I finally got it!!!

[russt]

Nice rifle, congrats! Let us know how it shoots

[MrExel17]

Sweet, congrats!

[Coyotegunner]

They are nice guns.
My 308 prefers flat based bullets over boat tails.I reload for all of my rifles.
Hope yours shoots well.I have not found a Tikka yet that is even fair,they have all been very accurate.
Tikkas 308,300Win Mag,243,7mm-08,300WSM

[Dinosaur Jr]

Don't do what I did: I got so into zeroing the scope on my new 30-06, getting so close to the reticle so it would perfect, that it left a perfect scope imprint on my nose, complete with a nice cut and a big bruise. It felt like a hard punch in the face. My gun looks like yours too so watch out.

We call it "scope eye"...it's often a symptom of trying to get by with an under-performing, inexpensive scope. What's on your rifle?

[CobraRed]

Harris S-BRM bipod w/ swivel sounds redundant, lol.

[penguinofsleep]

Congrats. Wish they still made them with stainless barrels for the us market (seem to be euro market only right now)

[chozenfew805]

[Mr Blu]

Barrel break in is a widely disputed matter.

My point of view of the matter is that it's the same with any mechanical item, be it a rifle, a car engine, whatever. Not so much with rifles, but each one is different.

The most break in you have to do is swab the barrel with a non-aggressive solvent, then fire about 2 boxes worth of clean/quality ammo. I'm not talking match grade, but don't use ball ammo either. Regular Remington/Winchester ammo will do fine. The point is to "smooth the bore" of any inconsistent machining left over from the factory, as well as get that bolt/action to cycle properly.

After that, any inconsistent hits on paper you might have had because of machining will be gone.

Another way of breaking it in is to dry fire with snap caps, but this obviously only works the bolt/action.

Personally, I would also field strip the rifle and do a phase 1 cleaning. It may be new, but you don't know what kind of debris has settled in the rifle during construction and transportation.

Think of it this way. What's the first thing you do when you draw weapons from the armory before going to the range??? You field strip it, clean it, then do a functions check, right???

Same thing here, except you won't be sitting in the company's AO for 5 hours wiping the bolt of your M4/M16 because you finished 3.5 hours ago.

[BadMatt]

We call it "scope eye"...it's often a symptom of trying to get by with an under-performing, inexpensive scope. What's on your rifle?

My scope: Nikon Prostaff - not the best not the worst. I got a pretty good buck with it this year so I can't complain. I attribute my being scoped to carelessness. It certainly is a lesson I will never forget.

[jh2586]

Ok did a good about 5 hours at Sac Valley. Weather turned out great, wasn't raining or windy in the morning but it was super cold. I was able to pull off sub .5" MOA. Both the scope and rifle performed really well. On my very first shot, my left hand was too far forward and the bipod wacked it pretty good. It's swollen but I put ice and it's feeling better now. Anyway, I took some of your advice. I put a zero target out on 25yds and got it dialed in. When I took it out to 100yds, I was on paper and not too far off the target. Once I fine-tuned myself at 100 yds, I covered up the middle and did shot groups on each corner of the sub-targets.

An NRA RSO was helping me dial in my scope and give me pointers. Also, he let me borrow his rear rest.. AND WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Now I gotta search for a good one. I'm definitely glad I got the Harris bipod, made things very easy.

Well there you have it, I'm looking to make this a good hobby at least 2-3 times per month since I live really close to Sac Valley. I had a blast!


Here's the layout for my target



This is the best I did (that's 5 rounds but only looks like 3)


Here is a comparison of my .308 holes and my friend's Ruger .204s (I shot both sets)

[Dinosaur Jr]

My scope: Nikon Prostaff - not the best not the worst. I got a pretty good buck with it this year so I can't complain. I attribute my being scoped to carelessness. It certainly is a lesson I will never forget.

Well, 30-06 has some beefy recoil after all. I wonder if the Buckmaster series might have a little eye more relief? I believe that line is more hunting oriented. I really like Nikon glass and the value it represents.

[russ69]

Nice job OP. You are figuring things out very fast.

[NorCalFocus]

Thats an awesome group for your first time out.

[killshot44]

Way to go, JH. Five well-spent hours.

[BroncoBob]

Nice rifle some of the smoothest actions, just like butter.