Article on how to sight in a scope. Needs review.

[straightshooterjake]

I have written an article about how to sight in a scope, and I would be interested in feedback from people here.

This article is based on my experience as a Range Safety Officer at my club. When I am at the range, people often come to me with questions about sighting in a scope. Usually these are inexperienced shooters who are working with an optic for the first time. Based on their questions, I give them a review about working with optics, and I usually get everything working for them pretty quickly.

I know that sighting in scopes is a widely covered topic, so I searched online for an article that would be good to recommend for beginners. But I did not find anything that covered all the questions that I am typically asked, so I decided to write this article. The article has come out a bit longer than I might have liked, but when people are getting started, there is a fair amount of background knowledge that I think is important.

Here is a link to the article on my blog. I actually wrote this article a little while ago, but it has not been seen by very many knowledgeable people yet. Your comments will be appreciated.

http://straightshooterjake.blogspot.com/p/how-to-sight-in-scope.html

 

[CaliCoastie]

Skimmed the article. Big issue I have is on the screws, tight, but not to tight. Torque screwdrivers aren't that hard to find.
No it's not rocket science, to me the article seemed long and complicated. But I have sighted in many rifles. Easy way?

Mount the scope up, bore sight it, go to the rang with a buddy, shot 3 round at 25yds/50yds. Have the owner doing the shooting btw, bench the gun signed at the original point of aim. Second person vectors the reticle to the group.

 

[straightshooterjake]

CaliCoastie, thank you for your response.

I will review the parts about mounting screws; there may be more of that than necessary. Because I deal with beginners, it is not easy to balance the right amount of info. I talk to people with substantial mechanical skill who are hesitant to tighten a scope ring because it is "part of a gun." And I also hear from people with limited mechanical experience who think that because there are only two or three screws, this must be easy. My goal is to provide enough info to help each person down their correct path, but it is a tough goal.

As far as the length of the article, it is longer than I would like, but it is all based around questions I have actually been asked. I have met plenty of smart people who did not know what to do when they got to the range with their first scope because no one introduced them to basic concepts. My goal is to address those basic concepts and not just give a simple tutorial. Of course, if I am missing the goal, then feedback is helpful.

 

[Rollie]

Excellent, anything more needed to know will be learned by experience, and not overwhelm or confuse a new shooter. Very nice job!

 

[straightshooterjake]

Rollie, thank you for the kind words.

 

[Coltdriver]

That is a nice, complete article that should take a lot of bewilderment away from a person not familiar with the process.

Did I miss the part where you explain how to get the reticle square to the action? Also emphasizing holding the correctly mounted reticle perfectly vertical when shooting is important.

The one thing I would add is this. If you are setting up a hunting rifle you should allow at least five minutes between shots on a cool day and about 10 minutes between shots on a warm day. I usually bring a second rifle to the range, like an AK or an AR, when I am dialing in a hunting rifle with a new scope or a new hand load. Gives me something to play with while my hunting rifle cools.

I also thoroughly clean the barrel prior to visiting the range and I bring a cleaning rod and I patch the rifle after every 5 rounds with Butches bore shine. It keeps the fouling consistent which reduces group variation and on a warmer day it speeds the cooling of the barrel.

You might also add that a burnt out throat will make any rifle terribly inaccurate and its frequently a culprit on an older used rifle purchased second hand.

The last time I was at the range dialing in a new hunting round the guys next to me put 100 rounds through a .270 in about 45 minutes. I can guarantee you they damaged the throat on that rifle.

 

[kingmt]

Looks great to me. Hard to cover everything.

 

[straightshooterjake]

Kingmt, thank you for your response.

Coltdriver, thank you for your comments, they are very helpful. I will add a note about keeping the reticle vertical when mounting a scope. I also like your points about breaking in new barrels and about keeping the reticle vertical while shooting. However, I think breaking in new barrels and how to shoot better groups each deserve their own separate articles. These are both important subjects for people who are just getting started with rifles, but I think they are too much to include in this article.

I am open to suggestions from readers here about articles for beginners about how to break in a barrel or how to shoot better groups. I will also do some research on this myself, and if I find articles I like, I will link to them in the recommended reading section of this article. My overall goal here is to be a good information source, and I am happy to link to other sources if that is appropriate.

Thanks again to everyone for their input. I will be eager to hear more comments.

 

[kingmt]

There is to many opinions on breaking in a barrel & the only thing they agree on is not to over heat it. I have my own as well.

The best way to shoot better groups is to dry fire teaching yourself trigger control & not to flinch. When I teach someone to shoot I load their gun for them & keep sneaking in empty brass. I used to just leave the chamber empty but my oldest son learned the sound of a bolt closing on a empty chamber. I try to use bolt actions to teach shooting.

 

[Bart B.]

The last time I was at the range dialing in a new hunting round the guys next to me put 100 rounds through a .270 in about 45 minutes. I can guarantee you they damaged the throat on that rifle.

I don't think that rate of fire for a hundred rounds damaged the barrel's throat. Arsenal's testing 30 caliber match ammo in test barrels shot 270 rounds per group at a 4 per minute rate. Competitors shoot one-third of that ammo 10 rounds per minute in rapid fire matches as do civilians shooting 308 Win ammo. Some people shoot that ammo once a minute for 20 to 30 shots only in slow fire matches. Sierra Bullets shoots 308 Win ammo in 10-shot test groups in a little over a minute every 20 minutes grabbing 10 bullets at a time as they fall out of the ogive forming die then seating them in primed and powdered cases.

All those barrels get about 3000 rounds of accurate life for the standard used. Sierra's 270 test barrels get about 2000 rounds of life. 270's have a higher powder charge to bore capacity ratio than 308's so they'll have shorter lives for the same standard.

There is to many opinions on breaking in a barrel & the only thing they agree on is not to over heat it.

I've never broke in a barrel. They all shot as accurate from first shot fired as those "broken in."

When is a barrel over heated?

 

[kingmt]

I've never broke in a barrel. They all shot as accurate from first shot fired as those "broken in."

When is a barrel over heated?

As far as "break in" you made my point.

I pull a patch throw the barrel the barrel before the first shot. I sometimes get chunks of crap & jacket foulings out. I take a few shots & pull a patch again. Then I just shoot as much as I want before cleaning. That first patch when it comes from the factory is the only one I've seen chips of steel on that I don't want to push throw my barrel with a bullet.

I've never over heated a barrel that I know of. My Drill Sargent thought 7 second with the 60 I fired was to long. He was beating me in the Kevlar trying to get me to stop. I only had 7 second worth of belt tho. Lol It was to much fun to stop. It was well worth the headache & push-ups. I usually don't take more then 10 shots in a minute if I'm trying for groups. Maybe 30 in a minute from my 223 if I'm having fun. I've never seen any damage from ether. But I have seen others get their barrels to smoke & that is probably to hot.

 

[Bart B.]

But I have seen others get their barrels to smoke & that is probably to hot.

I've seen some M1 and M14 front parts smoke after shooting an Infantry Trophy Match ("Rattle Battle;" a common name) shooting 24 shots in 50 seconds. When we watched them, all those who had visible smoke coming out at around their barrels, we said "Over lubed rifle on point X" as correctly lubed ones never smoked. There's been a few who didn't watch out and touched their neck to one of those hot barrels; instant second degree burns.

Those who put all 24 bullets inside a foot at 500 and 600 yards didn't seem to care about their burned necks. Dare I say rifle shooters are tough dudes?

 

[BrocLuno]

In section 2 "If go ahead and adjust the scope," seems to be missing a "you" ...

"Also, if you know you pulled a shot, then that shot does not count. So you need to reshoot the pulled shot." I break that into 2 paragraphs just before the Also and loose the Also ...

Section 3 "you can't check your group size until your shots are hitting paper" Maybe say - you can't check groups if you aren't hitting paper. Shorter and clearer ...

Section 4 "reticle .30 inches instead of .25." It reads well enough here, but in context with that font, it's hard to see the dot, so how about 1/3" instead of 1/4" ...

Overall, it's a real good effort. I think it's a tad wordy, like you are trying to be careful of each statement, but it explains it well enough. I'd prolly go through it again after a few days with fresh eyes and see if you can shorten the sentences and statements ...

I think you should prolly add a note somewhere about clean cold barrel shots. I have more than one rifle that will throw a clean cold barrel first shot 2" high and left of a warm barrel group. In target shooting that's called a fouling shot ...

Should I sell the rifle? No, in one case it's a family heirloom.

But I take that into account. I move my warm barrel group 1" right and put it on the bull line. Now, cold or hot, I'll be within 1" of POI @ 100 yds while out hunting. Good enough for minute of critter

I think these sorts of situations are more common than a badly broken-in barrel printing huge groups ...

In troubleshooting, maybe a statement about being "not close" to the bore sight POA is a place to discuss muzzle crown? I've seen older/used rifles that are getting their first scope, that do not hit near bore sight location. If you look carefully at the crown, you'll usually see a "flat" or a "dent" in one side. Dress that crown and it'll come right into bore sight location

 

[straightshooterjake]

BrocLuno, thank you for your corrections. I have made those changes.

Your thought about cold barrel shots is helpful. I am trying to avoid making this article longer, but cold barrel issues might justify adding another sidebar. However, I am trying to finish another article right now, so any additions will have to wait a bit.

Thanks again for your very detailed comments.

 

[BrocLuno]

Good that you are doing this. The 'Net can never have too many well thought out references.

My thoughts were just an old guy looking over your shoulder. Been there, done that ... Have fun and pass it along

 

[stringnut]

For the info you cover the length is appropriate. The whole thing is pretty concise and trying to compress it further may actually make it confusing.

The place mentioned of the reticle part is a bit off. Saying to place it on the bottom of the bull may cause issues. Some targets have a huge bullseye and this may cause more issues than it solves. Generally a scope reticle is place directly on the point of aim. Iron sights are often place on the bottom of the bull, but, I don't know of anyone who does this with a scope. However, I sure don't know everything and just may be interpreting this wrong. It is worth review.

This may or may not be worth getting into since this is a basic article. A bullet does not travel in an arc. It travels in half a parabola. This means the farther out it gets the faster it is dropping. Group size does approximately double as range doubles, but, drop is a geometric progression. Not an issue from 50 to 100, but, could cause confusion going from 100-200 and 200-300. I have a tendency towards TMI often so this may be well worth ignoring at this point.

Definitely a well written piece that should get person up and running without too many issues.

 

[straightshooterjake]

Stringnut, thank you for your feedback.

I like your point about the path of a bullet is a parabola, but I think I will avoid explaining that to people who don't know how to zero a scope yet.

Regarding where to place the reticle, my intent was just that people should use a sight picture they can see clearly. Pretty often people with inexpensive scopes tell me that it is hard to see the reticle against a black bullseye. I just tell them to take a different point of aim. That is the only point I was trying to make about the reticle. I'll review that section to see if I can make it clearer.

 

[straightshooterjake]

If anyone following this thread is interested, I have started thread about another new article. The article is about a completely different subject, so I won't say much more about it here.

Article on improving Smith & Wesson revolver triggers. Please review.

 

[BrocLuno]

I would consider a course Duplex or a German Post scope to be appropriate for a 6:00 hold or there abouts. But that is really something to be determined after the basic sighting in ...

 

[Bart B.]

It's physically impossible for group size to subtend some fixed MOA size as range increases. Depending on muzzle velocity and cross wind spreads, it's easy to see group size will increase up to 15 to 20 percent for each hundred yards past the first hundred. Using ballistic software and changing different elements will reveal this fact.

For example, a 308 Win cartridge can have a 2/10ths inch spread in bullet drop difference at 100 yards with a 100 fps velocity spread. Same load at 1000 yards will have a 40 inch drop difference. 2/10ths MOA at 100 versus 4 MOA at 1000.

Then there's the phenomena of positive compensation for velocity spread that makes group size increase in MOA to mid range then decrease out to long range. Bullets leave on the muzzle axis up swing and slower ones depart at higher angles compensating for their greater drop at long ranges. Sliding weights on barrels near the muzzle "tune" the muzzle axis vibrating frequency to make bullets do that.

 

[Sav .250]

My hats off to you for taking time and effort to help others.
U-Tube has tutorials on the subject as well. Audio/ Visual. J s/n.

 

[straightshooterjake]

Bart B, you're point about MOA increasing with distance is well stated. When I am talking with beginners, I try to keep things simple and just say that group size is proportional to distance. My goal is to give accurate information without giving too much detail to soon. I'll review that section of the article.

 

[Lo8080]

I found it informative and covered any question I would have. I just started getting into shooting at 100 yds a couple of months ago. I looked up a lot on the web on zeroing your scope. Seems you covered a lot of what I've read. Thanks for putting together.

 

[straightshooterjake]

Lo8080, thanks for the comment. Glad to know the article was informative.

 

[JimKirk]

Good in depth article ...The only thing I would encourage is to somehow get this in a gun owner hands this BEFORE hitting the range ... you mention that you get questions while on the range .... your article is more than most "shooters" could digest in a short time if the range is crowded and other shooters waiting ....

Maybe you could make a short list(check sheet) for quick range use and send the the in depth article home with them for later study .... men tend to not read instructions or so women say ...