This is the time of year a lot of guys think about their trip to the local gun club to sight in their rifle or slug shooting shotgun for deer season, or in my case a fall baited bear hunt in the state of Maine.
Perhaps some tips are in order:
#1. Check to see if all screws are tight, especially action screws and scope mounting systems.
I recently had two separate rifles start shooting groups that were crazy. The 30:06 my son had planned on taking with 180 grain loads starting producing eratic groups at 100 yards. Upon further examination, the rings appeared to be tight, and the screws holding the barrel and action to the stock were fine. It took me a few shots but I realized the bases were loose. You could actually move both the front and rear bases around a little with your fingers. This gun had previously been fine and shot tight groups. I thought to myself, NO problem, I will simply remove the scope and rings, remove the bases, clean them up and re tighten with some red tube locktite.
Surprise, surprise, the rear base would not tighten and one of the screws simply turned round and round in the base, as the threads were stripped. It is now at Gander Mountain having their gunsmith re-drill and re-tap the holes for a larger screw. It looked like the screws were also to short and did not have enough purchase on the receiver to keep things tight.
I also had my Marlin mdl 1895 45-70 ready to go with a chosen load and realized three different screws had worked loose. Could be feeding those Buffalo Bore 350 grain Penetrator loads through it, loosened things up.
I tightened all the screws up including the scope rings, and shazam, the gun was drilling tiny groups in no time.
#2 90 degree days in the summer is not conductive to trying multiple loads at different ranges. Sporter weight barrels heat up rather quickly and need to cool down between shot strings. If you don't let it cool down, and keep adjusting your scope settings, you will end up with a rifle that will NOT shoot to point of aim on a cool October or November day. Barrels hot enough to fry eggs on do not shoot to the same point of impact that cold clean barrels do.
#3 Take your cleaning supplies to the range with you and I normally take (2) guns. Besides letting the one gun cool down while shooting the other, it is a good idea to run a couple of patches with Hopes #9, down the bore followed by a dry patch between strings. I like to know where the FIRST shot out of a cold, clean barrel will go. I am not interested in a group fired from a barrel to hot to touch and one that is dirty to boot.
#4 When sighting in, do NOT fire just one shot and then start making scope adjustments. I always fire (2) shots before making adjustments so you do not waste a box of expensive ammo chasing your groups around the target.
#5 Start shooting at 25 yards, not at 100 yards. Make sure you are on paper at 25 yards, usually dead center and maybe 1/2 inch or so LOW. I have watched guys come to the club with a new rifle and start banging away at a target out there 100-150 yards and then wonder why they can't get sighted in.
#6 USE a good rest, either sand bags, or a good commercially made rifle rest. I have watched folks shoot off old car seats, rolled up sleeping bags, their cowboy hat, or just holding the gun in their hands while trying to sight it in. Any makeshift rest is BETTER than done while shooting in the field, however first you have to KNOW the gun is in fact sighted in and what is the impact point of the bullet at various ranges. You cannot do a good job of that from a makeshift rest or offhand.
7. Make sure you mark the brand, bullet weight, bullet style etc. of the load you are going to hunt with. Don't sight in your 30:06 with 180 Grain round nose Remington Core Lokts to be 2 inches high at 100 yards, and then go hunting with 150 grain SST loads. I concede that under 100 yards deer hunting, you will probably be OK. Stretch that to 200 yards and a makeshift rest, and you will be in trouble.
8. Lastly, put up a REAL target and don't come close to the rock on the side hill at an unknown distance and if the dust flys somewhere near the rock, figure you are good to go. You are NOT.
Happy hunting.
Dan
Mark 4:41 KJV "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and waves obey him"
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