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Paul Leverman

A late range report from last weekend. I finally got out to shoot and took the newly chambered 243Win and my beloved Mkll. The 243 went well, combining fireforming and potential nodes, as well as re-affirming maximums. The 338, however, was a different story. I was interested in finding out what could be done with the 285gr ELD-M. While velocities and accuracy were pretty well where I figured they should be, the recoil was a horse of a different colour. I didn't go into this thinking that I was immune to recoil, and though it doesn't bother me to shoot big ones, it turned out that this was not a bullet I would use to hunt with, at least not in the Ruger platform. Even at what I considered minimum loads, it was just unpleasant to shoot. The rifle was too light, even at 10.5#s, and the stock design was factory, so a big factor. I will still use the 285 in my other 338, just not the Ruger. I enjoy hunting and shooting too much to uselessly beat myself up for no apparent gain. I think I'll stick with the SST.

The good news, the 243Win performed flawlessly. The new Sightron is a wonder of modern technology. I even tried for the first time to use the dots to hold off under test shots in wind gusts. Amazing what you can do with the right tools. Obviously, more practice is needed, but with a new toy to play with, it's going to be more fun.