bad advice for novice hunters/shooters

[Hooglabah]

ive been hunting for over 5 years now and i learnt from a man ive never seen miss anything and was special forces trained as a sniper so i consider the advice and teachings ive recieved to be above the average; seems to have paid off i can shoot better than most people who have been shooting 2 or 3 times longer than i.

to the point while in the middle of looking for advice on the internet on what brand of ammo people have found to work well for my recently purchased lee enfield mk1 no.3
ive seen a large number of threads in various forums asking whats the best begginer rifle.

the most common answer i see is a .270 winchester or a .300 win mag to me this is rediculous what sort of idiot would recomend starting with a high powered rifle like this.

1. the ammo is very expensive.
2.its a great way to develop a flinch (if this happens kiss accurate and consistant shooting goodbye)
3.they are expensive to buy.

its like trying to teach a toddler to run before he can walk its absurd.

the other thing that shocks me is just how many people especially these days who learn to shoot straight off with a scope.
dont get me wrong i use scopes i like useing scopes infact my .222 rem has a
4-15x 50 on it, however i learnt to shoot with iron sights i still have my little .22 with iron sights; truth be told without modification it couldnt have a scope.

the issue is if you never learn how to shoot without a scope you will never develop the reflexes to be an exceptional hunter, sure sure you can do shots over 200 meters with ease but what about those times when game pops out infront of you and you only have a split second to react, ill tell you what happens your to slow and you miss your chance or miss the animal totally putting a bullet in the air which could go for kilometers.

sorry people just had to rant.

btw anybody on here have any recomendations of wich brand of factory load works best in a lee enfield mk1 no.3 (its the one the australian army used in ww1/2)

 

[TahneeMaree]

good thread Hooglabah, my cousins started both their shooting and archery out on the bare basics

 

[Hooglabah]

its somthing i used to be guilty of when i was a few years younger i wanted to have it all now a bugger doing it right, i just wanted to do it now.

 

[aliveandkicking]

Gotta say I agree with your little rant, though the .270 isn't really much of a kicker, bloody loud though. It is still too much for a beginer. Get behind a a .222 or .223 to learn with.

As for price, everything except .22's are bloody expensive now. I'm paying $28 for a box of 20 6.5 rounds where I'm paying $6 for 50 .22 rounds. A few mates handload for this reason. Just as well I'll only use 5 or 10 6.5 rounds per night out, might go through 50+ .22 shells though.


Try highland ammo. I hear good things about it in the old 303's.

I personally use federal powershok but I have a sporterised 6.5x55 swede.

 

[aliveandkicking]

I got this fox about 2 weeks back, on my last night out. A nice big heavy dog, almost 4ft nose to tail and around 10kg. Best condition I've seen yet and we've got about 12 over the last few months.

 

[TahneeMaree]

do you guys tan the skins?

 

[Hooglabah]

not a huge fan of the federal range and i dont think they do a .303, you i could probably tolerate people learning on a .222 or 223 but not with a scope; even so its still probably a bit much still pretty loud 100db last time i checked so there is still the risk of developing a flinch.

 

[aliveandkicking]

Occasionally but honestly there isn't really much point when using a 6.5 and a .270. There isn't usually much left. This pic of of the presentable side of the fox. The other side was a bit messy.

 

[Hooglabah]

i do when i can get em. lambing seasion starts soon and its almost cool enough down here to go out and with the new purchase, a fresh roo hunting permit and a sheep farming property with too many bunnie's, roo's and foxe's i think all three rifles are going to be getting a hell of a workout.

 

[Hooglabah]

thanks for the advice btw i was looking at the highland ax and it also happens to be the cheapest of the three commonly available (highland $38, remmington $40 , winchester $41)

 

[Hooglabah]

hit em with a .22 or a .222rem (only at over 100 meters) and the skins are fine as the rounds generally dont penetrate and if they do the hole is pretty small.

 

[aliveandkicking]

the difference between a .22 and a 6.5. .22 good for skins, 6.5 not so good

 

[waruikazi]

I was given that same advice when i was going to purchase my first gun mid last year. AND i ignored it and i'll tell you why.

My first gun was a ruger M77 in .308 with a leupold VXIII 1.5x5. Up here where i live we have pigs, buffalo and geese to hunt, hence the high calibre. I wasn't made of money so i needed a gun that could kill both of our 2 common types of big game reliably, so any small calbre i just wouldn't have used. I went for the scope for two reasons, my dad gave me the leupold (and you don't turn your nose up at a $1000 scope) and i couldn't find a good quality, light weight, bolt actioned rifle in my price range and calibre.

I did develop a flinch and pretty quickly too, not from the kick but from the god almighty boom it made when you pulled the trigger. But then i bought a shotgun for water foul which i was using three times a week during the season and my flinch is gone and i have 100% accuracy to about 45m using winchester 2 3/4' BB steel shot ammo. Which i'm pretty happy with.

Now i'm looking to get a high powered open sight lever action rifle for hunting in heavy scrub for buffalo. Probabaly a Marlin 45/70, any advice on a gun like that would be appreciated.

 

[waruikazi]

Bad picture but here's my two weapons.

 

[Hooglabah]

never buy marlin its factory produced crap.

45/70 is a perfect round for buffalo go a remmington or winchester, or if you want to go a bit cheaper go a savage or browning.
the point of starting with a .22 is that you dont hunt untill you can shoot well enough to know you can kill in one shot every time. and to get that level of skill takes time and alot of ammo buring through 50 - 100 (i have been known to do 500) rounds of ammo in one sitting will speed up the learning process and with a .22 this will cost all of $10 where as .308 ammo cost what is it $40 for 20 if not more.

i bet you anything you still flinch you have just compensated for it (90% of people never learn to compensate ime) and with a shot gun you will learn to snap shoot anyway.

 

[aliveandkicking]

I just read a review on the Marlin 1895XLR (.45-70 lever action). It looks like, and reads up as a decent scrub gun. Near $2000 though, its not cheap.

Get your hands on Australian Hunter, Edition 30. The review is in there.

 

[Hooglabah]

as a side: you lucky duck getting a leupold for free quite right you dont turn your nose up at $1000+ scope, didnt have to put it on the rifle tho

 

[waruikazi]

never buy marlin its factory produced crap.

45/70 is a perfect round for buffalo go a remmington or winchester, or if you want to go a bit cheaper go a savage or browning.
the point of starting with a .22 is that you dont hunt untill you can shoot well enough to know you can kill in one shot every time. and to get that level of skill takes time and alot of ammo buring through 50 - 100 (i have been known to do 500) rounds of ammo in one sitting will speed up the learning process and with a .22 this will cost all of $10 where as .308 ammo cost what is it $40 for 20 if not more.

i bet you anything you still flinch you have just compensated for it (90% of people never learn to compensate ime) and with a shot gun you will learn to snap shoot anyway.

So are you saying shooting with a shottie is good? Or bad?

I used to shoot with iron sights with a slug gun and .22 when i was a little fella. I used to live on a farm so for fun we would dig holes or shoot lol so i wasn't really new to shooting, just hadn't done it in a long time.

I do lean into my shots a tiny bit, i've noticed this when i've gone to shoot a goose or duck and forgot to turn the safety off.

 

[waruikazi]

as a side: you lucky duck getting a leupold for free quite right you dont turn your nose up at $1000+ scope, didnt have to put it on the rifle tho

Well it wasn't going on the shottie was it?

 

[Hooglabah]

you could have sent it to me
yeah shot guns are great for improving your reflexes especially with high speed clays or double clays. i used to practice with a lamba o/u 920 i could hit 20/20 high speed double clays every time natural talent apparently tho i never really go into shotties i am buying a single barrel sports-co and getting my duck licence this year tho.

as to your rifle i forgot ruger imo they make the best big game rifles... youd hope so anyway as large caliber is their specialty.