Sometimes a gun can surprise you.

by Jared, Thursday, September 05, 2013, 20:55 (4040 days ago)
edited by Jared, Thursday, September 05, 2013, 20:58

About 10-11 years ago I won a Remington 710 in .270 with a $5 raffle ticket at the local fire men's frolic. Right after I got it, I shot it just enough to get it zeroed. the scope was mounted so far back it was hitting me in the head. A few days later I moved the scope forward but when I tightened down the cheap rings that came with it the broke. I put it up in the back of the safe.

A while later I thought about it and put the scope in some steel weaver rings and never even took the rifle out and sighted it in. 4-5 years ago I had a cousin that was showing some interest in hunting. So we went out and he shot a hog. He seemed to enjoy it and was asking about getting a rifle and hunting license. I told him to go get his hunters education and he could come to my place and get a deer. He never went and got the hunters education, and never knew that I planned on giving him that rifle.

Fast forward to today. I was going shooting and on a whim I grabbed a couple of boxes of .270 and the 710 just to get it on paper. The 100 yard range is under construction so I only had 50 yards and 200 to play with. I got it on at 50 yards with some left over factory ammo and it seemed to shoot ok. I grabbed a box of handloads and shot the 3 shot group on the right. It is right at .133” C-C. By now the rifle had my interest.

Once the 200 yard range was open I moved down there to give it a whirl. I was having a hard time seeing the target very clearly through the great optical quality of the $29.99 Bushnell special that came on these rifles. I did the best I could on holding the crosshairs on the blurry target. I couldn't tell where I was hitting so I walked down to find the 1.6" group on the right.

The rifle is still ugly with a rough action, and the trigger is around 6lbs, but I am thinking it may be deserving of a better scope, and get some use.