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Shooting
Tips
HOW
STEADY IS THAT REST?
Many people don't realize that a rifle or shotgun recoils as much
as a quarter-inch before the bullet or slug is out of the barrel.
The
concussion caused when the primer ignites the cartridge's propellant,
can cause an accuracy-killing barrel jump if everything isn't
cushioned properly.
The
experts at Shooter's Choice suggest that you use the following
checklist before sighting in your rifle or shotgun:
- If
you're shooting from a rest, don't let the gun recoil on the
sling studs. Leave buffer room between the studs and the front
bag or rest.
- Always
cushion the barrel or forearm with something soft -- a hand
or pad -- to absorb the initial vibration. A hard rest will
cause the barrel to jump.
- Make
sure that magazine caps are screwed on tightly.
- Check
screws on your scope, sight and trigger guard for tightness.
- Make
sure the bore is completely clean and the action and moving
parts well lubricated.
- That's
the foundation of accuracy and it's impossible to assess a gun
if it isn't clean.
- If
you have a variable scope, boost the power. It will tell you
if you're holding in the same spot every shot and a higher power
will also tell you if you're holding steady.
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TIP
FOR ADJUSTING YOUR SIGHTS:
Your rifle is grouping low and to the right. Time to adjust the
sights. But which way do you move them to correct the flight?
Nothing causes more consternation or vacant looks on the shooting
range than this dilemma. True, it's just common sense, but most
folks have to think-through the situation to make a decision.
"The
rule of thumb is that you move the rear sight in the direction
you want the shots to move," says shooting expert Joe Ventimiglia,
president of Shooter's Choice gun care products. "If the
gun is shooting low and to the right, move the rear sight up and
to the left.
"If
you've moved the rear sight as far as it will go -- which can
happen, particularly while using iron sights -- then you can adjust
the front sight by moving it in the opposite direction of the
way you want the shots to go."
Scopes
and adjustable iron sights are calibrated so that you know just
how far you're moving the sight in relation to the distance you're
shooting.
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TIPS
FOR MOUNTING SCOPES:
So, you got a new scope and are itching to get it mounted. Installing
a scope on a firearm is an intricate and technically demanding
process that can be made easier by following some simple guidelines.
Assuming
that you've got the correct bases and rings for the scope, the
first step should be clean all of the screw holes of oil and debris
with a quality aerosol degreaser like Shooter's Choice Quick Scrub
III. The product not only blows out and displaces foreign agents
but also evaporates quickly, leaving you with a clean, dry working
environment.
The
bases should be secured to the firearms receiver after coating
the screw threads with a locking compound such as Loctite. This
ensures that the screws will not come loose with recoil. If the
bases are ever to be removed, heating the screw heads with a soldering
gun should break the hold. The bottom rings should then be loosely
fastened to the base and aligned using a one-inch diameter wooden
or aluminum dowel 12 inches long. Placing the dowel in the rings,
check for lateral variation and adjust. Next, lap the inside saddles
of the rings (top and bottom) with a piece of 320 grit wet-dry
sandpaper wrapped around the dowel. This will uniformly smooth
the mounting surface and reduce marring of the scope tube when
inserted.
Once
the rings are aligned, tighten them to the base, place the scope
in the bottom rings, mate the tops and install the screws firmly
but not too tight. The Shooter's Choice staff of experts suggests
for magnum or long-action firearms that the rings be first coated
with rubber cement to prevent sliding during recoil.
Next,
if you have a collimator (boresighter), align the scope and bore.
If you don't have one, look down the bore to the target and zero
the scope to the same target. Before tightening ring screws make
sure that the crosshairs are absolutely vertical and, with your
cheek flush to the stock comb, move the scope forward or backward
in the rings until the field of view is a bright and complete
circle. Now tighten all screws alternately to equalize ring pressure.
The
scope should now be aligned close enough to print on a target
at 25 yards. Make any individual adjustments at that range until
the scope is absolutely zeroed, then make further adjustments
at 50 and/or 100 yards.
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SOME
SCOPES ARE JUST STUBBORN:
How many times has it happened to you -- shoot a group, make the
necessary adjustment to the scope but the next shot flies right
back to the original group. The natural reaction is to doubt your
marksmanship, or the scope reliability.
But
don't belittle yourself or your equipment right away. Fire at
least three shots from the new position (after adjustment) before
making any more moves.
"In
some scopes the adjustment wheel actually rides against the inside
of the scope tube," explains shooting expert Frank Ventimiglia,
vice-president of Shooter's Choice gun care products. "So
the first shot after making an adjustment might not register because
the wheel never turned. Usually, though, the recoil from that
first shot will dislodge the wheel and adjustment will be correct
for the next shot."
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CORRECT
SIGHTING-IN PROCEDURE:
It's fine to have the dealer install and even boresight a new
scope for you, but the actual sighting-in process must be done
by the person who will be using the gun.
"It's
common sense, really, but something that a lot of people tend
to overlook," says shooting expert Joe Ventimiglia, president
of Shooter's Choice gun care products. "Everybody looks through
a scope from a slightly different angle. The shape and size of
of a person's face, the strength of vision and the position of
the head with the cheek against the stock comb are all variable
factors."
Once
the scope is boresighted and you've determined eye relief (usually
about 3.5 inches), loosen the ocular lock ring and adjust the
ocular ring counter-clockwise until the crosshairs look fuzzy.
Now back-focus until the hairs are sharp and tighten the lock
ring again. This adjusts the scope for the master or aiming eye.
Start
the sighting-in process at 25 yards. With most scopes one click
will move bullet impact 1/4-inch at 100 yards. But remember that
at 25 yards that adjustment is quadrupled, meaning that it will
take four clicks to move impact a quarter inch at 25 yards. For
example, if the initial group is two inches low and one inch left
at 25 yards you need to move the vertical adjustment knob 32 clicks
up and the windage adjustment 16 clicks to the right.
Always
shoot three-shot groups before making an adjustment. Due to interior
design, some scopes will not always follow the adjustment you
just made until a shot has been fired. Further adjustments should
be made at hunting ranges but in an emergency the 25-yard zero
can be used. Centerfire rifles zeroed dead-center at 25 yards
will usually print 2-3 inches high at 100 yards and be dead-on
again at 220 to 240 yards. Shotgun slugs dead-on at 25 yards will
print 2-3 inches high at 50 yards, about a quarter inch lower
at 75 and virtually dead-on again at 100.
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BOOST
POWER TO SHRINK GROUPS:
Used properly, a variable-power rifle scope can not only tell
you a lot about your rifle but also about yourself as a shooter.
Sure,
cranking up the power comes in handy when you want to check out
the rack on that buck that just stepped out on the other side
of the bean field. But it also has other uses.
"Increasing
the power of your scope will also help shrink your groups at the
range," says benchrest shooter Joe Ventimiglia, president
of Shooter's Choice gun care products.
"With
the increased resolution you will be able to tell if you're holding
in exactly the same place every shot. Increased resolution will
also show quickly if the crosshairs are moving where at a lower
power you might have thought you were holding rock-steady."
The
increased resolution might not be as important with a rifle that
shoots into two inches at 100 yards as it would be with a tack-driver.
If you miss your hold by a quarter-inch with a two-inch rifle,
you've only increased your group by 25 percent. But miss by a
quarter inch with a rifle capable of half-inch groups and you've
doubled the groups.
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SIGHT-IN
YOUR RIFLE AT SHORT RANGE:
You're aware that you may encounter 250-yard shot while hunting
but the only shooting range available to sight-in your rifle is
50 yards long. How can you sight in?
"First
you start with a clean bore and a clean, lubricated action,"
says benchrest shooter Joe Ventimiglia, president of Shooter's
Choice gun care products. "No gun will shoot accurately or
consistently without a sanitary bore."
When
the accuracy foundation is laid, set up your target at 25 yards
for a scoped rifle, 12.5 yards for one with iron sights. The short
range makes spotting and adjustments easy - and at that the same
time you are approximating where the bullet will strike the same
target if it were 230-280 yards down range.
"In
some hunting calibers where a bullet prints at 25 yards will roughly
be where it prints at 220 to 230 yards," says Ventimiglia,
who comes from a family of riflemen.
Because
your sights or scope are mounted on top of the barrel, above the
actual line of sight, your gun is positioned to shoot slightly
upward to compensate. "The bullet leaves the bore in such
a manner that it actually rises above the sight line, travels
in an arc and drops back below it as gravity works on it down
range," Ventimiglia says.
Ballistics
charts show, for example, that scope-sighted .270 firing 130-grain
factory loads at 3,100 feet per second, zeroed at 25 yards, will
group three inches high at 100 yards, four inches high at 200
and dead-on at 275. A similarly scoped .30-06 shooting 150-grain
factory loads at 2,700 feet per second zeroed at 25 yards will
be almost three inches high at 100, a bit over two inches at 200
and back at the point of aim at 250 yards.
The
gun should be fine-tuned at 100 yards, but the shorter range sighting
will get you close if that's all that is available. One caution:
When you sight a rifle, the resultant accuracy pattern is good
only for that exact configuration of scope or sight, load and
bullet type. Any change in sight height, load or bullet type will
grossly exaggerate differences down range.
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IT'S
CALLED RETICLE RUN-OUT:
If you use a variable-power scope with a wide range of magnification,
you've likely encountered a problem known as recticle runout.
Basically,
it means that the rifle's point of aim is an inch or more higher
when the scope is set at its highest power compared to when it
is set for the least magnification.
"It
really isn't a major problem," says shooting expert Joe Ventimiglia,
president of Shooter's Choice. "If the difference in point
of aim isn't too pronounced - two inches or more means the scope
is out of alignment - a target shooter can simply sight the gun
in at the scope's highest power, since that's what he'll likely
be using most."
"A
hunter would also sight in at the highest magnification since
the error between points of aim decreases at closer ranges and
will be minimal when aiming at the vital area of a big game animal."
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TAME
TRIGGER TRAVEL FOR BETTER GROUPS:
As each shot is discharged the trigger will usually move beyond
the point where the hammer was released. How important to accuracy
is something as simple as trigger movement after a shot? Plenty.
"Even
this little bit of extra movement causes the firearm to move a
bit while the projectile is still in the barrel, which will throw
the shot somewhat," says shooting expert Joe Ventimiglia,
president of Shooter's Choice gun care products. "That's
why bench rest and target rifles and some custom guns use a trigger
stop - a small screw installed in the back of the trigger guard
that actually stops the overtravel of the trigger shoe."
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STRESS,
NUTRITION CAN EFFECT ACCURACY:
Food, stress and physical activity all have an effect on both
breathing rate and pulse - two key factors in accurate shooting.
The old suggestion of taking a deep breath and exhaling a little
while you press the trigger is relatively easy to accomplish.
Controlling your heart rate is more difficult.
"Heart
rate is lowest in the early morning, before food. Research by
shooters has shown that eating of even simple food, such as a
banana, will increase heart rate at least 10 beats per minute,"
says shooting expert Joe Ventimiglia, president of Shooter's Choice
gun care products. "Coffee or a sugary carbonated drink will
often cause an increase of as much as 50 beats per minute."
Sugar,
caffeine and carbon dioxide are virtually equal in their influence
on heart rate. Tobacco, the excessive use of salt, stimulants,
alcohol and refined white flour have cumulative corrosive effects
on blood vessels, causing them to stiffen, which causes the heart
to pump faster to deliver sufficient oxygen to the system.
"A
good daily multi-vitamin combined with extra amounts of vitamins
C (6 to 8 grains per day), A,B nd D and at least 2,000 international
units of E may help improve eyesight and mental clarity to the
point that shooting scores will improve."
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