My first centrefire rifle!

[Kungfugerbil]

Morning all,

I recently had a new slot granted for a .308 Rifle that I will use for informal 100/300yd and occasional 600yd target shooting. I’ve shot for a while but only really smallbore - this is my first fullbore Rifle. I no longer feel like a fraud on this forum

As I’m new to the discipline I didn’t want to spend loads - the ‘all the gear no idea’ thing doesn’t appeal to me. I kept an eye on the usual gun trader type sites and last week spotted a Howa Varmint barreled action for a modest price - the same one that Triffid pointed out later on my ‘wanted’ post. I jumped on that as it was only £275 and having received it is basically new.

While I was waiting for that to be sent over, a scan of eBay found a Boyds laminate stock for £130 and a trawl of Opticswarehouse brought an ex demo Bushnell Elite 10x40 mildot scope for £150 and Burris signature rings for £80. The rings were the only new component but everything else looks pretty much unused.

All in it’s cost me less than £650 for an essentially new scoped Rifle with 24” heavy barrel:



Haven’t tested it yet but will report back once I do. I’m delighted. The trigger may need to be lightened but I’m not touching anything until I’ve test fired it.

[ovenpaa]

The Howa 1500 is superb and you should have many years of fun with this rifle.

Enjoy

[Les]

Congratulations - that looks like a great rig!

[froggy]

Congrats & have fun !!

[Dellboy]

nice gun

[Dorset_shooter]

Looks great, let us know how you get on with it.

[Oddbod]

That's a steal matey.

Enjoy.

[Alpha1]

I look forward to seeing it on the firing point in the new year. You need to be reloading some ammo for it over the winter.

[Triffid]

Hope its a good one for you! It looks fantastic and a steal at that price.

I was shooting my Howa 308 out to 1000m on Stickledown last Sunday morning, using the NRA GGG 155g Imperial ammo. Once I factored in the required 34 minutes of elevation, the rifle easily held the black. Yes, it wasn't consistently hitting the v-bull (but I had my share), but equally it's a budget rifle, shot off a bipod and the first time I've shot further then 600.

Triffid

[Kungfugerbil]

Well I took the rifle out for it’s maiden sighting-in at the weekend. Only a 100m but I thought I would at least get it pointing in the right direction before attempting anything further.



The range was empty and electronic targets meant I could stay nice and warm under cover. Lovely. On the advice of Triffid I got hold of some 155gn NRA imperial rounds and some PPU 168gn as they were available and cheap. I started with the 168gn PPU and it took me a while to walk the rounds on...when I did they were going pretty well and I got a 10.9 on the ISSF style scoring. I switched over to the 155s and noticed way more consistency - the ten shot string pictured below had a few that were pretty much same hole.



I was delighted as it’s the first time out with the put-together rifle and I’m a relative novice at this type of shooting. Even the trigger pull which seemed over heavy I found ok as it is crisp and predictable. Now to re check the action screw torque, good clean and try again :)