 or so for 7.62 and 2000-3000 for the .300 Mag.

With either cartridge,the skills of ranging,trajectory,wind estimation,reading and compensating mirage,etc will have to be learned through shooting.

While the 7.62 can be pushed to 1000,it is probably better to 800 or so.

You do as you please,and perhaps regard the advise of the man behind the gun counter as a shovel full of raw ore placed in your pan.You swish it and wash it,find what gold you can,and dump the rest.He is not 100% wrong or right.

If you want the cool tool,go ahead and buy what you choose.There is a reason for Corvettes,and for 3/4 ton 4wd Suburbans.

If your true priority is to develop yourself as a long range shooter,I might suggest a more cost effective package such as a 7.62 Nato.

But,you do as you choose.
 
I've shot a Remington 700 in 300 Win Mag before and after it had a muzzle brake installed. Before the brake, it was manageable for someone that was used to shooting. After the brake was installed, it was about like shooting a 30-30 as far as felt recoil and it only weighted in at 8lbs or so. That 12lb rig with a muzzle brake is probably about like shooting a .223. If you can afford it, and the ammo for it, I say have at it. I have found that about 15% of gun shop guys know what they are talking about. The rest are arrogant know-it-alls.
 
In this case, I would say the guy behind the counter was giving good advice.

I hope you find a nice rifle later on to help cure the flinch you are very likely going to develop the first afternoon with your new Armalite 300mag .
 
I wouldn't worry too much about developing a flinch, I would invest in the best hearing protection you can find though.
 
You want to learn to shoot long range, start with a .22LR at 200 yards. It is essentially the same wind as .308 Win at 1000.
 
How many people with learners permits drive Corvettes ? Not Many ! Crawl , then walk , and then run . As a rule , when things are done in a proper order , the results are better !
 
Just for that remark buy the 50 cal version and show that gun shop whose boss. Bring it back 2 days later and say your 10/22 kicks harder than that thing and then take a picture of the guys reaction
 
Rifle

I am an old dude myself and just picked up a 338 Win Mag. If I can shoot it you should be able to shoot a 300 firend of mine has one and all you hear out of him anymore when we are out shooting at 1000 yards is bullseye time after time. Have fun.
 
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