i live in NC and the longest shot is normally under 100yrds unless your hunting fields. the only range around me with a "long" shot is a 350yd shot. i have always wanted a gun and scope combo that would deliver accuracy in shot placement from 50-400yrds. many scopes i have purchaced wouldn't pass the box test on windage and elevation adjustments and using reticle grids with shot holdover lines i have never thought they could be that close to depend on. i have a dragunov rifle and i shoot the 7n1 sniper ammo but it is FMJ and steel core so hunting with that is not going to happen. so here is where i am in my quest for my dream of what good would look like. i want a rifle scope combo that i can either zero it at 250 or 300yrds or what ever the cartridge calls for and be a lazer beam out to 350yrds or have a scope i can zero and dial up elevation for different ranges with confidence or a scope with ballistic lines that really work. the meat of the matter is i don't like the thought of guessing how much to hold over to hit target and i want to hunt with my gun and know that if i want to target shoot, for fun, not competition, i want to see good results on paper as well as in the heart and lungs of a deer. i like the 300 win mag and i also like the thoughts of the short magnums. i really want to know what works without having to learn through trial and error and the expense of trying out scopes and rifles and calibers until i could write a book on my experience finding what i want. so i have come here to learn from the ones who know. many of you have probably spent a lot of time punching wholes in paper and have seen all the trends and fancy new ideas so i would like your help. i like the savage accustock and accutrigger and the police line of rifles with muzzle brakes and heavy barrels. i do tend to like the military style rifles. well i hope someone can help based on what i have written so lat but not least i don't want to buy a barret rifle with the range computer and i don't want to have to get a home equity loan either so money is an object but i want to make one purchase that saves me time and money and effort to reach the end of my quest. no 22-250 either i don't want to shoot out a barrel. thanks in advance for your time and effort in helping me with this delima.
i need advice from the ones that know
- Thread starter dragunov
- Start date
Big Caliber
New member
FWIW...I started out looking for my 1st center fire rifle the same way you are. A friend offered to let me peruse his loading manuals, Hornady. They have bullet drop charts that are most thorough. I narrowed my caliber search down to 10 and then 5 and finally settled on the 7mm Rem Mag. It was supposed to shoot laser straight with more punch then a 30-06. I saved up all summer and ended up with a Browning A-Bolt Hunter with a Leupold 3-9x sitting on top. My 1st mistake was to do all this w/o any human input. I'm 6'4" and 280#. I could NEVER keep the scope on target due to recoil. I later learned that the 7RM is a "finicky" round to load for. My loading efforts confirmed this fact. My groups were 3-4" AT 100yds. no matter the load or component combination. Adjusting the trigger was no help. Floating the bbl. and bedding the action yielded no change. In desparation I got a fire lapping kit. That did cut my groups to 2" at 100yds. Don't know if it was the caliber or the gun but it never shot straight. I traded it for a shotgun. On the positive side... I learned to shoot a "big" gun without flinching. I now play with a Savage 110fp in 308 that I swapped out the trigger and stock. A Nikon 3.5-10x50 scope sits atop it. Lottsa fun! Easy to load for, not finicky at all, decent recoil, and more accurate than I am.
Last spring I got a Stevens 200 in 25-06 that was going to be a "project" rifle. But after the trigger swap, it shot well enough for me with the sporter bbl and "tupperware" stock. So I let it be. I'm very comfortable with both calibers out to 300-400 yards. (I'm working my way out to 600.) Moral of the story? Figure out exactly what it is you expect a rifle and caliber to do. Ask lotsa questions. Take your time researching ballistics charts. Buy as much scope as you can afford. Live long and shoot well!
Last spring I got a Stevens 200 in 25-06 that was going to be a "project" rifle. But after the trigger swap, it shot well enough for me with the sporter bbl and "tupperware" stock. So I let it be. I'm very comfortable with both calibers out to 300-400 yards. (I'm working my way out to 600.) Moral of the story? Figure out exactly what it is you expect a rifle and caliber to do. Ask lotsa questions. Take your time researching ballistics charts. Buy as much scope as you can afford. Live long and shoot well!
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