Theoretical long-range rifle on a tight budget. Difficulty: Left-hand. Hunting use irrelevant.

[Elkins45]

Renting means spending $250 and bringing home nothing besides the experience. If it were me I would find the money to buy this and a good scope. That way the stuff you experienced in the class will feel the same when you shoot again later because it’s the same rifle.

https://www.budsgunshop.com/product_info.php/products_id/52236



Also as a lefty I feel obligated to state that I remain convinced I still have the use of all my RH fingers only because when I experienced a severe case head failure I happened to be shooting a LH gun and most of the gas was vented away from my supporting hand. If I had been shooting a RH gun I’m pretty sure some of my fingers would have been severed by the gas jet.

 

[MCFLYFYTER]

I think it would be foolish not to rent. With the included ammo and the fact they will fix anything that fails is a win in my book. It is always easier to figure out what you need and want after doing something. I strongly believe that $250 rental fee will likely save you from buying equipment that isn't right for you.

 

[Varminterror]

@1KPerDay - Be sure to make and take the opportunity to test drive every optic, stock, action, trigger, and bipod of the other shooters’ while you are there. Be gracious and grateful, but take notes of what you tried and what you felt afterwards. Data captured for your own potential rifle in the future.

 

[12Bravo20]

@1KPerDay - Be sure to make and take the opportunity to test drive every optic, stock, action, trigger, and bipod of the other shooters’ while you are there. Be gracious and grateful, but take notes of what you tried and what you felt afterwards. Data captured for your own potential rifle in the future.

That is excellent advice. It will give you a better idea about what you like and what your budget is. There are really good factory rifles at a lower price (such as the Savage and others) and on up to expensive custom rigs. Get as much info that you can and try out different setups to see what fits you (and within your budget)

I don't compete but still like to get as much accuracy out of a rifle that is in my limited budget so the Savage rifles work for me. If you decide you like it and want to get serious, then buy the best that you can afford.

 

[1KPerDay]

I called the instructor and we went over some stuff. He thinks it’ll be OK if I rent a right handed rifle. He lives close to me so I’m going to swing by and try a few to see what he and I think will work the best. Cool guy. Obviously I would prefer to rent a left-handed rifle if his co-instructor decides to let me but I’m not going to stress out about it. I feel a lot better about renting and getting all of the additional required equipment thrown in rather than scrambling to buy it all.

 

[12Bravo20]

Good choice. You can always decide after the class if it's something you want to get into and what rifle you want to go with. I do recommend getting something in left hand when you are ready to buy a rifle.

 

[1KPerDay]

Yeah if I eventually buy I’ll definitely get a LH bolt gun. Tikka Probably. He said he loves the tikka actions because they’re so smooth. Drops them into some chassis or other. I asked about the Tikka T3 tact A1 and he said he was excited about when he talked to them at SHOT a while back but they told him it didn’t have a 20 MOA rail. He thought that was silly. They may have updated it since.

he asked me if I’d tried shooting righty and taping over my left lens and some other stuff. I told him I’m strongly left eye dominant and my right eye is “not quite right” but I’d certainly try anything. I’m a complete tyro at long range shooting so maybe with optics my right eye will be good enough. We’ll see.

 

[redneck2]

Reading some of the replies reminds me of why I like this forum so much. Seems like good, honest advice from guys that have experience

I just hope it works out as well as I hope it should

 

[12Bravo20]

he asked me if I’d tried shooting righty and taping over my left lens and some other stuff. I told him I’m strongly left eye dominant and my right eye is “not quite right” but I’d certainly try anything. I’m a complete tyro at long range shooting so maybe with optics my right eye will be good enough. We’ll see.

I am the same way. I am actually right handed but my left eye has a lot better vision than my right eye does. Shooting right handed with my left eye covered just does not work for me. If I had to use a right hand bolt action, I am better off shooting it left hand using my good eye. Covering your dominant eye works better if the vision in both eyes are close to the same. At least that has been my personal experience.

 

[1KPerDay]

Thanks for your reply. I suspect that will be the same for me. My right eye is pretty weird

 

[I6turbo]

I am a lefty and I do not limit myself to left hand only firearms. As a matter of fact I prefer the right hand bolt rifles as it allows me to operate the bolt with having to lose my sight picture and moving my cheek weld.

Im a right hand shooter but a left hand rifle ( I have a couple of them) is actually better on the bench for the reason you state. Not having to remove your trigger hand from the grip to cycle the bolt is good.

 

[Howland937]

Im a right hand shooter but a left hand rifle ( I have a couple of them) is actually better on the bench for the reason you state. Not having to remove your trigger hand from the grip to cycle the bolt is good.

Did shooting with your non-dominant eye require a lot of adjustment or did it come pretty naturally? Maybe something the OP could consider, especially if he's sort of starting from scratch on this adventure.

 

[I6turbo]

Did shooting with your non-dominant eye require a lot of adjustment or did it come pretty naturally? Maybe something the OP could consider, especially if he's sort of starting from scratch on this adventure.

What I was trying to say was that using a left-hand rifle from the right shoulder (and right eye) on a bench works very well for me, so the reverse might work well for him. Left-hand rifles are very weird shooting offhand or pretty much anywhere where the gun isn't in a rest or on bags, but when it is on a rest/bags, maintaining your trigger hand grip and working the bolt with your support hand actually is better, IME. You don't upset the gun as much between rounds and I expect that groups would possibly be just slightly tighter.

 

[Howland937]

I was trying to say

Ok, I got that now...make sense in that regard.

 

[Weflyfast]

I bought a lightly used savage 12 in 22-250 on GB a couple months ago for $250. I think their are a few still on GB for 300+ or -
Gun shoots cloverleaf's at 100 yrds- I would buy your own gun and put a decent scope on it and use it- money put towards your own stuff is better than renting.....my opinion.

 

[1KPerDay]

Just got home from the 2 day shooting course. 98 degrees today. I’m pretty bushed. It was awesome and I learned a lot. VERY GLAD I decided to rent a proper LR setup. I took the SCAR along also and was able to hit steel to 600 easily even with PPU ball. I primarily shot a RH Ruger PR in 6mm Creedmoor with a Vortex Viper PST 5-25x50 in MOA.

Prior to this class I’d considered calculating ballistics and drop to be voodoo black magic but using a ballistic app and inputting proper G7 bullet data and local weather station conditions resulted in a dope chart that enabled me to go one for one first shot hits at 3/4/5/6/7/8/900 yards and second shot hits at 1000 after correcting for crosswind. I was simply astounded.

I was more astounded when I hit the LRSU “milk jug challenge” jug with my second shot at 1000 yards. Held dead on for elevation based on my dope chart, and 4 minutes of windage. Got it!

My brother shot a Remington 700 police tactical something or other in a Manners stock and he shot tiny groups during the zero confirmation at 100 and he hit the jug at 1000 also but he had to hold 12 minutes of wind. And as I spotted for him throughout the day I was amazed how much more the .308 gets blown around past 600 yards than my 6 creed did. The recoil beat him up as well, especially since the instructor had us set up directly behind the rifle with the buttstock high on our collarbones and as close to our centerline as possible.

My shoulder and cheek are sore from ergonomic weirdness (I had the comb as far back as possible to get a good eye box but was still basically resting my cheekbone on the rear edge of the comb) but was able to see my hits and call my shots at 1000 yards but with the SCAR I couldn’t at any distance due to the recoil. And that was a big part of success in the class so if I’d have tried to struggle through with my SCAR setup it would have been frustrating instead of enlightening and very enjoyable.

I’m still proud of hitting 3 for 3 at 600 with PPU ball and a 1-8 AccuPower. I just asked the spotter if he knew about what .308 ball required at 600 and he said he thought about 14 minutes so I held 14 minutes up and BOOM CLANG! Super cool.

I may write a longer summary/review of the class when I get some time. Well worth it IMO. LRSU intro to long range shooting course. Tons of fun.

It was so easy to hit out to 600 with the RPR that I stopped burning the ammo because it got a little boring. I did shoot a 10 shot group at 100 with it that was less than an inch. For someone who has literally never shot from prone/bags or bench before I found that very impressive.

 

[Coal Dragger]

Good job, now you have not only some experience and instruction but solid data on if you want to keep playing that game and what gear you want to buy to do it.

On the 6mm Creed I have had a discussion with Jack Lueba at Knight’s Armament about getting a bolt gun for PRS/NRL type shooting. He’s primarily a gas gun guy due to where he works and the match series he is setting up, but told me that if he were starting with nothing and had a budget to where to he’d go buy a Masterpiece Arms in their chassis and shoot stock class PRS. It would be in a 6mm because they max out the speed limit (3200fps) with as little recoil as possible, and you can self spot with a good brake.

 

[marksman13]

Rent. Period. You’ll likely fall in love and then you can spend some money over time building a rig you will love. If you are close to Mississippi I have a rig I would loan you and access to a private range where you can get some trigger time before the class if you want.

My bad. Just saw the class was today. Don’t know where you are, but if you are close to Mississippi the offer of range time and borrowing my rifles to build skills and decide what you want in the future still stands.