getting a 5r - what things to do first?

[xjdesertfox]

20 MOA base
Nice rings
Bare minimum Bushnell elite 6500, Vortex viper PST, or SWFA .

[high_revs]

yep. it wasn't overly bad. but i had to keep on lifting/shifting the legs around hence the 6-9" height wasn't enough after a shot or two. i think i'll bring a small rectangular plywood next time. or a small piece of carpet as you said.

The gravel at Sac is kind of a pain. Most guys use a small chunk of carpet to keep the feet from digging in.

[RobG]

yep. it wasn't overly bad. but i had to keep on lifting/shifting the legs around hence the 6-9" height wasn't enough after a shot or two. i think i'll bring a small rectangular plywood next time. or a small piece of carpet as you said.

The 6-9 should be plenty for a bolt gun. I don't recall seeing anything taller unless it's an AR or similar. I bought one of these and it works real well. I open it up when shooting then clip it to my pack when we move.

[killshot44]

High-Revs, Ivanimal was the one who helped me set up my loading gear (even built me a new workbench for it !) so you had a good teacher. Now get on with it! Get yourself a Redding Boss or if you've got the coin, the Forster Co-Ax press. Redding FL bushing die and Reddint Comp Seating die and you're set.

Trigger? Jewells are sweet.

Bring that thing out to Sac Valley on the 14th; we're shooting a Folsom Special - 15 shots at 300, 500, 600 and 900 yards. Bring 175s.

[ar15barrels]

5r 24" coming in 10 days. been reading here and there on bolt action (even before this sub-forum was separated from all rifles). i figure...

* getting the barrel threaded for a muzzle brake (and install the brake too). not sure yet which brake
* 20moa steel base
* oversize bolt knob (badger also? or krg?)
* get action trued.

beginner here. using this as a learning platform so didn't need to splurge much. i know this will already outshoot me quite a bit until i get better.

Action truing is reserved for when you rebarrel.
You can't really true an action without also rebarreling the receiver as we'll.
Anyone that tells you that they can is selling you snake oil and not doing a proper truing job.

That factory 5r barrel will shoot very good groups.
Stick to it until you are ready to spend around $800 re-building the whole gun with a new barrel, one-piece bolt and then receiver truing.

[ar15barrels]

getting a 5r - what things to do first?

i forgot to say.. the first bolt action i shot was a friends ar-30. i was super impressed though it felt a heavier trigger than the stuff i had. and that bolt was pretty stiff. LOL (hence asking about true'ing). am i using the wrong term to make the action smoother?

Truing is all about re-machining the action to be straighter.
What you want to smooth out the bolt opening/closing is an oversized knob, clean and re-grease the threads between the bolt body and the shroud and then have someone tune the cocking piece and sear fit as well as the cocking piece rest area on the bolt body.
Don't do that until you replace the trigger IF you are planning to replace the trigger as the trigger will effect the sear hand-off timing.
I offer bolt tuning service for people who can walk-in to my shop and the service is explained further on www.700barrels.com/services.shtml

[justin_5585]

Forget the bolt knob and truing for now (and maybe even the muzzle brake unless you are recoil sensitive or dead set on spotting your own impact), spend that money on glass and a trigger.

[Exodus343]

^ and lots of match ammo
Save your brass!!!

[Dinosaur Jr]

Precision rings and good glass...go quality.

[Droppin Deuces]

Nope, the AAC does.

I agree on lots of top shelf ammo, or invest in your own reloading - this would be my top recommendation to improve your shooting capability.
Besides that I'd say a PST FFP is plenty good for sub MOA shooting, it works for me past 1k yards.

Get a nice bi-pod, and practice practice practice

I have a 24" 5R 300WM that came threaded. Truth is these things come in many configurations not listed.

[mattt]

Dont worry about all the Tacticool stuff and learn how to shoot 308. It is as if a person just got a drivers license and bought a mustang gt and ask,Do I need a track kit for this mustang? Drive it first , learn how to drive then worry about the other stuff.Or you could buy alot of cool tactical gear and still suck at shooting as alot of tactical shooters do.

[CobraRed]

I have a 24" 5R 300WM that came threaded. Truth is these things come in many configurations not listed.

Interesting

[thacker8394]

Dont worry about all the Tacticool stuff and learn how to shoot 308. It is as if a person just got a drivers license and bought a mustang gt and ask,Do I need a track kit for this mustang? Drive it first , learn how to drive then worry about the other stuff.Or you could buy alot of cool tactical gear and still suck at shooting as alot of tactical shooters do.

I second this the best thing you can do is go out and shoot it as is learn your gun and what you do and dont like about it. Good glass, good rings and good base and ALOT of trigger time. Shooting and sometimes shooting with someone better than you is the only thing that will make you better.

[ar15barrels]

The biggest single improvement you can make to a 5r is a muzzle brake.
A better trigger is helpful, but won't be as noticeable to a new shooter as a brake will.
Spotting your own impacts is HUGE benefit that will help teach a shooter what they are doing wrong.
No amount of "blind" shooting will help if you don't realize where you are hitting...

[high_revs]

man, i wish i knew that. i only saw someone point out to me a 20" 5r in .308 threaded.

I have a 24" 5R 300WM that came threaded. Truth is these things come in many configurations not listed.

thanks for all the inputs and for Randall clarifying what i was looking for. if i can find an excuse to drag the family socal to visit my bro, i might be seeing ya.


another question... lapping rings vs. no lap. i though i read here to get as much accuracy, one would lap the rings. but i heard that's not always necessary. (seems to be competent who told me). Nightforce highly discourages lapping and warranty is voided if the NF rings or scope is lapped. problem is and as noted on this forum, your scope/mount is locked into only 1 particular rifle.

not sure if this is the right forum for this question or if the optics since it's not feedback on certain optics/rings.