I very recently received an e-mail from a person who writes every now and then. He was expressing concerns with a purchase he recently made. The gist of his problem was, he was shooting a new Weatherby .338-378 with the first 20 rounds of handloads he had attempted, and was only able to produce 1″ hundred yard groups. He was disgusted with the gun’s performance, a friend was telling him the rifle was trash, and all I could think of was how glad I am I don’t have to shoot or hunt with that group. I felt sorry for the guy. Only a couple of weeks prior to this e-mail, he was all excited about a big hunting trip, a new gun…
When a person can take a cannon like the .338-378 out of a box, withstand 85 lbs. or so of recoil, and with a single stab at a handload combination shoot sub MOA performance, exactly what expectations were in place ? Occasionally I work up loads that comes out alright. I post them on the site because I want to offer the best information possible, and maybe provide a starting point for someone who wants to load for the same cartridge / rifle combination. What doesn’t get on the site is the data for the 200 rounds representing odd combinations that didn’t work, the ones I hopefully spared someone from trying.
I’m sure, somewhere, there is a place with shooters where groups fired from the offhand position are all quarter MOA or better, but I don’t know where that place is, and I don’t know who those people are. I personally need to work at handloading, work at developing and retaining shooting skills and, even on the best of days, I’m still just not that good. But I love guns and handloading and it’s the associated activity I enjoy. So reducing groups size is of course a challenge, but not a source of embarrassment or a discouraging problem.
I’ve gotten some really good groups out of my Weatherby, but I’ve gotten some that would miss a bowling ball at 100 yards. I’ve had some of the supposedly best bullets on the market barely make it onto the paper, and I’ve had some new powders miss published velocity data by 10%. I’ve also had some days when I’m personally off and I’m wasting my time at the range. So what ? There will always be another day, another combination, a different attitude and frame of mind.
If I had a friend who was quick to create a sense of failure in all of the things I attempted, or one who was overly and unjustly critical of my choices and opinions, I’d find another friend. I try to avoid the guys you run into hunting, or at the range, who never seem to have a gun in their hand but are always offering their critiques and opinions. I’ve never met someone who is really good at something, who needs to belittle someone who is less accomplished to make themselves feel important.
There are times I’ve taken people to the range or hunting, who end up being better marksmen or hunters. Sometimes they reach this level of accomplishment in an embarrassingly short period of time. So what ? The goal was not to compete with them, it was to share a personal interest. What I may have managed to accomplish by introducing people to the sport is to have yet another person to hunt with, or someone else to stand up for gun owners’ rights, maybe someone else to swap moderately exaggerated gun stories with.
Is there a point to all of these comments ? I hope so. Handloading and shooting, outside of the narrow framework of competitive shooting, are mostly areas for individual achievement, a place to compete against yourself. Pick a spot, any spot, and try to improve; tighter groups, bigger game, faster bullets – whatever it is within firearms related sports you derive enjoyment from. When you improve your personal best, feel good about it. When you don’t see improvement, take enjoyment from the investigation and experimentation that will next be required to advance. After all, what’s the downside of working to improve ? You’ll need to shoot more, hunt more, reload more ?
I use to throw all of the equipment in the car, drive an hour and a half to the closest outdoor range, then spend the day working through a check list and a tight schedule, making sure I pushed for the best results. I’d get home feeling exhausted and aggravated if I didn’t do as well as I had hoped. Gradually, I found myself going to the range less, putting off reloading until the last minute, and doing most everything people do when they want to avoid something unpleasant. These days it’s different.
My wife and I go to the range. We use the driving time to talk about the future and family, maybe listen to a little music on the radio. We take turns shooting and data collecting, with one person spotting for the other. If things go right or wrong there is a discussion, a review, an exchange of ideas. We also seem to spend more time at gun stores and talking about the sport and, one of these days, I’ll get her to take that hunting trip to Africa. If you find yourself getting less enjoyment from the sport, try taking a step back, try recalling what it was that got you involved in the first place. I’m sure, somewhere in there, will be a basic desire to have fun.
For my e-mail buddy, you did really well and I congratulate you on your first effort with this rifle/cartridge combination – beats the hell out of anything I could initially put together.
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