I recognize that this question is somewhat warmed-over at this point, but for my first post here as a newbie, I think I may have some thoughts to share.
By now, I guess the OP has noticed that the 300WM is perhaps not the ideal chambering for extended practice. Simply, its recoil can be fatiguing, and volume practice can be economically prohibitive.
I think that the serious beginner can benefit from a .22LR trainer. The .22LR chambering should be relatively inexpensive, is inherently accurate, not tiring, and can present a challenge without needing to trucked all the way out into the middle of nowhere in order to find that challenge. The trainer does not need to be a precision range queen, just something that does its thing in a neat and consistent manner, and honestly, the simpler and cheaper, the better. It need not emulate anything other than itself.
The serious shooter will probably, eventually, be drawn to handloading. An established, accomplished handloading capability can provide economies and access to ammo matched to specific firearms, thus achieving greater portions of their accuracy potentials.
I have some physical deficiencies, which tend to keep me more at the formal range, and also tend to make me decidedly recoil-intolerant. Until I was able to get my retirement income under better management, I spent a lot of time on the lower rungs of the income ladder. These trends gave me a strong appreciation for the factory rifle and eking out its truer accuracy potential at costs that could be more easily borne. My income is somewhat more flexible now, but my basic frugality remains unabated.
That last part may help explain where I'm coming from in this and later posts.
I've been at this shooting and handloading avocation for going on three decades now, I've formed some viewpoints; and they often go against the common grain.
First, I am averse to throwing money at problems.
Second, I downplay the compulsion to make a shooter better by equipping them with a better rifle.
I believe that the key to good marksmanship is inherent in the shooter, and that a good marksman can coax the accuracy potential out of most any firearm, or be able to explain why it has none.
I believe the all of us, myself included, are far to prone to blame the implement when the task gets done poorly. I believe that there is a firm market for highly refined precision firearms. I also believe that far too many of us think we are capable of justifying our ownership of such things, and that many of us therefore highly overestimate our marksmanship prowess. I think that when I miss a target, it is I that did the missing, and not my rifle; until conclusively proven otherwise. I may not be alone in that.
I believe that pursuing ultimate accuracy has a place, that place is in BR comp, and that what I intend talking about here us something other than that. I believe in the pursuit of adequate accuracy as oppose to that. For me, handloading is a necessary evil. to be accomplished with the minimum necessary fuss. I further believe that the accuracy in handloading derives from good load development, performed with the least worship being paid to extreme gadgets and toys, and the most to reliable due diligence at the most basic possible version of the task.
I also firmly believe that I could be dead wrong about any or all of these things.
I stand firmly behind the Second Amendment, abhor the efforts of our government to derail what has been clearly understood about it's being the law for the better part of this past 222 years, and I also flatly refuse to get in anyone's face on this web site over the matter. I respect other opinions, even if I don't personally support them, and intend to hold my tongue whenever I cannot express my views in a positive manner.
In this. I may or may not succeed; we'll see...
I just want to get started out here on the right foot, is all.
Greg
