Hi - Just made my first rifle purchase, Remington 700 270 WSM, bought it used with a Nikon Prostaff scope. It's a great looking gun! Now I'm anxious to learn how to shoot it! I've always wanted to get into deer hunting too! Any advice for a "city" boy in upstate NY? Thanks!!!!!
first time rifle owner
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Gun courses are a great way to start. Locate a public range to shoot at, pick up a couple of boxes of 130 & 140 GR bullets in a couple of different makes, Rem, Win, Federal, ect. Take you time at the range, with the target at 25yds away and see where your new gun prints using the lowest power on the scope. Make necessary adjustments to move the bullet point of impact to 12 position and 2" high. Move the target out to 100 yds and repeat your shots and scope adjustment until your are 1" high 12 position. Your rifle will tell you which bullet and weight it likes best by the smallest group fired. I like to fire 2 shot groups while zeroing in the rifle then a 3 shot group as a final group. Congrats on the first!
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Ditto with above :goodposting: Pretty much all states require a safety class prior to getting a hunting license and perhaps you might also meet someone there willing to mentor you a bit in additional safety tips and initial hunting tips as well. Welcome to the "brotherhood" (yes, females are also always welcome...lol) and I hope you enjoy your new journey into seeing nature up close and how to interact as an ethical hunter. :thumbup:
Thanks very much for the advice and encouragement! I'm new to this and don't have anyone I know who hunts or owns a firearm. My friends at work and family would all be "shocked" that I even bought a rifle and want to learn to deer hunt! I'm older guy, 58, so I hope I can learn!!! Thanks again, you're all GREAT! - Kevin
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Welcome to DHC!
I don't have a .270 WSM, but have 2 in .270 Winchester. You've made a great purchase and hope that you have many years of successful deer hunting.
You're never to old to learn!! And you happened to pick a great sport to learn, too!!! Can't give any better advice than what's already been said. Seems as if someone took the words right out of my mouth . . . or from my keyboard. :crazy:
I don't have a .270 WSM, but have 2 in .270 Winchester. You've made a great purchase and hope that you have many years of successful deer hunting.
Owning rifles is like eating potato chips
Welcome to a great sport that isn't as frustrating as golf. You can enjoy it for the rest of your life, and meet some interesting people along the way.
Five suggestions I would make early on,
1. Be very careful what ammunition you buy for your rifle. Sales clerks in a retail department store worked yesterday in shoes or sterios and are not expected to know anything about rifles and what is the correct ammo for your rifle.
2. Get a set of small foam ear plugs and a set of large shooting hearing protection muffs and wear them both at the same time. The large bang on firing is one of the reasons some new shooters flinch or jerk the trigger on firing.
3. Get either shooting glasses or plan on wearing your sunglasses whenever you are at the range shooting. Your eyes are not replaceable.
4. Don't hesitate to ask fellow shooters on the line a question, or for a suggestion if you are having a problem with anything while you are shooting.
5. Have fun while you are shooting, when you get frustrated or it is starting to become not fun it's time to stop and go to Dairy Queen for a milk shake....
Karl
Welcome to a great sport that isn't as frustrating as golf. You can enjoy it for the rest of your life, and meet some interesting people along the way.
Five suggestions I would make early on,
1. Be very careful what ammunition you buy for your rifle. Sales clerks in a retail department store worked yesterday in shoes or sterios and are not expected to know anything about rifles and what is the correct ammo for your rifle.
2. Get a set of small foam ear plugs and a set of large shooting hearing protection muffs and wear them both at the same time. The large bang on firing is one of the reasons some new shooters flinch or jerk the trigger on firing.
3. Get either shooting glasses or plan on wearing your sunglasses whenever you are at the range shooting. Your eyes are not replaceable.
4. Don't hesitate to ask fellow shooters on the line a question, or for a suggestion if you are having a problem with anything while you are shooting.
5. Have fun while you are shooting, when you get frustrated or it is starting to become not fun it's time to stop and go to Dairy Queen for a milk shake....
Karl
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If you start thinking about the next shot and that it's going to hurt, stop and go back another day. Your accuracy will never be good enough until the recoil never enters your mind.
If your budget can afford it???
One thought that I just considered.. If you have the cash you may want to consider buying a used scoped 22 rifle. Being new to shooting there are a lot of little things that you are going to have to master. None are tough but they each need to become second nature. I think I stink at golf, others that are kind just point out that I should take my clubs out of the basement more than once every 10 years. Shooting is like that, you need to get trigger time and burn some powder. Your caliber is a great one, lots of top performance and it will work for anything on this continent. Now the bad side, 270WSM ammo is expensive. I reload my rifle ammo but I am guessing that you are going to be looking at $30.00 a box(20 rounds). Compare that to say $2.00 a box(50 rounds) for 22LR and the savings will add up very fast. Shooting a 22 will teach you I think 95% of what you need to learn. If you can shoot the center out of a target at 50 yards with a 22, doing the same with a 270WSM at 100 yards will not be a big reach. Same mechanics, just more noise and some recoil saying hello at each shot.
Karl
One thought that I just considered.. If you have the cash you may want to consider buying a used scoped 22 rifle. Being new to shooting there are a lot of little things that you are going to have to master. None are tough but they each need to become second nature. I think I stink at golf, others that are kind just point out that I should take my clubs out of the basement more than once every 10 years. Shooting is like that, you need to get trigger time and burn some powder. Your caliber is a great one, lots of top performance and it will work for anything on this continent. Now the bad side, 270WSM ammo is expensive. I reload my rifle ammo but I am guessing that you are going to be looking at $30.00 a box(20 rounds). Compare that to say $2.00 a box(50 rounds) for 22LR and the savings will add up very fast. Shooting a 22 will teach you I think 95% of what you need to learn. If you can shoot the center out of a target at 50 yards with a 22, doing the same with a 270WSM at 100 yards will not be a big reach. Same mechanics, just more noise and some recoil saying hello at each shot.
Karl
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a lot of us grew up with bb, pellet, and 22 cal rifles and simply went up the ladder from here. Really good training for later on.
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Karl, I looked at 325wsm ammo on line and I won't be burning up much ammo after sighting the thing in. I'm seeing 50.00 a box and whew hopefully it sights in easy. Not real sure of when I'll see it as son is moving to Ill, in 3 weeks and may have to make a special trip back to SE Ohio to Dick's to pick it up then wait for son to come home 4th of July weekend to deliver it. By then I should have a scope and ammo waiting. Been thinking what make/model/power scope to put on the 325 have mixed feelings right now so plenty of time to sort things out.
Reloading never looked so good....
I know that we live in a time where it is easier to pay extra for things to be done for us, but the price of ammo is getting insane. I don't know if it is extra taxes or the ammo companies making a larger Corporate profit. The thought of anyone learning to shoot today with the basic calibers costing around 25.00 per box of 20 rounds is nuts. I was crying the last time I bought a 8 pound keg of powder H414. The shop was discounting it for about 110.xx. There are 7000 gr to a pound, I use around 52 gr per each round of 30-06. The math says I will be crying again in about 1076 rounds. Yes bullets are expensive the Nosler 165gr BTs I like have gone from 13.50 to around 19.00 per 50. Primers are also up but I haven't used up the current stash of 5000 I bought a couple of years ago. What I am saying badly is those of us that aren't reloading yet need to start asap. It is fun and not difficult if I figured it out. Just remember it is easy to reload modern ammo, it is very hard to handload precision ammo taylored to each firearm.
Karl
I know that we live in a time where it is easier to pay extra for things to be done for us, but the price of ammo is getting insane. I don't know if it is extra taxes or the ammo companies making a larger Corporate profit. The thought of anyone learning to shoot today with the basic calibers costing around 25.00 per box of 20 rounds is nuts. I was crying the last time I bought a 8 pound keg of powder H414. The shop was discounting it for about 110.xx. There are 7000 gr to a pound, I use around 52 gr per each round of 30-06. The math says I will be crying again in about 1076 rounds. Yes bullets are expensive the Nosler 165gr BTs I like have gone from 13.50 to around 19.00 per 50. Primers are also up but I haven't used up the current stash of 5000 I bought a couple of years ago. What I am saying badly is those of us that aren't reloading yet need to start asap. It is fun and not difficult if I figured it out. Just remember it is easy to reload modern ammo, it is very hard to handload precision ammo taylored to each firearm.
Karl
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My BLR/.325 wears a 2-7x33 30mm scope, made by Leupold. For ammo used to sight in and also, perhaps, for deer hunting, look at this stuff.... :wink:
325 WSM 150 gr SP (20 rounds) - Wisconsin Cartridge LLC.
Wis cart co
That does look like it would be a way to save alot in buying factory ammo. The one I looked at was 30-06 150gr for I think it said 15.95. That is about 10.00 per box cheaper than I saw it online at the other destributors. i still think you can save money reloading but you need to have a supply of brass. So you either have to buy factory and shoot it up or buy empty cases then start loading.
Karl
That does look like it would be a way to save alot in buying factory ammo. The one I looked at was 30-06 150gr for I think it said 15.95. That is about 10.00 per box cheaper than I saw it online at the other destributors. i still think you can save money reloading but you need to have a supply of brass. So you either have to buy factory and shoot it up or buy empty cases then start loading.
Karl
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