marklestrange

Thanks guys ...REALLY useful. Torque reaction + badly shouldered might well explain it. The stock was too short for me and it has no recoil pad of any sorts ...so that is easily fixed. The Sako I had just fired recoiled straight but that had a pad and so was the right length for me. It also felt no worse than a shotgun with slugs, the Midland has bruised my shoulder (sobs into post teaching wine - straight from bottle.) I haven't handed any money over yet, but have shaken hands. In my world that means I'm committed, but that's fine. I have to wait 3 months to get passed 'probationary member' and then get the plod to issue me a slot for target with a 308 [i have 2x.22 1x17hmr and shotgun atm] There should not be an issue with that, and the seller is a club range officer so he said he will wait. The club is shut (outdoors only) until April anyways. I do need to see if it feeds from the magazine though D'oh In the meantime I've got a 'Trained Hunter' course (fancy name for game hygiene I think) at Dutchy College the first Fri of half term so am on my my first steps to Deer Stalking. Re: Mods - its threaded already and I have worked with Carbon Fiber tubing before ...I think I feel a project coming on.

Morning .... My ears are not just ringing they are actually hurting and I had some blood come out of my nose in the shower. My new 'active' Caldwell headset/ears were totally inadequate by themselves with the large bore centerfires even though they are very effective with shotgun. You live and learn I guess, but I wont be doing that again without plugs in too. I think it was shooters each side of me more than the rifles I shot. I now understand comments I read on forums about shooters next to you using large calibers with muzzle brakes. Hope I haven't done too much damage as there is ****** all I can do about it now.

That's very kind Underdog, but it had mounts on it [Off to bed now got 16-19 yr olds to teach all day tomorrow]

I would like a 1st large caliber rifle I could 'play' with and not be too worried if it got a scratch. The Sako was as I said immaculate, the case the owner kept it in was worth a few hundred (not inc.) Underdog is giving me more confidence in it. I NJC - probably me but hard to tell..... the but was like a brick and I have skinny boney shoulders. I'd just fired the SAKO and the recoil didn't bother me a bit...but it had a pad on the end, the Midland 'bit' me quite hard [me= big girls blouse] So I well may not have held it right.

£250-300 would be 'doable' Maybe a bit more at a push, if it was worth it. I was offered an immaculate (300 rnd fired) Sako Forester with a Peco-Berlin scope, but that was £850 even though I lusted after it I could in no way justify that to myself ...or to the misses. ...and you are right , I WANT to spend as little as possible.

That was what I was hoping ... but I'm so keen to get SOMETHING to shoot on the range that I can use with deer that my judgment is in question

Jumping off the bag to the left?

Thankyou for the help Are they that bad? ... why? (£100 quid and local from the club range officer has a lot of appeal)

I am New to centerfire I have just tried out a Parker Hale Midland .308 I need someone with experience to give me a little advice please (Needy Newbie sorry) It has rams head (horned sheep?) and some (for me ) unapealing design on the plate and part of the trigger guard. It has been cut down a bit (couple of inches?) has a sporter barrel and is threaded with a thread protector. The rifling looks fine at both ends and from what I can see holding it up to the light is good throughout it's length with consistency through the throat and a good (maybe?) crown. The bolt has what I think is a long throw and can be wobbled a lot when at full extension out. The bolt was oily and dirty but the bore looked clean. The length was a bit short but with a recoil pad/extension I think it might fit well. The trigger had a very light pull (under 1.5 pounds I'm guessing) was crisp and had no noticeable overtravel or creep. I shot 10 shots off a bag prone with new shiney Winchester ammo and made a four inch group at 100 meters. I knew when I was spot on and knew when I wasn't so I think the rifle will do better than this, it was just I wasn't used to it. This was my first time shooting a large caliber centerfire (over .223) since I was in the CCF at school. (I'm now 50) What bothered me was the rifle jumped to the left (off the bag) on recoil. It seemed to shoot straight (well as much as I can tell - which is of course extremely limited). The barrel was free floated but sliding a note down between the barrel and the stock it snagged a little about 6 inches up from where it goes into the receiver on the left side. Looking at the stock the gap down the right side of the barrel was larger than the gap on the left, only by a bit but definitely visible. The owner shot it for the first time that day at the range as he just bought it from an auction for £75 + fees and petrol. As I'm after a rifle for both deer and 'fun' (rather than truly competitive) range target shooting (remember I'm new to this.) i asked rather impetuously if he would sell it to me for £100. He said OK but at £110 to cover the rounds I'd fired. Is the stock misalignment a problem? Is this why it jumps left? Is this a problem? I know its a 'cheap' rifle and wasn't that expensive when new I'm guessing (It sure ain't no Sako) but is this a good choice for me considering what I want to use it for? I'm pretty skint too. I like the idea of a rifle I could maybe play with... piller bed? Glass bed, refinish stock or camo paint etc so the price is good, but is the rifle? Now I'm panicking about it jumping to the left off the bag.

Cheers Scotslad, good info. The kids want pets - and they liked ferrets they saw at some shelter they got taken too. Well that was the starting point for a low level long term 'pester'. Never having trained a dog for work, my feeling was pretty much any dog could follow a scent. Dogs I had when young were well behaved and would come to heal and not require a lead, but that was the only skill I really needed them to master, I think trainning a true gun dog would be much harder but I don't need to go that far so it sounds very doable. If it isn't it's not critical for deer as you have pointed out. I may have landlord issues and/or neighbor issues with a dog so that is another potential issue. I like your take on ferrets, a good pet and a good working ferret would be the same. I'm getting closer to a decision and it's looking like a pair of ferrets.

ouch lol

******, I just spat red wine on my keyboard!

I didn't know that friend of a friend has lots of ferrets and he has an infra red bulb in his shed so I thought they needed/liked that. Well, learnt something, ta, that makes it easier still.

No wind up Flynny, the wife has said the kids can have a pet.......... So I'm trying to see if can get a pet with benefits! (or did you mean the bit about digging out dogs) ;-)

Would I then be digging out a dog?

m2tyj .... A friend said wait till the kids are old enough to dig before getting ferrets. ...... mmmmmmm staying up all night trying to recover a full fat ferret having a kip down a hole doesn't sound much like fun I have to admit.

I don't think the wife would be up for a dog AND ferrets, well not in the same year ;-) I now have a vision of a deer stalking ferret LOL It's good to know that you can have 'tame' pet working ferrets. It would be for a bit of a hobby for the rabbits as I don't think I could match a nights lamping for getting rabbits efficiently, so I don't 'need' them as such. I thought it might be good for the kids to go ferreting with me as shooting isn't something I can take the three of them with me. I'm not that confident about training a dog to track only having had 'pet' ones before but it would be an interesting challenge, and isn't 'required' for deer, just if I could pull it off it would be damned useful.

I bunny bust now and am working my way up to deer with courses and center-fire rifle club target shooting. I have 3 children aged 4-7 I have an outside shed that could be fitted out for ferrets with some heating etc and a small garden. The primary purpose would be as family pets but ........ Ferrets: I've either known pet ferrets that seem great as pets or ferreting ferrets that I'd want thick gloves for. Can they be 'dual' use? Dogs: If god forbid, I wounded a deer, a dog would be good but like the ferrets I've either known working dogs kept outside under quite strict discipline or pet dogs that would be useless at anything. Will the kids ruin it for practical purposes? .... small fly in ointment..... kid allergies mean I need a poodle or poodle cross (cocadoodle?) Can they track at all da'ya think? (I have worked with a bloody good poodle gun dog before which had 20 x the brains of any retriever I have ever met.)

Thanks guys, @ Dekers: I've read this and many other posts on this and other (US) forums and was coming to the conclusion that this particular .308 might just be the multi-use gun that would make all this affordable, but like most newbies I'm in need of encouragement and reassurance. I wanted the 'cheap' ammo for target and general 'practice' and would want to use the 'best' expanding ammo on deer (almost) regardless of cost. I have heard that the poilce often just past land at the caliber requested by the owner/first shooter when asking for inspection rather than registering that land for the calibers that would be suitable to use on it ...just checking if anyone knows how this pans out in SE Devon. Newbies aye ...what can you do. @Dunkield - YEP that's the one .... good scopes? (I'm presuming they are very good as the shooter that owned this gun is a 'quality gentleman' who loves his guns and the sport).

It sounds a bit odd to say but .... I don't know what model as I haven't seen the rifle The Treasurer of the club is downscaling his collection and said that this might be a suitable rifle for me. I trust him and I think he will sell me it at a good price. It has a now 'defunct' companies German optics on it (P.....??) and has fired 300 rounds from when he bought it new. Guessing its a 75 or possibly an 85? My other choice would be a £200 Massant, but getting that 'Deer suitable' and swapping between that and 'service rifle' spec sounds less than ideal for me. A .308 Sako seems to be the right rifle/caliber for the dual use I want to put it to. Now I just need to fire a few centerfires (1st time in many many years) to see if I have any subjective bias or suddenly develop a flinch lol (I'm not expecting to btw)

From what I understand all military small arms are intended to wound for this exact reason (but under a 'humanitarian' cloak) rather than kill hence the banning of expanding/frangible ammo for military use.

50 Yr old IT lecturer shotgun owner and FAC bunny basher wishes to progress to Deer. Will swap making a website or other IT related stuff for venison/mentoring/stalking experience, anything that will get me closer to my goal. I am a member of a 'centerfire' shooting club and will (probably) buy a Sako .308 later in the year to use first on the range and then later still for deer. I need experience and would like to offer my skills so I can benefit from yours.

Thanks, NJC Am I right to think that a .308 Sako would (though on the 'heavy' side caliber-wise): be 'cheap' to shoot with military ammo (can one get it?) would be a suitable platform to learn reloading (not this year I have enough to learn) ? has a range of available commercial loads/types inc expanding that are readily available? I have heard that some Deer land may be restricted on caliber with 308 not being allowed (sounds crazy to me but what do I know) ? (I'm in SE Devon) Is this true?

Bang - resurrected! I've got .22 (x2) .17hmr and shotgun on the ticket as well as being a member (amongst others) of a 'centerfire' outdoor target club. In Devon .17hmr is a Foxing round so with .22lr for wabbits I'm thinking of getting a used Sako .308 for dear and 'sporting rifle' target. It will take me some time to progress to deer as I have '0' experience, but I'm up for the journey and this is my goal. OK I'm a bit weird but I'd like to shoot all my family eat when it comes to meat; pigeon rabbit and the odd pheasant ain't going to cut it with the kids. Lacking local boar I've gone for a share in some fattening Gloucester pigs but venison is required for the kids as they may revolt if beef is taken off the menu. Is 308 the right caliber for me? ...and does anybody want a 50 yr old IT lecturer on a stalk (I'm East Devon) ...will do IT for venison and mentoring - web specialist....well you can't blame me for asking!

Thanks .. can double duty with some quick detach mounts with my CZ455 then ..cheers :-) I've got a 3.5 x 2.5 inches red dot scope intended for a mounted machine gun - massive field of view - should be fun ;-)