Thanks for all the replies! I still haven't had the time to go to the range. Work's been crazy and my weekends almost as crazy. I guess that's what I get for taking a 3 1/2 week vacation. My boss and I are planning on going to his farm to do some duck hunting next week and I'll toss the 300 in the back seat and check it's zero at his range.

I've had the rifle about a year now and the recoil doesn't bother me unless I spend a lot of time shooting it from the bench. After about 20-30 rounds, I start getting sore and it's not much fun any more. I limit my range sessions to 10-20 rounds.

Maybe I pulled 'em without realizing it, or wasn't as steady as I thought I was. Who knows? It's just agrivating to miss 3 shots at the same deer at a range that I can put 5 shots into less than 3 inches at. Maybe next season, I'll get to go out there again and have better luck. All around the trip wasn't very productive. I was hunting damage control for elk on one of mom's neighbor's place. Before I went out there, they'd been seeing 30-50 head in a bunch. Got there and didn't see a single elk. Gave up and drove to grandparent's in KS. Saw plenty of deer, usually running 5000mph at 500yrds. Missed the one that I did have a good shot on. Tried my luck on the pheasants and discovered I'd bought a case of bad shells. Only every 3rd round or so would actually fire. ended up driving 4100 miles round trip for 2 pheasants and 3 coolers full of meat from mom's freezer. But I had a blast and that's all that really matters I guess.