First day at the range

[u/Western_Wish4280]

Hi all, it was my first day at the range and first time ever firing a firearm. I didnt expect it to be like this honestly.

So i sign up for the membership, old man there is the president of the club, he does the boresighting for me chuckles a little as he hands me back the firearm and wishes me luck.

I load three bullets in my mag and set my stuff up ready to go. Seen a few videos on how to fire a firearm before. I lock in and pull the trigger.

It was a NUKE.

I had never imagined the kick to be soooo harsh and trust me when i say it, it SHOOK ME TO THE BONE.

I was absolutely terrified and i could fathom at that moment that those who shoot on youtube (my fav is hicko45) are actually on a league wayyyyy beyond what i had placed them on.

Fired 10 rounds and packed up, cleaned my stuff and am starting towards home.

Ive trily never felt such mixed emotions before. On hand i was terrified and on the other hand, FUCK YEAHHHHHHHH.

Setup is- Tikka t3x chambered in win308, ammo used is federal 150grain soft point, scope is vortex crossfire 3-9x40mm. Recoil pad is limbsaver airtech for tikka.

Sorry for the long post. Tips are highly appreciated.

TLDR: got rekt on first time ever shooting a firearm.

[u/NorthwindX7]

After seeing this thread and thinking it over for a day, I'll add a few things that are probably your next steps. You'll start seeing that the Tikka is a sub 1 moa gun and wanting to tighten up those groups.

Tikkas shoot a lot of bullets well, most around .5-2 moa(.5-2" groups at 100yards). Cartridges from different brands are all a little different and shoot different. Same with your T3X, there's slight tiny differences with your rifle that will be different from my T3X from the factory, there will be a good combination of a specific cartridge, and bullet weight that will group the best. I personally found nosler ballistic tip 150 grain grouped the best out of mine, compared to 10ish different brands and weights of bullets.

In comparison my BAR .308 when finding it's favorite shot that ammunition closer to 3 moa on average, Hornady cx 150 grain was 5moa (yikes) and Hornady eld x 178grains 1 moa(phew).

So when you start chasing groups, this is a factor to explore, on the deep end of this matching ammunition to a rifle is handloading which is tuning all the parameters of a cartridge- powder burn rate, amount of powder, bullet seating depth, bullet and brass selection. It's beyond my interests but just goes to show that different brands make a difference and finding a particular box of ammunition your rifle likes is a sweet spot of effort vs reward accuracy wise.

Before all that though, you will want to make sure you the shooter is minimally influencing trajectory. This takes practice, I recommend shooting cheaper PMC bronze ammunition and find it's better to buy bulk. Or switch to a cheaper lower recoiling plinker to get the basics down, but I think .308 is great to learn on. When shooting off a bench, everyone knows about front support, but many skip rear support. Get a rear bag, or roll up a hoodie and shove it under the rear of the stock. You can get your rifle resting on two supports, the heartbeat sway of your crosshairs will disappear, and the crosshairs will stay steady on your point of aim. At this point pull the rifle tighter into your shoulder and readjust rear support if sway comes back. Then shoot, try to minimize any cross hair movement while pulling the trigger and practice this repeatedly.

You have to be aware that you may have a flinch when shooting and work towards overcoming it. Factory tikkas have some of the best triggers, you can adjust them down slightly to help limit anticipation before pulling the trigger, upgrading the recoil pad is another thing that helps.

T3X's have few flaws, mainly the recoil pad, non freefloated barrel and plastic trigger guard/action screw area flimsiness. This is all corrected with mdt's field stock (400ish$) that I am happy with. Riser cheek rest helps too for a good cheek weld. After that it's pretty much a perfect rifle for under 1500$, no weak points in the build. The factory stock is perfectly fine for starting out but the recoil pad is definitely worth upgrading if you are sticking with the factory stock.

Enjoy the rifle and good luck eh

[u/Western_Wish4280 → u/NorthwindX7]

Absolutely appreciate the detailed insight into this.