Thread: Auckland Long Rang Shooting/rifle help.

Originally Posted by Brennos

Awesome, cheers for the advice. Currently I have a EGW 0 MOA rail, with Leuopold QPR rings, and a Nikon Buckmaster 4-14x40 scope with a mildot reticle. The stock is standard Hogue, but I am sold on a Bell and Carlson Stock from Dead Eye Dicks. I have adjusted the trigger myself, but it needs to go and get done properly, I might drop that off next week. What do you think of the setup currently? I will see if I can find a decent 20moa rail, and sort the trigger, but do you think I need to upgrade to a clicky scope, if so, would a Bushnell 4200 (or equivilent) do the job? $700 landed with turrets etc? I'm not trying to skimp, just avoiding spending too much, should be able to get $400 for my current scope, so only spending another $3-400 would be nice.

Oh and 162 A-Max projectiles, would they stabilise ok in my short 1in10 twist barrel? I wanted to use them, but was warned off them by those in the know.



Really? That would be ideal, I wasnt sure i could turn it into a magnum, due to the strength of a short action.



Does akarana clevedon and waiku all run the same season, or is that just clevedon? Ideally I owuld like somewhere I could shoot weekends all year round? Waiuku would be pretty cool, is that the one out on an old WW2 range?

Personally, I would keep the Hogue stock on it. If you want to stiffen up the fore-end then buy a carbon fibre arrow shaft and epoxy it in there. If the rifle shoots MOA or better as it is now, it will be good enough for 500-600m (this should be your limit on game). You might gain a little accuracy by changing the stock, but that $600 would be much better invested in a better scope. $600 + $700 mentioned above gets you pretty close to a Mk4 4.5-14 x 50 from the States. This will also mean that you probably won't need a 20 MOA rail either as the Mk4 has 100 MOA of elevation adjustment (from memory), so theres another $100 for your scope. A nice light, and crisp trigger will do wonders for accuracy, so it should be a priority as well.

A clicky scope is a must. Holdover past 300 odd metres (and you need a rangefinder to know...) isn't very ethical in my books. If an animal is 300+ away, its probably not going to know you are there unless the wind is up your arse, or you have been blazing away at it already using holdover (all this is assuming your zero is at 100m).

A short action is in theory stiffer than a long action, and the strength doesn't come from the long/short action, it comes from the lock up (bolt lugs, dia of the bolt, barrel tenon size etc). Opening up the face to magnum would be the same as buying a magnum in the first place (i.e. the action is the same, just a different boltface)