My First Rifle and the Start of a Long-Range Journey

I’m 19 years old and I have very little experience with rifles, or even hand guns at this point. I am aware of the idea of long-range shooting but truly don’t know much beyond you shoot at a target that is far away. I am unfamiliar with cartridges, bullet weights and even brands of rifles. I was watching Public Enemies and see Melvin Pervice run the bolt on a Mauser 98 and think to myself, I want a bolt-action rifle.

But what brand should I buy? I do a Google search and look up “bolt-action rifle” what else would pop up at the time but a Remington model 700 bolt-action rifle. So I am looking through the models and find a very attractive black and grey stock called the Remington model 700 SPS. Okay, now that I have decided what it should look like I start scrolling through the available calibers. I was familiar with few names of the 15+ offerings. 30-06 catches my eye as well as .308. So I talk with some family and friends one of which has a 300 Win Mag. He is a big game hunter who often chases elk and deer and rarely shoots recreationally. The kindling was set and this was the spark that lit the fire, 30-06 couldn’t be enough for what 19-year-old me was going to do with it! Which was primarily shoot 50 yards or so at simple targets like cans, paper and water jugs. “Oh, no” I thought, “I need a 300 Win Mag.”

So the search for the Remington 700 SPS chambered in 300 Win Mag begins, I call some local shops to no avail. A friends dad mentions one of the oldest shops in Salt Lake, Gallenson’s Gun Shop. I give them a call and as luck would have it they had one sitting there brand new ready for a new home. I stopped at a gun show early Saturday morning with some friends and bought a box of Winchester ammunition for a rifle I didn’t even own yet, this sealed the deal I had to get this rifle now. It came in a long slender box with a large Remington logo printed on the side. Walking a half block through the heart of Down town salt lake holding a giant sign that says hey I’m carrying a weapon is not something I enjoy so we quickly left for home.

This sadly is where the story slows down. I have ammo for the rifle but nothing else. Wait, I have to buy a scope base? and a Scope? and Rings?  what did I just get myself into? after months of not having much motivation to get the rifle completed I slowly acquired things necessary for an optic. Finally the day comes when I buy a Vortex diamondback 3.5-12×50, I had heard bigger objectives made the scope clearer so obviously 40mm could never be enough for my 300WM that could knock over a building with one hit. I had also bought a one piece rail for the rifle But when I went to install the scope the large bell hit the rail. After cutting a small piece off the rail the scope was now in its home with almost no adjustability front to back for eye relief, because what is eye relief.

At last the rifle is in a shootable form and is ready for a range trip. I had shot the rifle with no scope before. I had an idea what to expect, but putting a sharp-edged scope a few inches from your face on a light rifle with stout recoil seemed odd to me. I pulled the stock into my shoulder about as tight as I could and yanked the trigger before getting kicked in the shoulder. I would laugh and hand it to a friend and begin warning them about how bad it was going to kick.

On one of the trips I shot and the bolt would not lift. After beating on the bolt to lift it we mortared the rifle on a tailgate to get the fired casing out. I sent it back to Remington for extraction issues. Again this was before a good understanding of rifles so the details of what they did are fuzzy, regardless the rifle came back and functioned 100% there after.

I had been looking at scopes with more zoom, thinking “This will make my rifle shoot long-range!” I had a friend who knew a guy and was told I could get any Vortex scope at half of MSRP. Great! I sold my Diamondback promptly only to find out that I would not be able to get the deal, well great now I have a rifle and no scope… again. By pure chance I was scrolling through Instagram and someone I followed posted a picture of the exact Vortex model I was going to buy, asking if anyone was interested in buying it. I immediately let him know and he got it shipped the following day. Now the Vortex Viper 6.5-20×50 has arrived. Those familiar will have seen this scope in my older videos. I get a new set of 30mm rings and mount the scope. Still unfamiliar with MOA or Mil, or FFP vs SFP. I get to a range and have the range officer help me get it on paper.

At this point I am now watching shooting videos on YouTube, I have discovered Nutnfancy’s channel and have fallen for the idea of run and gun with steel targets. I get a few plates and a terribly unstable home-made target stand made and head to the desert. The intention was to shoot them with pistols, which we did. After our pistol fun we set a target at 200 yards. I have a mixture of 165g and 185g Winchester ammo. I set up a folding card table, sit in a fabric camp chair, lay the rifle across an ammo can and take aim! BANG! immediately I flinch and the rifle goes completely off target. but then a ping comes echoing back. “Whoa did you hear that?” I asked my buddies. We all giggle and decide to try again even moving the target back to 325 yards. “Man that’s so far!” I say to myself. I hit the target on two of 6 or so shots. The rifle is not properly zeroed and I don’t know what bullet drop is. So likely they are all landing under the target, I wouldn’t know due to the recoil and losing my sight picture after every shot.

The recoil is too much, I do some research and find a muzzle brake online that doesn’t require threading the barrel. Witt Machine is the name of the company and I get one ordered as I have now started to realize the 300WM is not such a fun range toy when you’re scared of the recoil it creates. The brake arrives and it fits like a glove! I paint it grey to match the stock inserts and head back to the desert which has gone from maybe twice a year to almost once a month, funny how long-range shooting will do that to a person. I can now shoot and not flinch! the muzzle blast could likely kill a rabbit with just the percussion but behind the rifle is finally enjoyable.

Now I have found a new channel and series of videos that have my full attention. Some guy who talks a bit different and says Lah-poo-uh and made a series called “Sniper 101” Rex Reviews is now teaching me what happens to bullets when they leave the barrel. The features of scopes that help accomplish the task and a key piece of information, that .243 has nearly the same trajectory as a 300WM but has almost no recoil and is WAY cheaper to shoot. How interesting! I begin looking at new rifles again now with a much better idea of features I’m looking for to shoot a bullet a long ways away. Things like twist rate, free floated barrels, and 20 Moa bases. At this time I could not afford to buy another rifle, I was a new home owner just married and 21 years old. I made a decision I really wanted to shoot a rifle that was less expensive to shoot. At this time reloading cost too much to get into and .243 Win was 15-30$ less per box of 20 which would quickly add up.  I had to put the Remington up for sale locally and an older gentleman came and took it away as his long-range rifle project. I started on my research and ended up in search of a Tikka T3x, this time in .243 Win.

https://www.remington.com/rifles/bolt-action/model-700/model-700-sps

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1152836/

https://www.youtube.com/user/nutnfancy

https://www.youtube.com/user/TiborasaurusRex

http://www.tikka.fi/rifles/tikka-t3x/t3x-lite-stainless

Find more of my content through any of these links;

https://www.instagram.com/westdesertshooter/

https://www.youtube.com/user/1modusman1

https://videos.utahgunexchange.com/@Westdesertshooter

West Desert Shooter

My channel’s main focus is long range shooting and rifle reloading. I got my start on YouTube late 2016 and have been making content ever since! Learn more about me on my Author’s Page