New hunting rifle.....and a scope question.
 

I have had a rifle and a scope sitting around for months, and have literally had no time to set it up. But with whitetail season approaching, I finally got the rings on and took it to the range today (Kenmore, WA).

Weatherby Vanguard .30-06
Burris Fullfield II 3x-9x with Ballistic Plex reticle.
Weatherby rings.

Damn accurate gun given how cheap it is. Kicks like a mule with 165 grain Remington Corelocks. The light weight will be nice to carry in the woods, but it tough on the shoulder at the range.

Pretty happy. Didn't bother to bore sight it. Started at 100 yards, 3 shots, and with the kind of help of one of the old fellas at the range, I had it on the paper. 10 shots and I was driving tacks.

The question. I used loctite blue attaching the bases to the gun, but not when securing the top of the rings. Should I? If the answer is yes, how? You need to the work the screws down evenly, won't the loctite start to setup?

I'm thinking it is probably not needed given that gun will probably be fired less than 100 times in the next 20 years.

PS : This year, I'm taking a permanant marker and writing, "From On-Ramp with love..." on all my bullets :p

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1189743006.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1189743030.jpg

No locktite on any of mine. Get your grain #'s down to about 140 and you'll see faster and flatter projectiles. At least that's been my experience.

Honestly, in the UP of Michigan where I hunt, most of your shots are 25yrds or less. Very dense.

In the past, I hunted with an 8mm Mauser, and used 150grns with that. More than enough for whitetail. I bought the 165s because they were on sale :)

In that case go up.:p J/K, no need to put undue wear and tear on your shoulder. I fire a .270 Ruger. It loves the 130's, and is plenty for me and what I can/do hunt.

Beautiful gun. I'll soon be in the market for another and I'm seriously considering a 30-06 for long-range fun. Enjoy!

Sorry Hard..I don't mean to be mean...but are you crazy...locktite????I have never seen that on a rifle..in 30 years..

Ohhh and 30/06 continues to be one of the best cartridges around. It is very versatile, everything from hunting to match target shooting. It was used in the 1920s and 30s as the 1000 yard Match Cartridge by the US military teams.

Now they (US Military competition marksman and US Snipers) use the off shoot of the 06 the 308..and the 300 Win Mag for longer distances.

You might also dip the tips of the bullets in pink paint, so that as they scream towards their target he will get a hot flash...

As Tabs said, the 30.06 is still a very good round and hard to beat. Been around for years and will still be used years from now.

Wait until you see what happens to the target when you shoot it at 25yds with a 30-06. I shot a hog from about that distance with a 225gr bullet and half of his side was missing. Plenty of knock down power!

I think your scope mounting procedure is fine. Just check their tightness as often as you do the stock bedding screws.
I hope you limit out, too many deer out there. Arkansas had a poor acorn crop this year, giong to be a tough winter for the whitetails.
Jim

Hope you don't mind HardDrive, I have a question for the guru. Tabs, speaking of the 30-.06 military rifles, the 1917 Eddystone specifically, can you tell me the significance of the red band on the barrel end of the stock. The two in the family both have them.

BTW, that is a very nice rifle you have there.

The red band signifies that it shoots the 30.06 caliber ammo.

During the war there was a mix if ammo with some rifles shooting .303 Brit, so some of the rifles were marked like yours to make sure that the correct ammo was used in the rifle.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"The forend shows a slightly lighter color area about 4 inches wide where it once had the red band which was used to indicate that this took .30-06 ammunition, not the .303 British rounds of the nearly identical looking Pattern 14 rifles."

hunting and murdering poor defenseless animals in the woods makes you very brave.

I also have never seen loctite on a rifle.

Nice rifle and good luck to you. I am going back to Nebraska for Pheasant season this year.

Hope you get a nice deer this season!

I dont get it though?? is On-Ramp against hunting?

On-ramp is against everything. He's a vegan.

Natural predators have been doing it for centuries. Get over sally.

All of my scoped rifles have Loctite on the screws holding the bases to the reciever. They will shoot loose eventually without it, and they are a PIA to get to. You lose your zero when they get loose and have to dissassemble the whole works to fix it. I've never used it on the screws on the rings that actually clamp the scope. They will shoot loose as well, but it gets to be pretty routine to check them every time you clean the gun. You can't do that with the base screws.

165 grain bullets in the '06 are a popular compromise between the traditional 150 and 180 grain weights. They shoot almost as flat as 150's and carry almost as much momentum as 180's. They also tend to be very accurate in the standard 10" twist '06 barrels. They will work great for your application, and kill deer deader than a fence post, but they will tear up some meat at woods ranges.

The Core-Locks and other "cup and core" traditional bullet designs are notorious for inflicting a lot of meat damage. More important in this regard (than weight) these days is the various bullet constructions available. A little bit "tougher" bullet won't tear them up as bad, because it won't tear itself up so bad on impact. I'm a big fan of the old Nosler Partition, but there are others. You can find these "premium" bullets in any weight from 150 to 200 grains in factory ammo from Federal and others. You would have to re-check your zero, even using the same weight, but the difference in performance might be worth it. Hell, you will need to re-check it anyway once you get back to the mid west, so you might look at getting some flavor of "premium" loads with better bullets.

I've killed deer and other critters with quite a few different rifles and calibers; a couple of them '06's (Model 70 Winchester and Number 1 Ruger). My '06 loads have used 180 and 200 Sierras, 180 and 200 Partitions, 180 Barnes X Bullets, and 180 Winchester Fail Safes. The Sierras are the old "cup and core" bullets and tend to do a lot of damage. The Partitions, X Bullets, and Fail Safes are in the "premium" bullet class. They do noticably less damage while still killing as well as anything else.

It takes a good man to respect and value life.

It takes the other to pull a trigger and cause misery and suffering to a living breathing being that is not bothering anybody, just taking a stroll in the woods looking for some water to drink.

you are the same whether you "sport" kill a deer or a dog or a cat, no respect for life.

A good man puts food on the table for his hungry family. A bad man could care less if a car gets mangled because there are too many animals roaming free.

that's BS. nobody HAS to kill for food. you are in AMERICA. food is always close, visit your local grocery store.

too many homo sapiens roaming around free too.. should we kill them too?

a deer MIGHT cross the road and cause an accident, therefore I need to go into the
woods and kill it .