How much practice time with new rifle is needed?

I got the chance to handle the R8 again at DSC. I’ve been thinking about getting one for a while. My next hunt is in June. I’ll be hunting PG and hippo on land with Louw Lotter of Jamy Traut safaris.

How much practice time do I need with a new rifle prior to a hunt?

Does the change from a standard rifle design (Kimber, sako) to the R8 require much getting used to?

I shot hundreds of rounds before my PG hunt in 2018. I will do so again this year.

Tra3 said:

I shot hundreds of rounds before my PG hunt in 2018. I will do so again this year

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This.

I'm also a HUGE believer in dry fire practice. This is something you can do at home every day. And, with snap caps you can practice speed reloads as part of your routine as well.

100 rounds would be my guess, as reasonable minimum. More then that, even better.
It is better to stretch it to several sessions, rather then all in one.

Take your new rifle hunting. Hogs, whitetail, whatever it doesn't matter. just get into the field and build muscle memory and confidence under actual hunting conditions.

What caliber is your R8?

With 5 months before your departure, you should be comfortable and familiar with your new rifle by June.

The inherent accuracy of the R8 coupled with its superb trigger will have you comfortable very quickly. The bolt’s location seems to be sufficiently different to keep the “lift and pull” muscle memory of a standard bolt action from wanting to kick in. The quick flick to the rear is very instinctive.

As to how many rounds, it is more a function of how experienced a rifleman you are rather than the R8 itself. If you are already a good shot off the sticks, you will be a better one off the sticks with an R8 (that wonderful trigger) in just a couple of sessions.

In reality, the trigger is actually the biggest transition on the Blaser. Many of us shoot a lot of gritty, overly heavy triggers. The Blaser can be quite a revelation. It takes a couple of sessions to mainly marvel at it. As others have noted, a bit of dry firing is a great way to do that as well.

In short, get that new rifle and take it to the Caprivi with Jamy.

I second the suggestion to do dry fire at home - focusing on bolt and safety lever manipulation.

The late Jeff Cooper used to dry fire his heavy bolt action rifle for weeks, before safari, while watching TV: Every time he'd see the letter O on the screeen, he'd shoulder his rifle, disengage safety, "fire", work the bolt, "fire" ... until there were no more O letters.

The Blaser cocking lever might require more getting used to than working the bolt???

When I came back from Namibia last summer I realised I needed more time on sticks and less time spent on the bench. I dry fired my rifle in the house on sticks a lot. And using my .223 and cheap reloads I shoot at a 3" gong at 100 yards and a 4" gong at 200 yards as much as I can. I was amazed at the difference in a few weeks. Shooting from a nice stable bench is great for zeroing, checking loads etc but not much use for when it comes to hunting.

Simple....the more the better. It depends on you the shooter. Factor in adrenaline then it all goes out the window!. Seriously have fun and good luck on your hunt.

If you are going with the R8, I highly recommend a 22lr kit for cheap practice.
Same bolt throw and muscle memory.
Dry fire with snap-caps daily off sticks.
As far as the bigger stuff, as much as you can afford.

All of our practice was off sticks, both at the range and daily dry fire.
We averaged 10-15 rounds for our weekly range session with my 375H&H and her 270WIN.
The last 6 weeks we upped our sessions to twice a week, again 10-15 each time.
I estimate we went through about 500-700 rounds of ammo each over a years time.

All the practice we did payed off big time.
When Mrs BeeMaa shot her Kudu, as soon as the bullet left the barrel she racked the bolt for a follow up.
We were all jumping around because the Kudu dropped like a stone.
She screamed at us to shut the flip up because if he moved again...she was gonna send it.
Our PH was impressed with her proficiency and accuracy with a rifle.
She didn't need to be told to reload, she did it out of pure muscle memory and good habits.
Habits developed at the range.

Next trip will be much less of the big stuff because we will have the Blaser R8 with a 22lr kit.

Can't add much except shoot the day before you depart.

I believe in objective, quantifiable results. They tend to be more reliable than feelings to establish pass/fail scores.

I agree with dry firing at home, but its weakness is that you do not receive feedback. Did you hit or miss? You could also unwittingly develop bad habits and ingrain the wrong muscle memories. It has happened... The beauty of .22 lr training, when it is challenging enough (e.g. 6" plate at 150 yd), is that there is feedback with every shot and not much arguing: it either goes "ding"... or not...

I am a huge believer in .22 lr practice, and will go as far as saying that .22 lr practice is better than full power calibers practice because there is no recoil to hide the mistakes: rifle control on the sticks, trigger control, breathing control, etc. A .22 will likely show you a trigger jerk, a .300 will not...

With the R8 you are blessed with a manufacturer who understands that, and makes a .22 lr conversion for that very purpose. I bet you, they did not design it for kids...

My own practice regimen is to shoot a man-size Winchester 52 .22 lr at 150 yards at a 6" steel plate. Yep, that is quite the rainbow trajectory, but they still ring the steel when they finally get there.


The passing score is 100% hits on 5 consecutive series of 5 shots. Every miss resets the entire count. Try it, it is not as easy as it sounds...

If you can hit predictably, reliably and repeatedly (i.e. close to 100% over several months) a 6" steel plate standing off the sticks a 150 yds, there is not much Africa can throw at you that you will miss.

Because .22 lr is virtually free, I personally typically shoot 5,000 (yep, five thousand) rounds in the spring and summer before going on Safari. This is both training, and my Sunday afternoon private relaxation time in the woods (I am lucky to live in AZ where I do not need to go to a shooting range).

Once a month or so I shoot a couple rounds of whatever rifle/caliber I will take that year, just to maintain the muscle memory...

You can even do rapid fire drills at 10 yd with the .22 on the steel plate, if it is hanging from chains and can tilt when hit and direct ricochets and fragments to the ground. Quite informative too... Key operating words: go slow to be fast...

As many have stated, developing muscle memory is critical. Range time and dry firing will develop that.
One thing that you will have to get used to is the cocking / decocking versus a traditional safety. Although I don’t own a R8, after handling several and deciding I have to have one, I’ve found this is the R8’s feature that will take the most getting used to.
By the way, I have met Louw a few times. He seems like a great guy and you should have a great safari with him.

Gentlemen,
This has been very helpful! I was thinking to delay the purchase of an R8 until after this hunt but I now believe I will have sufficient time to practice.
I am now convinced that a .22lr barrel makes sense too. And I’ll be able to hunt small game with it. I started phone calls today about ordering a synthetic thumb hole stock .300 WM, .375 H&H and the .22lr.

@One Day... @BeeMaa @James Adamson there will be a lot of sticks training. I primarily shot off the sticks for the last hunt training, and have continued to do so. I don’t use the bench much other than to check zero.
@Hogpatrol I agree that last minute “Knock the dust off” practice is good. The most stressful shot I have ever taken was the first shot at camp when zeroing rifles.

All my hunting rifles are bolt guns. My 22s are semis so I bought a 5.56 bolt gun to get the feel of some weight, a little recoil and bolt practice. Ammo is cheap and reloadable and it's a full size rifle. About as close to my "real" guns as I can get without recoil and expense.

An R8 you say, it just so happens that I spent the afternoon with Carter Finnell of Marco Polo Outfitters in Chesterfield MO handling several R8s myself. Shooting the rifle wont be an issue but the "Manual of Arms" for the R8 will take a little practice. Having to shoot left handed I don't own or use turn bolts so I didn't have years of mussel memory to overcome. After Carter coached me on the proper technique and 5 or so minutes operating the bolt its easy to see why its the fastest and safest 4 shots on target non semiautomatic rifle in the world.

My advice, get the R8 and go hunting.

If your ever in the St Louis area you owe it to yourself to stop by Marco Polo Outfitters and visit Carter, its a great place for the African / World hunter shop. Give him a few hours of your time and he'll make an R8 fan out of you I guarantee it.

Tra3 said:

...
I started phone calls today about ordering a synthetic thumb hole stock .300 WM, .375 H&H and the .22lr.

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I should really see if a local store has a Blaser with a thumbhole stock, to try in my hands
In photos, the combination of the thumb hole stock and the cocking lever LOOKS AS IF reaching the cocking lever wouldn's be as easy as with a traditional stock.

Tra3 said:

I got the chance to handle the R8 again at DSC. I’ve been thinking about getting one for a while. My next hunt is in June. I’ll be hunting PG and hippo on land with Louw Lotter of Jamy Traut safaris.

How much practice time do I need with a new rifle prior to a hunt?

Does the change from a standard rifle design (Kimber, sako) to the R8 require much getting used to?

I shot hundreds of rounds before my PG hunt in 2018. I will do so again this year.

Click to expand...

This is a great question!
I found what also really helps is not only the amount of rounds you put through it down range but just handling it. Take it hunting somewhere at home first if you can, the amount of hours the rifle spends in your hands even if you are not firing it will make a huge difference. Just my 2 cents, its definitely worked for me.

if dry firing is giving you a bad habit, you are doing it wrong, and therefore ingraining a bad habit.
what are you trying to achieve by dry firing?
first you are doing your best to be as familiar with the trigger and balance and feel of the rifle as possible.
second you are trying to develop a minimum area of wobble as possible.
even off a rest there is no such thing as an absolutely rock steady hold.
minimizing the wobble means that when the shot goes off with the sights nearly but not perfectly aligned, the probability of a good hit is increased.
this is achieved by thirdly forcing yourself to keep aiming after the pin falls, thus developing follow through.
live firing can undo a lot of this, particularly with rifles that kick, as follow through becomes a mental only exercise, and disappears slowly unless you have been born with a lot of luck.
once you have these processes ingrained, you then require the rifle to be set up properly so that for example the scope does not hit you in the head, and length of pull is correct, then if you rifle is properly zeroed you will shoot well with live ammo.
when the dry firing lessons are a habit that overrides the subconscious rejection of the violence of firing a rifle, sound and recoil and muscle fatigue, you are ready to go hunting.
another thing to practise when dry firing is not to hold on before firing a shot.
you ideally should get the shot away in 5 seconds from start of aim due to oxygen loss in the blood. definitely within 10 seconds.
the brain starts calling out for oxygen and will make you snatch a shot or say near enough is good enough, and you will start to flinch.
bruce.

One of the most damaging effects of a good shot is not following through, i.e. lifting one's head "after" the pulling the trigger. Hunters can be notorious for this and they wonder why they missed or hit high. I see it at the range where a shooter comes off the rifle at the moment of pulling the trigger, then says, "I got a "flyer".
@bruce moulds, you talked about oxygen. The eyes are big users of it. Best to take a few deep breaths before looking through the sights, be it irons or glass.