First of all, Wayne has given you excellent advice.
The one thing I noticed form your post is that you are brand conscious. That is going to cost you both money and learning time. …
Moral: learning to read wind flags really means learning to read YOUR windflags.
I see a number of people who post here, touting one brand or another, who I know to be rookies -- in their first two years of competitive shooting. There are probably a number of people who post here who don't even compete. Do you know who they are, so you can take their advice with a large dose of salt?
I see a lot of posts saying "well, a Remington action can be made to shoot just as good, but it won't have the resale value." There are reasons to get a custom action, but at this point, you shouldn't even be thinking about resale value, and the next rifle. Learn to shoot what you have.
When you go to a match, … & think you can figure things out in 5 minuets. Been there, got an expensive lesson.
FWIW
Well to answer I try not to be brand conscious, I don’t have a lot of money, and try to do the best with what I have, and try to get the best for my money. I have noticed that my Caldwell rest works but leave a lot to be desired. I had been thinking about selling one of my guns to buy a Sinclair windage rest, or a good used rest. Flags I just made a few, using the article in the FAQs section article from this site as a guide. I have not used them yet, but can see some difficulty in seeing them. I just picked graham flags because many advised me from another post as being good flags and at 30 bucks, each they seam to be affordable.
Yes, you are exactly right on taking what you read with a grain of Salt. The internet has a great wealth of information, and also has a lot of miss information, I am new to this site, so I don’t know who to trust and who not to on opinions, this is one reason I post questions like this to gauge responses.
I have shot in local matches, last year attending 7 matches, and the year before attending 2. The local match I shot in a class called factory modified, basically it’s a class for a factory action gun. I got extremely lucky and won a few of them in this class, I also only competed against 4 or 5 people in this class. One match I shot in the open class and finished ninth out of 12, so I have a lot to learn. I got bit by the bug and want to go to more matches and compete more.
Until I found this site I knew nothing about setting up my rest, and other topics that I have learned from reading the FAQS section. I still have a lot to learn, I have no idea on how to read wind flags and so far I just paid them no attention. I know there are other secrets I know nothing about, and don’t even know what to ask to find them out, so hopefully replies from this thread will give me that advantage.
I believe the rifle I have assembled is competitive, I am sure its nothing like what most have, but I don’t have the money to have a super nice rig, so I have to do with what I got, and as I grow in knowledge, and experience, I will then upgrade to something else. The gun I have is a Savage with a 22 in Douglas XX 22br barrel, the gun has been completely blueprinted, and I believe it as good as any Remington with equal amount of work.
On brass prep I have done some research and believe I have some good knowledge on the subject, but I also have a lot to learn. I need to learn more about seating depth, and BC’s.
I what to thank you all for the great information, and hope to receive more, I am trying to learn, and think asking questions is the best way to obtain knowledge. Again, I realize some secrets people will not reveille, I hope in this post I don’t sound like a know it all, because I don’t, and I am seeking knowledge. I greatly appreciate everyone sharing there information. I really like this site, and hope to obtain a lot of knowledge from you all.
Patrick
