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"Get a Good Grip on It",,,,Your Hunting Rifle

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OntarioHunter said:
Mustangs: This is actually a worthwhile thread. Try to ignore the peanut gallery.

This is the first I've heard of rolling a tire down a hill to practice shooting running targets. But I never was much interested in reading Jack O' Connor or any other gun literature. I have always been drawn more to nonfiction (biology and history). The rolling tire target is probably a good exercise ... for gun and waistline. However, I think I would prefer skeet/trap/clays to establish the basics. No need to check for a hit or drag the targets back up a hill. Shotgun target ammo is also relatively cheap (compared to rifle ammo) and reloading can cut the cost further.

From time to time some whiz-bang experts from the local rifle club will show up at the trap club to give it a try. Usually they first appear on the clays side after having read the usual BS claiming it's the best practice for field hunting. They shoot single digit scores (for fifty targets) a couple of outings with a fancy new gun and never are seen again. If I can get them to the trap range, I can usually get them sorted out. The problem is shooting a rifle on the bench is about aiming it at the target: looking at both the gun and target. Shooting at moving targets like clays or birds or running deer is entirely different. No aiming! The shooter must stay focused on the target and NOT look at the gun. For a rifle I think this is easier with a low power scope. With open sights the shooter must line up the front and back sights then get them on the target. This provides a greater opportunity to lose focus on the moving target by looking "back" to the gun. No doubt halo/red dot sights are the best for moving targets. My PH's buffalo backup gun provided my first acquaintance with those gizmos. Definitely the cat's meow for punching a charging buff at close range.
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There were two situations in my life when I had unlimited year round hunting of real wild boar. Some were pie-bald pigs but most were big black boar, even some true Russian Razor backs, And they were not small like the little spuds in both Texas and Hawaii. Gutted some weighed in at over 300 pounds on a ranch scale.

In Northern Arizona years back some got loose from a canned hunt operation and they were breeding and doing great environmental damage to prime Mule Deer habitat. The state of Arizona allowed them to be hunted by anyone, resident or non-resident, no tags or license needed, no limit and no closed season. Eventually what it took to clean them out was mounted cowboy hunters with hounds.

Similarly, in civilized country with huge flat, many thousands of acres barely ranches the pig situation got so bad, ranchers were allowed to hunt them even at night with depredation permits. The boar were also destroying orchards. Again, the boar were big. Rather spooky seeing them standing on their hind legs in the moonlight eating peaches and breaking limbs down.

My rifle of choice evolved. Eventually I settled on a Sako in .338, again with that palm swell and deep high notch for the fat part of my thumb. I had two scopes both on vintage optiloc unltralow Sako rings. One was a fixed 4x which just barely cleared the barrel. That was my day time scope. The other was a fixed 2.5 for darker shooting. Both worked for fast shooting in the barely. I could switch them in a minute with no change at all in point of impact.

I have heard that Sakos had the Africa hunters market in mind with those ultra low rings which did require a bolt with a lower lift to not hit the rings. Sako bolts have a reduced angle of lift and are very fast and work quite well working the bolt from the shoulder not dropping it down and loosing sight image each time.

Add in having the opportunity to shoot pigs in sets of two or three,,,and always running and it was fine place to hone the running shooting skills I had from whitetails in the New England forest.

Like antelope that ran evenly on even ground, pigs were not that hard to hit. The important things was to always lead them more not less. Better to miss than shoot too far back. And, as Robert Ruark said. “Use enough gun”

I did pass on many many moving shots, but of the ones I took, I never lost a boar,,,or any animal.

It is critical not to be switching back and forth to different rifles. My dear friend Malcolm was a great shot with his only rifle, that custom Springfield, which by the way was gift from a couple WW1 vets.

MR
 
No doubt about it, Sako was/is about the finest bolt action ever made. Unbelievably slick cycling. They clearly put some thought into design.
 
OntarioHunter said:
No doubt about it, Sako was/is about the finest bolt action ever made. Unbelievably slick cycling. They clearly put some thought into design.
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Quite true OH, but all that said there is not a Sako on the planet made that I would swap for my model 54 Winchester nor any Malcolm would have traded for his Springfield.

On another note, I am new here and am shocked by the comments some guys are making on this post. Their complete lack of decorum is amazing. I cannot believe that monitors are allowing this.

MR
 
Mustangs Rule said:
Quite true OH, but all that said there is not a Sako on the planet made that I would swap for my model 54 Winchester nor any Malcolm would have traded for his Springfield.

On another note, I am new here and am shocked by the comments some guys are making on this post. Their complete lack of decorum is amazing. I cannot believe that monitors are allowing this.

MR
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You’re right of course, to quote Cosmo Kramer, I’m out.
 
Mustangs Rule said:
On another note, I am new here and am shocked by the comments some guys are making on this post. Their complete lack of decorum is amazing. I cannot believe that monitors are allowing this.

MR
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Do stick around. There's a couple of older guys like you and me and Happy Miles who have been around the block ... and even around the world ... for many years. And there's the pile of young jerks who just want to stir the pot because they really have nothing to contribute. Drama queens. You're right. There's no excuse for it. You can report them but the moderator typically doesn't look very deep into source of problems. I have only used the report button once for obscene language. Not the best response. Maybe it would work better for you. The overall level of maturity seems to have declined in the short time I have been on here. I guess it comes and goes. Hang in there.

Back to the subject ... or close to it. I don't think anyone on here advocates running shots over being posted up from a rest or even offhand at still target. That was never my intention when I took up trap and skeet. But it has made a difference when I needed it. No matter how good a shot you are from a rest or offhand at a still target, there will always come a time when something goes awry and follow up shots are required to drop a wounded animal. They usually don't stop and wait to be hurt again. If they do they're usually done for anyway and another hole is just wasting more meat. So, nothing wrong with being prepared for the unexpected. Go ahead and learn to hit moving targets, whether clay pigeons, old tires, or jackrabbits. Anyway, it's a helluva lot more fun than paper targets on a stick.
 
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