Though it took a close to a year the new to me 7-08 barrel is now rigged

[aulrich]

So with my sons first deer season looming (November) it was about time to get that barrel setup and going(it was Canadian Thanksgiving I was up at my cabin so I had a plenty of time for debugging). It only took to about round 12 of the obligatory 1 box of factory to figure I had a shooter on my hands. Groups of about 1.5 - 2" nothing earth shattering sure but I was not setup for best groups shooting off of an ammo box and the scope is a thick crosshaired 4x(they covered at least an inch at 100) . It was consistant so I was happy, and realistically I don't want him taking a longer shot than 100 anyway.

The next day I had a batch of reloads ready to test, though I had time I did not have enough to test many different combinations so I played it safe varget and sierra 120's, because varget is a safe bet for 308 based cases and I have never had a sierra bullet shoot bad. Load testing showed two nodes that had accuracy potential I picked the lower one the manual puts it at 2700 ish fps to reduce recoil and to push the lighter bullet too fast it's not a varmint bullet but a little less speed would help with the bullets integrity, Sierras are soft as a rule.

So the next two days were reserved for field practice the first day was getting him use to more recoil (he has shot tons of 22 and 22 hornet but no big game) and the sighting finalized. the first days target was a paper plate with an aim point from various field positions and he did well.

The last day I thew him a curve, I made a life size cardboard cutout of a deer, because he needed to shoot at something that did not have a bullseye. The first few rounds did not go well. I explained how to figure out where to aim, but he was all over and in the guts. Figuring that he did not understand I back tracked and added an aim point for a couple of rounds, I have to admit I was worried because he was loosing his nerve quickly. But a few rounds with the aim point and his confidence was back, I removed the aim point and the remaining rounds were all clean kills.

In a few weeks I'll post a few pic's 

[quickdtoo]

Good job!!

Tim

[Tunaman]

The Cut out is a great idea. I am going to try that with my daughter. Good luck with his first hunt.

[Slufoot]

Excellent! Good thinking on the cut out.

[canon6]

Glad you are getting to finally  use that barrel, good job.    Doug

[dpe.ahoy]

That's an excellant cartridge for most hunting in the lower 48.  Mine is also a shooter without any messing around.  DP

[aulrich]

Sorry Doug I had meant to e-mail you to tell you how pleased I was.