Do any of you guys own one of these? One of my "kids" just bought one. I had tried to talk him out of it,but he's 26 and had set his mind on buying one. We may be shooting it this weekend and I was wondering if I should (1) take a first aid kit to patch put his eyebrow (2) make him take some tylenol before we leave the house . Okay maybe I'm seeing problems that really aren't there. Do these rifles have bad recoil? I owned a 300 win mag for about 10 years and could manage it's recoil. This thing looks like it should be on wheels. By the way ,IT, is a Remington 700 BDL, 26 inch barrel ,wood stock and will probably be wearing a new Leupold 4x14.5 this weekend. The price of the shells alone would deter me from buying one. $35-$45 a box!! I reckon I'll pick up some dies this weekend also. Okay I'm gonna quit fussing now. Any info,advise or any other comments will be welcome.
Well h w/dogs, if your son is happy with it and can shoot reasonably well using the rig, that is what matters. When I was younger I liked the less common cartridges and thought they were a blast to shoot and hunt with even if there were other tried and true ones out there that did the same thing. I think it is wonderful that we have a whole bunch of different cartridges to pick and choose from. If nothing else, treasure the time you get to spend with your son doing something that you both enjoy. Safe shooting.
Have you been reading any of the stuff that I've posted on shotgunworld? The last line about treasuring time, is one I seem to use often. Got a dose of my own medicine that time! I reckon I'll just take him and see what happens. It is HIS gun,HIS money and HIS shoulder. The problem may lie in the fact that if he asks if I want to shoot it,then I'm gonna shoot it! I haven't said no but to 2 guns that I remember. One was a .340 weatherby and the other was a Thompson Contender in 45/70 with right handed grips( I'm a lefty)
We finally got a leupold 4x14.5 to mount on this thing this past weekend and took it to the range on Sunday. Guys, when this thing goes off it is amazing!!! Thankfully, it doesn't have a muzzle brake. If it did, you'd have to stand 10-20 feet behind it. The muzzle blast will blow leaves around out to about 12 feet in front. The recoil is just about at the peak of my tolerance. I fired 3 shoots and was developing a head ache within 15 min. I must tell ya that we were shooting from a bench and using a standard rest. The accuracy was 2-4 inches at 100 yards. We fired a total of 20 rounds and finally gave up out of frustration. On Monday,I had to return a recoil absorber to my local dealer.He had asked for some real world experience on this thing.He knew we were going to try this new gun and wanted to see if this absorber worked as advertised(45% reduction). It fell apart after the 3rd shot and I just returned the peices! So much for it!! As he listened to me tell of the recoil on this gun,he started smiling and asked if I wanted to test something else for him. Seeings as how it would require pulling the trigger on this thing AGAIN, I was a little hesitant to agree. After a short prayer i agreed. He reached down behind the counter and handed over a BULLBAG. If you guys have access to one of these and want to tame a hard kicker,USE IT! These things work wonders. Not only was recoil much more managable but it was also very steady. When you put the gun down between the top 2 bags,it'll wrap itself around the stock. You've just added up to around 30 lbs to your rifle! Our groups dropped down to 1-2 inches! This was more in line with what I expected. The good thing is,I now have some brass to start reloading. Maybe I can tailor a load for this thing that'll be a little tamer and more accurate. I'll be sure to keep ya'll informed on the progress. Oh I almost forgot... Ya'll oughta see this thing go off at dusk. There's about 2ft of flame coming out of it! We started shooting at a gong that was hanging up at 200 yds and you should have seen the sparks. It looked like someone striking an arc with a welder. My little ole 243 only made a small golw when it hit. Ya'll shoot safe and play purdy HWD
HWD I turned down a good deal on a remington BDL in 338 ultra mag because of the things you mentioned.I ended up with a 338 win mag.I made such good deals at the last gun show that I bought a new leupold scope and an older remington742 woods master BDL with the basket weave front and rear stock.I took it apart and it don't appear to have been shot alot.The rotery bolt wasn't worn out and lock up is tight.I cleaned the barrel today,and after I cleaned the barrel I lapped it,boy is it shinny now,I can see the lands and grooves easily now.I'll put a scope(leupold) on it and see if it shoots well.My last one like this one when loaded down a little the 180 gr shot 1 1/2 inch groups.Thats not bench rest accuracy but for a semi-remmi thats good,and I will try some 165 gr to see if I can tighten the groups.On the winchester model 70 the scope base hole at the rear of the gun is stripped,I ordered a kit from Brownells to tap over size and a special screw.I can go even larger but I have to drill the leupold base and I only want to do that if the next size won't work.The gunsmith wants 180.00 to 220.00 to do this,I don't think so,this is something I can do on the bench.I cleaned the reciever with impro cleaner with a tooth brush,it's clean,then I scrubbed the barrel with Buch's Bore Shine and then I used 1 squrite of impo cleaner and more junk came out.That impro cleaner has no oder and cleans like crazy,the gun oil also has no smell.I then lapped that barrel also.I spent 8 hours cleaning and lapping the barrells on only 2 guns.Arms are sore but the barrells are like mirrors,and thats what I like.I started lapping the barrells on all my guns before I shoot them,except for 1 rifle and I can't tell if it makes guns more accurate because I lapp them all first,but cleaning is where It shines,I can clean all my guns,pistols included with just 2 to 4 patches,not like they used to be like.Drop-Shot
Dropshot, I don't understand what you mean when you said that you lapped the barrels. Is this something like breaking in the barrel without shooting it? I took this Ultra Mag back to the range this past Sunday.I've tried to be good with the breaking in process on this one and it seems to have worked out. I could not beleive what I was seeing! We had a group(3 shots) under 1 inch with factory ammo!! I had told my kid that if it would shoot under 2 inches consistently that I'd kiss his a$$. I might as well pucker up cause this boy's got a shooter. Next time I'll keep my big mouth shut. It took three and a half boxes to get here but it's been worth it. After shooting at those gongs the other nite,I did have one bit of advice for him. DO NOT shoot a deer in the shoulder with this gun.THere might not be much left. I told him to try neck or head shots if he's expecting to eat anything other than the hams off of a deer.
HWD I explained this process but I don't remmember under what topic,but it's easy.You need a good rifle vise like the tipton or some one to hold the rifle still.I use a tipton cleaning rod,I clean the rifle real good,this is the only time I use a bronse bore brush,after this I only use nylon bristle brushes.If you could use a boroscope to look down the barrell you would see why cleaning can be difficult.My remingtons and rugers looked like crators in the grooves of the barrel,and thats why cleaning them is so time consuming.I use valve grinding compound,since I was a mechanic for 33 years I have course,med,fine.I also bought a lapping kit from midwayusa.com you can get a good bore lapping kit from brownells.com also.After a good cleaning I use a nylon brush under size and wrap a cleaning pad around,I've also used a metal slotted tip and cleaning pad and I put course valve lapping compound all over the end that goes into the barrel,you want a tight fit but not so tight that the rod binds up and has to be removed,on a bolt action I use a bolt cleaning guide and it centers the compound,push down and back 75 times,during that time I remove the rod several times to put new lapping compound on,down and back is 1 stroke,I repeat this with med,fine,I use the midway lapping compounds next,I start with course and work my way to fine,I clean between each compound and when finished I put flitz(polishing compound) on my rod and stroke 25 times.Clean the gun well remove all grit.Then the test comes,push a cotten ball down the bore and look down the barrell with a bore light and see if you have any rough spots,the cotton will stick to rough spots,if no cotten is seen lube the barrel and you are done.Every weatherby,sako and many others as well as custom guns have this done before it leaves the factory.It in theory creates accuracy,and the only guns I've shot and then lapped the barrels,the accuracy was a little better,but the reason I do this is to cut down on cleaning time.There is no rough spots to hold copper or carbon fouling.I even lapp my pistols.I own 1 weatherby but its nice to know I have as slick a barrell as any custom gun out there.Drop-Shot
HWD I forgot to say if you lapp the barrell you don't need to break in a barrel,and cleaning with a nylon bristle is all that is recommended to remove fouling,avoid ammonia based cleaners cause I found out the hard way that it etches the barrel.I have the stuff but I only use it to clean a barrel before lapping,If you don't get all copper and corbon fouling out you may end up doing this again.I just lapped the barrell on a used BLR in 358 win,I tried the cotton ball and I had cotton caught in several places.John Baker on this site as gun doc says you cant remove enough metal to hurt a barrell,so I spent about 2-3 hours doing it again,but on do-overs I skip the valve lapping compound and just use the midway lapping kit.You can fire lapp barrells but on all the recovered bulletts there was little or no abrasive left on the bullet.You don't get as even as hand lapping but fire lapping is better than nothing.You end up lapping the throat,and very little lapping the rest of the barrell.Drop-Shot
That is poor advice. Behind the shoulder is the best shot for a clean kill. There is alot more room for error if your shot is a hair off. You act like that gun is the most powerful thing ever built. I've killed deer with bigger cartridges with very little meat damage. If this gun was bought for being primarily a deer gun then it was a bad choice.
Hey HWD ole gwp4ever is in the habit of telling it like it is,I thought it but was apprehensive about saying it,the ultra mags are great at longer ranges.I looked at the 338 rem ultra mag but I just had major back surgery and can't take the pounding these brutes can dish out,but that is what makes the world go around.In the excitment of a large buck,a head shot or neck shot will be harder than most think.I'm with gwp,take the heart or lungs out and practice at longer ranges.I have steel plates and steel rods holding me straight,so for now I'm staying with guns that don't kill on both ends.I just bought a 338 win mag but I won't even shoot it till next year,I have plenty rifles and hand guns that will fit the bill.Drop-Shot
Gwp & dropshot, I realize that this isn't the most powerful thing out there and for shooting the deer around here it is over kill. Heck, a big deer around here weights 150 lbs but average around 100-120.I've seen deer shot with 7 rem mags that were tore up pretty bad. I tore up 2-3 with my 300 win mag. I agree that the behind the shoulder shot is the best one to take. Gwp, If you read the starting post here,then you should know that this gun was bought against my advice,but when do our kids listen these days. It was bought because he thinks when the gun goes off the deer will hit the ground immediately. Also because he was trying to play ONEUPMANSHIP with one of his buddies.You know the old game of who's is bigger and better? I,ve killed deer with the same 243 for 20 years now and have shot only one more than once. None of these have traveled more than 50 yards. I do agree that this isn't the gun to hunt deer with and tried to advise otherwise,but evidently I don't know what I'm talking about. Oh to be young and dumb again!!
HWD I used to use a 7mm mag and found the smaller faster bullets did more damage than I wanted.I went with 175 gr hornady and ruined alot less meat.We can raise our kids to a point and then the thing we raised?We find out they have free will and pratice it.They become a person different from us in that their choices may be different.That gun will shine if he ever gets to go out west for elk or muleys.And mabe he might see the wisdom from pop and start looking for a more practable hunting gun,Guns are like money,you can never have too much.Drop-Shot
I can only hope so, but it took me years to ever admit that my Dad was right. Now I'm hearing myself say things that he said. I either grew up or got old. Must be the old part cause I ain't never gonna grow up completely!! HA HA!! HWD
Well HWD, sounds like you and your son had a blast at both ends :wink: What fun would it be if every gun sighted in with less than 5 rounds and recoiled like an air rifle Safe shooting.
