TargetTalk

A coincidence has me shopping for a centerfire rifle. Seems santa is bringing me a bunch of new reloading gear and some friends are planning a white tail excursion for next season. My rifle experience is limited to the M4 and a .22 Henry lever and not a whole lot of practice with those. (in other words, my knowledge with rifles is not a whole lot at all).

I have serious doubts about actually bagging a deer so I figure it's a better idea to get a rifle I really want and maybe give 3P or Palma a try -- meanwhile having something to bring hunting with my friends, without the expectation of actually ever firing it at game.

For caliber / action I think .308 bolt action fits the bill. Savage, Sako and Remington seem to make Palma rifles that look fun. I wonder if they are just too heavy for 3P? I'd prefer an accurate rifle that I can get my hands on without waiting years for a custom shop to get around to making it.

Any recomendations for specific rifles or even just manufacturers I should look at would be much appreciated.

Between the two different sports, you are going to have two totally different rifles. the action will be pretty similar but that is about where it is going to stop. barrel length, twist, stock, and so forth will be different. I have seen people shoot some amazing scores in both with evertything from old mod. 70's, 40x's, all the way up to the customs that will set you back 3000-4500 dollars. So when you figure out which one you want to shoot, it might make it easier to choose the rifle.

Going straight into Palma shooting is quite a leap for a relative beginner.

Firstly a true Palma rifle is really not suitable for deer hunting. Deer hunting refiles are not really suitable for Palma shooting.

A true Palma rilfe is a dedicated single-shot target rifle in 308 Winchester; these are heavy (12-14lb), with a very long barrel (30-32in). The rifle is fitted with micrometer aperture sights, not telescopic sights, so a powerful spotting scope is needed. Shooters will normally wear a heavy leather or canvas jacket, and a single-point shooting sling to help support the rifle. You need to learn how to build a good prone position, and read the wind, as well as aim and fire correctly.

Savage makes a Palma rifle (sights are bough separately), but Reminton and Sako do not. Remington and Sako do make varmint rifles (heavy 24-28in barrels) 9-10lb weight, that would be fine for informal target shooting.

If you want to try Palma you really should go to a match, and see what goes on, before buying any kit. I'd recommend getting to grips with Prone shooting by taking up smallbore target at 50m and 100 yards first though.

Good luck.

Tim Slater
Taunton UK

Do you think trying 3P to start out would make more sense?

I really like the idea of getting into smallbore and plan to also save up for a decent .22 rifle with micrometer sights, etc. (I'm not really into using the glass). But . . . looks like I'll soon be in the market for a rifle I can legally take into the field on a hunting trip (rules here require bolt action and sufficient caliber) so I figure I might as well get one that can serve the most purposes. Looks like Palma is definitely not the rifle to start with.

Would a quality 3P rifle better fit the bill? -- looking for good "adjustability" and no compromise accuracy, but still something I can take into the field.

If you are looking into 3P high power shooting, those rifles are also heavy, longer and cumbersome for the field. You can do a 308 multi shot, which would prob be stipper clip fed. If you are set on that maybe two different stocks and a set of irons and a scope. Chances are you are going to be better off just getting a hunting rifle and coming up with what target discipline you want to jump into.

you might look at a tubb 2000

mag fed, interchangeable barrels, you can shoot anything from a 6br to a 260 or 308....good range of adjustability in the buttstock.....

mark

I'll toss out an off the wall comment. For the pure learning of rifle shooting an air rifle is hard to beat. I have a Match rifle (Anschutz 9003), and a sporter rifle (Air Arms 400), and they are great tools for shooting. I think you can get many more hours of trigger time with an airgun in the home than with a cartridge gun at the range. Nothing beats trigger time.

HP Prone and 3p are two totally different games. In fact, I didn't know that there was even any 3p centerfire competitions. The closest thing I know of is NRA Highpower that has 3 positions, but sitting instead of kneeling. If I wanted to do that and long range prone and wanted to use a bolt action, I'd get a Tubb 2000 or an Eliseo Tube Gun. Both of those have really nice adjustable stocks second only to a free rifle.

David Tubb hunts with his Tubb 2000. No reason you couldn't hunt with an Eliseo Tube Gun.

Oh, and there's the MAK Tube Gun too.

You can pick up a good used .308 "deer" rifle for under 500 bucks with scope. You will be able to use it for several seasons and sell for the same price if you decide you don't want to hunt anymore. In the meantime you can get experience with an air rifle or smallbore rifle until you know what you want in a high power rifle by observation of HP matches. You may even decide that smallbore and/or air rifle will give you more opportunities to shoot than HP.
HTH
Ben

Freepistol wrote:You can pick up a good used .308 "deer" rifle for under 500 bucks with scope. You will be able to use it for several seasons and sell for the same price if you decide you don't want to hunt anymore. In the meantime you can get experience with an air rifle or smallbore rifle until you know what you want in a high power rifle by observation of HP matches. You may even decide that smallbore and/or air rifle will give you more opportunities to shoot than HP.
HTH
Ben

Looks like this is the direction I'll go in.

I really appreciate all the input from everyone. Definitely helped in making a decision.

For a deer rifle I'll get a deer rifle -- makes a lot of sense. I'll go with a Winchester model 70 (or a Remington 700 -- Ford versus Chevy I hear).

For a target rifle starting out, looks like an air rifle really would be the most practical though I still also would love to have one of those smallbore CMP 1903s. Too many toys out there and not enough money. ;)

Thanks again to everyone who replied.

Philadelphia, since you are interested in Highpower Rifle, you should join this forum: http://www.usrifleteams.com/forums/ and send a PM to John Sylvester.

John is not only an accomplished rifleman, but also runs a gun store within an hour of Philly and knows the eastern PA HP scene very well. He will steer you well and you should take whatever advice he gives you very seriously.

Jose, that's a neat site. I'm going to do some reading there, too.
Thanks!
Ben

Jose Rossy wrote:Philadelphia, since you are interested in Highpower Rifle, you should join this forum: http://www.usrifleteams.com/forums/ and send a PM to John Sylvester.

John is not only an accomplished rifleman, but also runs a gun store within an hour of Philly and knows the eastern PA HP scene very well. He will steer you well and you should take whatever advice he gives you very seriously.

Thank you -- that is exactly what I needed. I joined the forum and started looking around there and I will contact John when I have more of a handle on it all.