Well,
Today I finally got to my Father In laws ranch today to stretch the legs out a little on my new 6.5x47 Lapua and PMII 4-16. I have been married to his daughter for near 20 years and he has been one of those father in laws that is like your best friend. We give each other a hard time about everything but at the end of the day, he would give me the shirt off of his back and has been a great guy to know. He is a guy that looks like he walked straight out of an old western movie and that is his way of life. I love going to the ranch and just hang out and hep him when I get the chance. He really enjoys long range shooting so when he found out I was coming, he told me to bring my rifle...
Well, he was snickering at my "tactical rig" when I pulled my Lapua out of the truck with the AICS stock. He is an old rancher and really has no use for anything that he considers "high speed" and un-neccessary.
He shoots an old Winchester M70 in 264 win mag with an old redfield scope and shoots it very well. In front of his house is a canyon that stretches out to 980 yards at the furthest point and he has some gongs set up through that canyon for him and the boys to shoot at. He is an older man and his eyes are not what they used to be but anything from 600 yards in he owns with that 264. He occasionally hits the gong out at around 800 but struggles with his hold over.
I have what I think is pretty good dope worked up on my 6.5 and I was trying to show him how the elevation worked when dialing it in on the scope. At first he scoffed at it and said he never has needed such things. So we sat down on his make shift bench he uses and he proceeded to educate me on how shootin was supposed to be...
He hit the first three gongs at 300 400 and 500 in 4 shots...took him 3 shots on the 600. So, I tried to get him to sit behind my rifle and try sending a couple of rounds down range.....the old fart would not even try it at first. At that point, I sat down and loaded a 5 round magazine and started at the 300, and went to the 4, 6, 7, 8, and hit all of them using the dope on the side of my rifle. Didnt get much notce until I hit that 800 on the first shot. Well, that one got his attention.... He finally started to ask a few questions and seemed a little more interested in the setup. He asked what I was doing to my scope each time I changed ranges so I explained the process of "dailing in" the elevation once the distance is known. Showed him how easy it was to shoot the target with the range finder, look at the dope, dial it in the scope, and "send it".
After he finally sat down and we got the scope adjusted to his eye relief, he pulled the trigger on the 800 yard gong and guess what...."whoooop". He grinned like a school girl on prom night. After that, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to get my rifle back. He went from the 400 all the way out to the 980 ( a 3' x 3' plate ) and hit all of them in about 15 shots ( including one old billy goat that has been pissing him off, screwed up and walked down that rim rock at the wrong time.....588 yards, first round hit in the right front shoulder ) that was some funny shit. The wind was gusting just a little from right to left at about 5 MPH and we had some misses but overall, had a great day.
After we finished shooting, he asked me "whats one of them scopes cost". I never told him what the S&B cost because I didnt want to give him a heart attack. I did tell him that they were "pretty High" but told him that I had used a Falcon scope on one of my other rigs and that he should try one if he liked the way that my scope "dialed in"....its funny because that is what he was telling the other family members...."thats one of them dialing scopes".
Anyway, I have posted a wtb ad on the board here to try and find him a Falcon scope that we can put on the Win Mag of his. If he winds up using it, look out...there is no telling what he will be able to hit with that old 264 and some good dope. He wants me to bring my chrono and my computer to help him work up some ballistic charts for his rifle next weekend.
Just thought I would share that with you guys, I thought it was pretty cool to get one of the "old timers" using some new gear and having a blast. Before it was all over, we had my wife, my sister in law and her boyfriend ringing steel all day long....man that was fun.
Happy shootin
Today I finally got to my Father In laws ranch today to stretch the legs out a little on my new 6.5x47 Lapua and PMII 4-16. I have been married to his daughter for near 20 years and he has been one of those father in laws that is like your best friend. We give each other a hard time about everything but at the end of the day, he would give me the shirt off of his back and has been a great guy to know. He is a guy that looks like he walked straight out of an old western movie and that is his way of life. I love going to the ranch and just hang out and hep him when I get the chance. He really enjoys long range shooting so when he found out I was coming, he told me to bring my rifle...
Well, he was snickering at my "tactical rig" when I pulled my Lapua out of the truck with the AICS stock. He is an old rancher and really has no use for anything that he considers "high speed" and un-neccessary.
He shoots an old Winchester M70 in 264 win mag with an old redfield scope and shoots it very well. In front of his house is a canyon that stretches out to 980 yards at the furthest point and he has some gongs set up through that canyon for him and the boys to shoot at. He is an older man and his eyes are not what they used to be but anything from 600 yards in he owns with that 264. He occasionally hits the gong out at around 800 but struggles with his hold over.
I have what I think is pretty good dope worked up on my 6.5 and I was trying to show him how the elevation worked when dialing it in on the scope. At first he scoffed at it and said he never has needed such things. So we sat down on his make shift bench he uses and he proceeded to educate me on how shootin was supposed to be...
He hit the first three gongs at 300 400 and 500 in 4 shots...took him 3 shots on the 600. So, I tried to get him to sit behind my rifle and try sending a couple of rounds down range.....the old fart would not even try it at first. At that point, I sat down and loaded a 5 round magazine and started at the 300, and went to the 4, 6, 7, 8, and hit all of them using the dope on the side of my rifle. Didnt get much notce until I hit that 800 on the first shot. Well, that one got his attention.... He finally started to ask a few questions and seemed a little more interested in the setup. He asked what I was doing to my scope each time I changed ranges so I explained the process of "dailing in" the elevation once the distance is known. Showed him how easy it was to shoot the target with the range finder, look at the dope, dial it in the scope, and "send it".
After he finally sat down and we got the scope adjusted to his eye relief, he pulled the trigger on the 800 yard gong and guess what...."whoooop". He grinned like a school girl on prom night. After that, I was beginning to wonder if I was going to get my rifle back. He went from the 400 all the way out to the 980 ( a 3' x 3' plate ) and hit all of them in about 15 shots ( including one old billy goat that has been pissing him off, screwed up and walked down that rim rock at the wrong time.....588 yards, first round hit in the right front shoulder ) that was some funny shit. The wind was gusting just a little from right to left at about 5 MPH and we had some misses but overall, had a great day.
After we finished shooting, he asked me "whats one of them scopes cost". I never told him what the S&B cost because I didnt want to give him a heart attack. I did tell him that they were "pretty High" but told him that I had used a Falcon scope on one of my other rigs and that he should try one if he liked the way that my scope "dialed in"....its funny because that is what he was telling the other family members...."thats one of them dialing scopes".
Anyway, I have posted a wtb ad on the board here to try and find him a Falcon scope that we can put on the Win Mag of his. If he winds up using it, look out...there is no telling what he will be able to hit with that old 264 and some good dope. He wants me to bring my chrono and my computer to help him work up some ballistic charts for his rifle next weekend.
Just thought I would share that with you guys, I thought it was pretty cool to get one of the "old timers" using some new gear and having a blast. Before it was all over, we had my wife, my sister in law and her boyfriend ringing steel all day long....man that was fun.
Happy shootin
