Plinking with a 308.

Muir

Well-Known Member
I spent yesterday afternoon shooting with a friend of mine at the local range. After having shot my Savage Long Range Hunter in 308 he bought one of his own, along with some decent optics, and we spent the early half of the day preparing some Lake City military brass and loading what I believe is the duplicate load for Federal Gold Match ammo. (42 IMR 4895, Sierra Match King 168 grain)

We zeroed with 20 rounds of PPU 145 grain military ball (all the 'running in' it got) and then switched to handloads. The rifle definitely out classed the shooter! At 100M we got tired of the "big" bulls on the paper targets and began shooting little bits of broken clay bird, empty 40 S&W pistol cartridge casings left by the local police.... anything small. All prone off of bipod. We had a blast. I got out my rifle after a while and joined in on the fun. My load was identical to his except that I used a 168 grain A-Max.

We agreed that this shooting session was one of the more entertaining we'd had in a while, if not the most expensive! It was gratifying to learn that the new LRH shot as well as my own. You always wonder about that. I can't say enough about these Savage rifles; half minute out of the box is hard to beat!~Muir
 
I have a sako TRG in 308 the only rifle I own with a mod on. Just love plinking with it. 300/400 yards it's awesome and accurate with a 150 gr soft point.
Pure fun no excuses just fun
Andrew
 
I have a sako TRG in 308 the only rifle I own with a mod on. Just love plinking with it. 300/400 yards it's awesome and accurate with a 150 gr soft point.
Pure fun no excuses just fun
Andrew

I used to dream of buying TRG. I'm envious! but now I'm OK with the Savage. The trigger is amazing and the muzzle brake is remarkably effective. A day of shooting this rifle leaves no soreness whatsoever. I can cut a US ten-cent piece about every shot at 100M when I don't screw up. I agree with that statement about "no excuses"; There aren't any with this rifle, either. You miss, you did it.

I have only shot 168 grain bullets in my gun (other than some military ball to generate some brass) but I recently came upon 400 old-stock Hornady A-Max marked "A-MAX, 155 GRAIN, MATCH" and I feel they deserve a try. Unfortunately, I have a good stock of 168 grain AMAX to burn through first and some Match Kings after that. In the end, I want to shoot cast bullets from this gun and shoot prairiedogs with it this spring. I think it will shoot hi speed lead well. What is your 300-400 yards plinking target? I have about 80 empty 1/2 L water bottles I'd like to fill with colored water and blast.~Muir
 
I enjoy a bit of long range plinking with a moderated 7-08 Remington 700 varmint special from the 1980's. Pretty much shoots dead on with any ammo I put through it out to about 400 yards and is a great confidence builder. With the Leupold cranked up to 10x even the smallest target my 'spotter' directs me to isn't safe. Have taken 7 fallow with it thus far this season from a high seat up to about 250 yards using RP 140gr SPs - all one shot kills. Goes to show you can't have too much practice.
 
. Goes to show you can't have too much practice.

True that. I practice quite a bit shooting off hand (standing, no support) all year round and this year, filled three of my four deer tags with off hand shots. (two mule deer and a whitetail) All one shot kills.~Muir

(I still have the fourth tag. My freezer was full so I stopped.)
 
Hello Muir, I'm a big savage fan myself. Their bolt guns have always shot very well for me. I picked up a Stevens 200 in 7-08 for a couple of hundred bucks. I got it for cheap truck/back-up/lender rifle. The first time at the range it put 3 rounds of factory 140's into about 3/4 of an inch. Needless to say I was impressed, there are a lot of rifles that cost substantially more that dont shoot that well.Very under rated rifles in my opinion.

AB
 
Back
Top