As you may have read already, my carbine is a marriage of a Colt upper with a 1/7 barrel twist (a gift) and a Bushmaster Mil-Spec. lower and working well except for the trigger. This article is very short but sweet for those who know little about triggers, like me. My AR trigger is an 8.5 pound trigger and bumps and drags like bad chalk on a chalkboard in school, till the sear breaks and the rifle fires.  A long range target shooters nightmare!

Grouping at 100 yards is around 1.75 inches and perhaps largely a trigger issue with off the shelf 55 grain ammo. Clearly the trigger needs to be replaced if long range shooting is your goal. I expect sub-moa from this rifle but not with that mill spec. trigger!

Here are 2 youtube video’s I found on-line for you and I to see on Timney Triggers (may test some) and Geiselle triggers of both single and 2 stage types. Cost is around $200 to $300 for these. I am learning just like many of you with a new AR in the gun safe. I make no recommendations here just information as a fellow shooter. As I said, my Carbine has a 1/7 barrel twist making it more of a long range heavy bullet competition rifle. More on that soon.

I have contacted Timney and hopefully we will have some triggers for us to test this spring.

Resources:

http://www.brownells.com/search/index.htm?k=ar+15+triggers&ksubmit=y

https://xtremegunsandammo.com/gun-parts-and-accessories/triggers.html 

The 375 Ruger Cartridge is still growing in popularity. It is one of the most powerful cartridges in North America.  When coupled with state of the art recoil pads like the Pachmayr decelerator or the Simms Vibration Laboratory SVL recoil pad which reduce felt recoil to 50% it is likened to a 30-06 or .270 recoil and very manageable indeed. My M77 Ruger African rifle shoots it so well in such a variety of bullets that it just makes me smile when paper holes overlap like a Venn diagram regularly at 50 yards and are sub-moa at 100 yards. I achieve the greatest satisfaction by handloading them. I have written  lots of articles before in my magazine here for you to search out too. Barnes Triple Shock has several heads in .375. I intend to try some Barnes 235 grain heads and download them for deer. Below is a Barnes video demonstrating the lethal nature of the all copper head.

I bought extra boxes of Speer 235 grain now out of stock but will try the Barnes which are have higher BC-ballistic coefficient.

Also the Sierra 200 grain flat nose will flatten deer size game and is available today as a reduced load bullet traveling no faster than 2200 fps to avoid over mushrooming.

An article of value to 375 Ruger Enthusiasts for Full Power  is; http://www.loaddata.com/articles/PDF/LoadDevelopment2LowRes1.pdf

See my reduced load article: click the header.

http://www.nhrifleman.com/2014/09/05/375-ruger-reduced-loads-and-powder-are-here/

C 2016

A great way to get started!!! Check it out! You can search for  NH clubs too…

New Hampshire CMP Affiliates search below

https://ct.thecmp.org/app/v1/index.php?do=clubSearch

https://ct.thecmp.org/app/v1/index.php 

I was perusing Ruger’s Newsroom and ran across Project Childsafe on the Ruger site. There are lots of ways to keep your gun safe as the Website indicates including child training. Check out the website below.

http://www.projectchildsafe.org/

I have been a hunter and RCBS Brand reloader all of my life, that said, there comes a time when you are target shooting that volume of ammo becomes a factor as in my AR-15 223/5.56mm Carbine. It will go through a hundred rounds in minutes.  There is a shooter fancy with long distance too with volume. My RCBS Rockchucker press has its place but not where volume of shooting is concerned. I have asked RCBS to send one of its best turret presses to NH Rifleman for testing and will write about it this spring/ summer.

NH Rifleman is a free on-line magazine, we make no profit here. I will let you know what they say. Can you imagine the exposure for RCBS to write about them each time I test a new cartridge or rifle? Yes it can have a down side but over the years RCBS has treated me well.

© 2016

If you just bought a race car and drove it around, would that would make you a race car driver? Nope! What if you drove it in a bona fide race; Would that would make you a race car driver? Yes, I think so, but put Richard Petty in a good car and you in the best car and who has the advantage. I put my money on Richard Petty because he has real world experience behind the wheel. So lets put you in 100 NASCAR Races, does that change your experience? Sure does!

Shooting by the same token, like racing takes experience behind the rifle. If you have not been trained however you could turn out to be just a mediocre shot after years of improper practice and have ingrained poor habits.

For the hunter, there is more to learn than shooting at stationary paper targets. Wild game standing still may last long enough for a shot but may not. Some times we do dumb things like hunting with a trigger that is too heavy. I know I have done it. Heavy triggers are the bane of even a good shot because the tendency is to yank the trigger. Shooting your rifle often enough provides muscle memory for the trigger finger so you know where it breaks. Most hunting triggers are in the 3 to 5 pound range, don’t have creep or slack and are crisp to break.

The shooter most of all needs to know how to breath correctly hold and finish the squeeze of the trigger. I was taught to breath out slowly half way then hold it while finishing the squeeze but the longer the shot is, the more you have to plan the shot to account for wind. And on even further shots you may train to shoot between heart beats.

From a hunting perspective, knowing your limitations when out in the field can help with your shot decisions too and let game walk… to be hunted another day.

Recoil Management; Recoil can create enough pain to pull the is shot and miss or wound game. Shoot with a state of the art recoil pad that reduces recoil at least to 50%

So read up on shooting skills and perform perfect practice. I will too…

Axioms to remember:

Aim Small, Miss Small

One Shot, One Kill but on big game an insurance shot helps if game is still on its feet.

On dangerous game:they say in Africa; It is the dead ones that will kill you!

© 2016

The New Ruger Precision Rifle is a bolt action long range shooting machine that is highly configurable with an in-line recoil path and external adjustable trigger from 2.5 to 5 pounds. Now that is a mouthfull.

I would like to test one this spring/summer at 600 yards. I would put my Leupold VX-6 on it and zoom out at 18x. Greg H. from Indiana shot a 5 shot 1.72 inch group from 500 yards with the rifle in 243 Winchester using Hornady A-Max 105 grain heads.

Mike Fifer, CEO of Ruger has issued a challenge to beat his 1600 yard record with the Rifle. This rifle is quite unique in many of its features. Read about the features at the Ruger site below. It can shoot 308 Winchester,243 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor

http://ruger.com/products/precisionRifle/overview.html

I like to think of myself as a great long range shot and I am…mostly. Yes we miss too. It is often the lack of practice or as some say perfect practice that gets us out of the x-ring. Fact is I can stand to go back to school on shooting technique, breathing, slowing my heart rate before the shot. I have found a great article for you and I to read and reread and you don’t have to fire real bullets!

https://www.gunsamerica.com/blog/sniper-school-101-part-1-before-you-go-to-the-range/

There is enough here for free for you and I too learn. More later…