Help me build the perfect practice rifle

[steve white]

Here is my full feature practice rifle in 22 LR, sized same as my big rifles. It is helpful with reducing flinch as zero recoil and but the bolt throw is short, so not good for follow up practice.
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Man, that ticks all the right boxes!!

I agree with your mention of "same bolt throw" A magnum action should be practiced with and cycled forcefully as well as immediately after the shot to ready one for DG followup, as well as to prevent "short stroking."

 

[Woodcarver]

I think it might be Briley but could be wrong. I thought I saw a 470 that had slip in 22 rifle sleeves that did what you are asking. I saw something like that on AH but can’t remember anything else about it

Don't know what other calibers they make these inserts for, but this pair I picked up from a fellow member awhile ago have been great in the 9.3x74R. Surprisingly accurate as well, I have no issue keeping them on a 6" steel at 50yd. From 25yd-50yd they shoot very close to both my scope & irons.
While slow to reload, they allow target acquisition, follow through, and call your shot training with my double. Off the sticks, offhand, all without the expense of even reloads. Mixed with full loads, these inserts can provide an afternoon of good practice at very little cost.
Hoping to get a pair of Chaszel 30-30 inserts for a 20ga sxs for another inexpensive practice gun. If they provide similar accuracy, a potentially useful "poor man's double" out to about 100yds.

 

[Jon Glajchen]

The saying goes “Practice makes perfect”!
The truth is however that “Perfect practice makes perfect”

To this end I would recommend that any practicing of dry work needs be initially and then occasionally vetted by an experienced shooter to make sure that the hunter is indeed developing the correct muscle memory and not just cementing bad habits into his shooting regimen.

Anyone who maintains that practice and training in preparation for a hunt is a waste of time is delusional and this applies especially to the correct and efficient setting up of shooting aids such as shooting sticks as well as the repetitive practice of going through the matrix of firing each shot.

A .22 rifle or any smaller, cheaper caliber rifle are fine tools to acquire the necessary skills needed to hunt ethically and prepare the hunter for a successful hunt!

 

[Ontario Hunter]

,I had not even heard of shooting sticks until my first safari in 2019. By then I had been hunting big game quite successfully for 55 years. At the lodge's range the first afternoon I shot my 30-06 off the bench maybe twice to check zero then off we went to eat dinner. The next morning I shot three animals off the sticks in as many shots before noon (plus a warthog shot offhand). Ranges were 150, 100, and 280 yards. After dropping the blue wildebeest in his tracks my PH exclaimed that was some shooting. I shrugged it off. "A mentally handicapped person could have made that shot shooting off this quad contraption." Up to that time my hunting was primarily tracking in snow and shots were typically (though not always) close and either offhand, sitting (rarely), or leaning against a tree. I did not find shooting off sticks on flat ground at standing targets to be any kind of rocket science (which is the typical scenario at a practice range). Quite the opposite. However, on steep or uneven ground I later discovered readjusting quad sticks can be a real pain in the arse, especially if the animal is moving. In the future I will opt for something else in those situations, either shoot from offhand/sitting or unhorse the butt end of my rifle from sticks. Perhaps practicing resetting sticks in difficult scenarios would be useful but I doubt many do it. Anyway, though familiarizing oneself with sticks before going on safari might be somewhat useful - certainly not a waste of time - I did not find being totally unknowledgeable to be any sort of handicap. An idiot can make them work. The longest shot of that first safari (kudu at 300 meters) was made with a rental rifle (the scope crapped on mine) that I didn't have time to shoot at the range. It was set up on two tripod sticks fore and aft. No problem. I don't recall what the trigger on the rental CZ was like but it must have been better than the awful 2-stage military one my Springfield was wearing then. And I would have been expecting it to be better.

Anyone starting from scratch needs time at the range for sure. My first year hunting without it was an embarrassment. But I was only twelve, Dad worked shift work, he had four boys to divide his time with, and he was still building our house. There was no time for range shooting. I eventually learned the basics hunting on my own. Fortunately, ammo was a helluva lot cheaper back then. And somehow I never managed to lose an animal or bugger one up badly. But I wounded a lot of atmosphere and trees those first few years.

 

[Challer]

With my R8 barrels in 22lr, 22H, 223, 308, 30-06, and 375 make practice realistic and simple.

I hunt with the 22H, 30-06, 375. The rest are practice.

 

[Denvir Tire]

,I had not even heard of shooting sticks until my first safari in 2019. By then I had been hunting big game quite successfully for 55 years. At the lodge's range the first afternoon I shot my 30-06 off the bench maybe twice to check zero then off we went to eat dinner. The next morning I shot three animals off the sticks in as many shots before noon (plus a warthog shot offhand). Ranges were 150, 100, and 280 yards. After dropping the blue wildebeest in his tracks my PH exclaimed that was some shooting. I shrugged it off. "A mentally handicapped person could have made that shot shooting off this quad contraption." Up to that time my hunting was primarily tracking in snow and shots were typically (though not always) close and either offhand, sitting (rarely), or leaning against a tree. I did not find shooting off sticks on flat ground at standing targets to be any kind of rocket science (which is the typical scenario at a practice range). Quite the opposite. However, on steep or uneven ground I later discovered readjusting quad sticks can be a real pain in the arse, especially if the animal is moving. In the future I will opt for something else in those situations, either shoot from offhand/sitting or unhorse the butt end of my rifle from sticks. Perhaps practicing resetting sticks in difficult scenarios would be useful but I doubt many do it. Anyway, though familiarizing oneself with sticks before going on safari might be somewhat useful - certainly not a waste of time - I did not find being totally unknowledgeable to be any sort of handicap. An idiot can make them work. The longest shot of that first safari (kudu at 300 meters) was made with a rental rifle (the scope crapped on mine) that I didn't have time to shoot at the range. It was set up on two tripod sticks fore and aft. No problem. I don't recall what the trigger on the rental CZ was like but it must have been better than the awful 2-stage military one my Springfield was wearing then. And I would have been expecting it to be better.

Anyone starting from scratch needs time at the range for sure. My first year hunting without it was an embarrassment. But I was only twelve, Dad worked shift work, he had four boys to divide his time with, and he was still building our house. There was no time for range shooting. I eventually learned the basics hunting on my own. Fortunately, ammo was a helluva lot cheaper back then. And somehow I never managed to lose an animal or bugger one up badly. But I wounded a lot of atmosphere and trees those first few years.

Rare is the man who is so completely "tone deaf"

 

[Lumaberpat]

As long as the rifle is bolt action, man-size, and holds 2 MOA with decent ammo, it will do the job

Honest question, why does the practice need to be done with a bolt action? Most I’ve been reading agrees, but the throw on 22’s is so short it’s barely a transferable skill to shooting a short action.

And not quoting anyone in particular…
Is it possible to simulate or practice for recoil if someone were going to rent a DG rifle on safari yet did not have access to one for practice?

 

[VertigoBE]

Honest question, why does the practice need to be done with a bolt action? Most I’ve been reading agrees, but the throw on 22’s is so short it’s barely a transferable skill to shooting a short action.

And not quoting anyone in particular…
Is it possible to simulate or practice for recoil if someone were going to rent a DG rifle on safari yet did not have access to one for practice?

This is just my opinion:

I use a CZ527 in 22LR as my practice rifle. This to practice two main things, first actual shooting, breath and finger control, only offhand at a distance of 25m on a paper target.

Secondly, practice for a bolt action big bore, with a mount, flicking off safety, shot, unmount from the shoulder, run the bolt, remount on the shoulder, shot.

I’m from the reloading-off-the-shoulder camp.

As many big bores have a magnum action I do not want to risk a short stroke by running the bolt on the shoulder. I’ve seen people do it competently, but personally would not recommend it. Especially for the second reason: shooting a big caliber, will (almost) inevitably cause your grip, the buttstock placement on the shoulder, to shift ever so slightly from perfect form. Causing your second shot to be more flinch inducing. By making it second nature to unmount, run the bolt and re shoulder, you practice perfect form each time.

This second set is mainly to practice mounting and unmounting. To practice a reload, to practice not to stop firing after first shot, etc.

For practice for the actual bolt throw, actual loading, actual weight, I keep for dry fire with the big bore at home.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Honest question, why does the practice need to be done with a bolt action? Most I’ve been reading agrees, but the throw on 22’s is so short it’s barely a transferable skill to shooting a short action.

And not quoting anyone in particular…
Is it possible to simulate or practice for recoil if someone were going to rent a DG rifle on safari yet did not have access to one for practice?

My old 3" magnum 870 dressed in lightweight plastic delivered fearce recoil. Remington now makes a Supermagnum 870 that shoots 3.5" shells. It also wears plastic. I suspect one of those guns shooting their ultrafast 1700 fps loads might be comparable to 416 Rigby fired out of a ten pound rifle. Maybe worse. Has anyone measured the recoil energy of 3" 12 gauge slugs fired out of pump action? Gotta be nasty. Though recoil might be comparable, gun design is not, so I'm not sure practicing with with a magnum fixed breech shotgun would be very helpful as prep for a dangerous game safari with rental rifle.

 

[375Ruger416]

This is just my opinion:

I use a CZ527 in 22LR as my practice rifle. This to practice two main things, first actual shooting, breath and finger control, only offhand at a distance of 25m on a paper target.

Secondly, practice for a bolt action big bore, with a mount, flicking off safety, shot, unmount from the shoulder, run the bolt, remount on the shoulder, shot.

I’m from the reloading-off-the-shoulder camp.

As many big bores have a magnum action I do not want to risk a short stroke by running the bolt on the shoulder. I’ve seen people do it competently, but personally would not recommend it. Especially for the second reason: shooting a big caliber, will (almost) inevitably cause your grip, the buttstock placement on the shoulder, to shift ever so slightly from perfect form. Causing your second shot to be more flinch inducing. By making it second nature to unmount, run the bolt and re shoulder, you practice perfect form each time.

This second set is mainly to practice mounting and unmounting. To practice a reload, to practice not to stop firing after first shot, etc.

For practice for the actual bolt throw, actual loading, actual weight, I keep for dry fire with the big bore at home.

I’ve been in the keep the rifle shouldered camp and have practiced and hunted this way. However, I have yet to hunt DG and have just purchased my first medium bore (a 375). Your point about your form slipping after the shot with harder recoiling calibers is a good one and something to consider.

Even with my 300 prc, I’ve noticed this and had to adjust my position for an accurate second shot while practicing.

 

[PARA45]

@VertigoBE, my NRA high power rifle instructor was huge on calling the shots, and what @Red Leg & @Green Chile wrote is spot on. I learned this by using open sight M1A. However, I think using a scope might help you call the shot more precisely. In a nutshell, you have a mental note of exactly where the crosshairs were when the shot broke = calling the shot. High power rifle instructor was also a huge fan of dry firing, and would say that for every one round fired, I should do about 100 dry firing drills.

 

[Shooter375]

There is a 22 Hornet on gunbroker right now that should be a great practice rifle.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1081393471

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Rare is the man who is so completely "tone deaf"

@Denvir Tire
I'm tone deef . I couldn't hold a tune even if it's in a five gallon bucket.
Fortunately my hearing is good enough to tell truth from bullshit tho.
Bob

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

My old 3" magnum 870 dressed in lightweight plastic delivered fearce recoil. Remington now makes a Supermagnum 870 that shoots 3.5" shells. It also wears plastic. I suspect one of those guns shooting their ultrafast 1700 fps loads might be comparable to 416 Rigby fired out of a ten pound rifle. Maybe worse. Has anyone measured the recoil energy of 3" 12 gauge slugs fired out of pump action? Gotta be nasty. Though recoil might be comparable, gun design is not, so I'm not sure practicing with with a magnum fixed breech shotgun would be very helpful as prep for a dangerous game safari with rental rifle.

@Ontario Hunter
My shoulder has measured the recoil of 3"magnum slugs out of a 7# Mossberg bolt gun with a 22" modified choke barrel.
Shooting game not bad but off the bench it certainly gets your attention when sighting in the red dot. Now cuts clover leafs at 50 and 3" group at 100 with three shots. Fortunately it didn't take long to zero off the bench and I was glad to finish
@Badboymelvin has a 425 express that's a pussy cat compared to the 12 bore.
Bob

 

[cajunchefray]

Obviously practicing with the rifle you’re going to hunt with is the best thing you can do. Realistically though most people can only handle a limited number of shots from heavier recoiling guns. There is great benefit to working on breath and trigger technique with lighter recoiling rifles. This is obviously a supplement to practicing with your actual hunting rifle not a replacement for that practice.

So I got to thinking what’s the perfect practice rifle? Ideally it should be a set up similar to your main gun in terms of safety position etc.

One candidate would be a quality bolt gun in .22 long rifle. Something like a Model 52. But I think I’d rather for with something centerfire partially because I enjoy reloading. Working up new loads would be an excuse to shoot more.

One of the centerfire 22 calibers would fill the bill but some of those suffer from short barrel life. My 375 is a Model 70 and I alway thought one in 220 Swift wood be a nice pairing but I’ve heard those burn out barrels quickly.

So if you were building the perfect lower recoiling practice rifle what would you go with?

Having followed this thread with interest, and input from the many experienced members here, you should build 2 rifles, if it were my money...
Given that your main rifle is a Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H:

A. Model 70 .223 Remington with exactly the similar iron sights as your M70 in .375 ( Safari Express?). (NECG Masterpiece standing leaf, barrel band sling swivel, and NECG Masterpiece front with a green bead. Use the same green bead on your .375. Same stock dimensions, trigger tuned to match, and same or very similar scope. As @One Day... stated, use of the Hornady Frontier 55 grain bullet is my experience, reasonably accurate and cheap enough to not consider reloading when considering that time. I find that the same action, safety, stock (ergonomics) is important. This rifle is meant to shoot a lot. Buy a case of ammo.

B. Model 70 .30-06 Classic, again same iron sights, very similar scope. This choice is based on reloading. Use cheap 150 grain bullets (blemished), or quality coated cast bullets loaded with moderate charge of H4895, to duplicate trajectory of your chosen .375 load. This rifle to practice a lot with handloads.
Hell, then just load it up for hunting Africa with a premium soft and take along with your .375 as a great combination for Africa.

For other rifle choices, if you have the Ruger 77 African .375 Ruger, build out the same Ruger's in .223 Rem and .30-06.

Let us know what you will build.

 

[cajunchefray]

So.... Practice? Practice rifles? Practice calibers?

My personal experience is that there are different practice rifles, and different practice calibers, for different practices, and that most of us need to practice it all, and a lot, and often...

Some think that practice is useless, and to each our own, but it reminds me of the classic "one does not know what one does not know", and I am tempted to suggest the interview of target or trap champions to ask whether they think practice is valuable or not..... 'nough said

I personally see several practices required, and several tools to do so. Without writing a thesis on each aspect of these practices (there is plenty of material easily available from peer-reviewed sources), let's mention in a particular order:

Body control, rifle control, respiration control, heartbeat control, trigger control, etc. in so many words: fundamental shooting form. Until the rifle is immobile when the shot goes, accuracy will always be elusive. This is where a quality .22 LR rifle is invaluable because it takes thousands of rounds to master proper shooting form, and quality .22 LR ammo is king. Notice that I said "quality" because when the round does not go where it was supposed to, quality .22 ammo offers no excuse. Forget 4 MOA Thunderbolt, shoot at least 2 MOA ammo. You do not need to shoot expensive 1/4 MOA Eley Tenex, there is a middle road, I am personally comfortable that when I miss the 2" plate at 100 yards standing-off-the-sticks, with relatively affordable 1 MOA Eley Club, it is me at fault, not the ammo.

PS: dry-fire at home is extremely valuable, but it does not provide evidentiary feedback. Nothing like a .22 hole 1" off the bull on the paper, or nothing like a plate that does not ring, to affirm the obvious: I missed. Dry firing does not do that.

Sticks practice. Much has already been said, all good. Start with a 6" steel plate at 100 yards. One is always amazed how many folks do not ring a 6" plate, 5 shots out of 5, at 100 yards, standing-off-the-sticks (from the bench does not count, there are no benches in the bush). That is 6 MOA shooting... Easy, right? Try 5 series of 5 shots, any miss resets the count

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Minimum practical safari training: 6" plate at 100 yards with good .22 LR rifle, decent glass, quality ammo, and tripod sticks.​

When you get to 100% consistently on the 6" plate, and you will, switch to 5", 4" and 3" plates, and ultimately 2".
Practice on tripod sticks will make you a 3 MOA standing-off-the-sticks shooter.
Practice on quadpod sticks will make you a 2 MOA standing-off-the-sticks shooter.
This is also where we go back to the above about quality .22 LR.

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5", 4" and 3" plates at 100 yards for .22 LR practice. Going smaller and smaller always delivers newly relearned lessons: in this case the groups are smaller as the plate size diminishes, illustrating glaringly "aim small, miss small".

PS: shooting sub MOA from the bench is irrelevant, most of the shots in Africa are taken standing, and boy oh boy does that make a difference

Distance practice. Yes, technically a 6" plate at 300 yards is a 2 MOA shot, therefore the same shooting skills as a 2" plate at 100 yards. But somehow it is not quite the same, and one does not replace the other. Is your range-finder accurate? Do you know your ammo drop? Is your scope good enough? All those questions, you will not answer at 100 yards with a .22 LR.
This is where a still affordable, but yet easy and accurate round is invaluable. Here the .223 is king, and once more, forget American Eagle 5 MOA 55 gr bulk .223, it will not help you much. Again you do not need 1/2 MOA Federal Gold Match and there are plenty a good 1 MOA .223 ammo out there. I am having good luck with affordable Hornady Frontier 55 gr HP Match.

View attachment 654673
A quality .223 rifle, 6" plate, laser range-finder, good quality scope with BDC turret, and good quality ammo will practice you out to 300 yards, and will teach you how precarious hold-over techniques are on a 6" target.

Recoil practice. There are no two ways about it, DG cartridges recoil control must be learned and can only be learned from a heavy recoil rifle.
BEWARE: learning recoil control does not mean getting used to uncontrolled recoil, and once you know how to do it, you do not need to batter yourself into pulp shooting thousands of rounds. A handful of shots at the end of practice sessions in the last month before the safari will do IF you have learned the technique.

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There are no two ways about it: to learn how to shoot your cannon (here a .458 Lott), you will need to fire it. BUT ONLY AFTER you learn proper shooting form; shooting standing-off-the-sticks; and recoil control techniques.

Bad practice. This brings one of the problems with individual practice. As previously mentioned "one does not know what one does not know" and practicing bad shooting form, improper sticks position, poor recoil control, etc. is counterproductive.
Allow me the use of upper cases, I am not yelling, just making the point clear: IF YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED FORMAL SHOOTING TRAINING, YOU MUST TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN THE FUNDAMENTALS. Just because you have shot game effectively does not mean you know how to shoot.
The problem is that not all those who volunteer to teach are qualified to do so, be it on the internet, at the local range, or amongst friends, because none of these are peer reviewed..................
But there are good resources out there, easily available in print or video, and sometimes face to face. Just be selective on who does the teaching.

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Not every internet blogger, next-table shooter at the range, gun shop clerk, or even friend or parent, is necessarily qualified to teach proper shooting form, shooting standing-off-the-sticks, recoil control techniques, etc. Beware internet "experts" and rely on peer-reviewing...​

Good enough tool. Like many I started with a decent man-size .22 LR (in my case, 3 actually, a modern iteration of the Winchester 52 made by Miroku, a Walther KKJ, and an Anschutz 1418) with decent glass (Zeiss Conquest) and I lived with the less than ideal different trigger, different stock, different ergonomics, etc. And I even saved money by shooting Thunderbolt bulk ammo.
It got me to 6 MOA standing-off-the-sticks, then down to 4 MOA, which means a predictable / repeatable hit on a 8" target (i.e. the size of the vital area of most medium plains game) out to 200 yards.
I will be categorical: it is not ideal, but it is good enough. As long as the rifle is bolt action, man-size, and holds 2 MOA with decent ammo, it will do the job, and you could do a lot worse than a CZ 452.
The same reasoning applies to a .223.

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Winchester 52, Walther KKJ, and Anschutz 1418 all keep the Thunderbolt bulk ammo in 4 " at 100 yards (4 MOA). Good enough to ring the 6" plate, but you will need better ammo to become a 2 MOA shooter standing-off-the-sticks, and ideally you would want to shoot the "same" rifle as the one you will be hunting with.

Ideal tool. It is all a matter of money and how you spend it. Ideal practice tool but cannot afford a safari anymore? Wrong calculus! But if you can afford it there is no arguing that shooting the "same" rifle in practice and in actual hunting is best. My own solution is the Blaser R8 with both .22 and .223 training barrels, and .257 Wby, .300 Wby, .375 H&H and .458 Lott barrels.
If you ask me, yes, I think the ideal tool makes a difference. No later than yesterday, I unbolted the .22 LR barrel with which I shoot a couple dozen rounds a every weeks at 2" plates at 100 yards in my backyard, bolted the .300 Wby, drove 15 minutes to a friend's ranch, and fired standing-off-the-sticks 5 shots at 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 yards on 4", 5", 6", 8" and 10" plates respectively. These are 4, 2.5, 2, 2, and 2 MOA shots. The plates rang 5 times.

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Blaser R8: practicing with the same rifle you hunt with, from .22 LR and .223 to .458 Lott, through .257 Wby, .300 Wby and .375 H&H: priceless.

Even though, like Red Leg I competed for years, and won medals, in Three Position .22 LR 50 meters; I went through regimental sniper training; and I hunted very successfully the French Alps for decades, I promise you (as they are fond of saying n South Africa) that I was utterly incapable of hitting the 6" plate at 100 yards standing-off-the-sticks consistently 5 times in a row before or during my first safari. No we did not loose any game, but I was not very proud of my shooting, and it took a few more rounds than it should have.

Why do we insist on shooting standing-off-the-sticks? Because it is "99%" (as a way of talking) of your shooting in Africa and like everything it needs to be learned. And I can also tell you that if I do not practice for a couple months, I better bring the 6", 8" and 10" plates at 100, 200, and 300 yards for 6, 4 and 3 MOA shots...

Thank you @One Day... for this treatise on proper practice regimens. Invaluable.
Already printed and in my shooting notebook.

 

[Green Chile]

@One Day is a fount of knowledge and a very intelligent hunter/shooter/outdoorsman. I can't think of a reply he has made on AH that hasn't brought me back numerous times for reflection. I also can't think of a time when I disagreed with his advice or observations. I just had lunch with him today and really look forward to the next visit!