? shooting at the range ?

[2eagles]

OK, so when you go to the rifle range and get MOA groupings, just how are you shooting?  On a bench, sure, but with sandbags or on a rest or what?  Today I watched a shooter get incredible groups at 200 yards with a 6mil of some sort.  He had that silly looking, blue stocked, ss ported barrel rifle with the Hubble telescope in a vice that he pounded into the bench, but man it did shoot!!!  I felt silly shooting with my Ruger laid across my shooting box padded with an old towel.  And I didn't shoot very well.  Just how fancy should I get trying to sight in my rifle?  Jim

Oh, but when I went over to the archery range, my Hoyt was shooting GREAT!!!!

[Dave in WV]

I use sandbags and a rest to zero. Shooting from hunting positions if you are a hunter is much more practical for field use. Dave

[SAWgunner]

Same here, I shoot from sandbags.  I know that any rifle can shoot better than I can, and it takes the fun out of it if the thing is attached semi-permanently to a bench.  I don't care what the rifle can do from a vise, because I can't carry a bench and vise with me everywhere I go.  I almost always get excellent groups from sandbags, though.

[Ron T.]

Your Ruger’s poor performance is possibly due to the rifle “bouncing” away from the hard surface of your shooting box.

An old towel, laid across the box... even folded over several times, isn’t enough “padding” to keep your rifle from “bouncing away” from the shooting box when it is fired.  Rifles always "bounce away" from hard surfaces from which they're fired.

Naturally, when it “bounces away” from the shooting box, it “sprays” it’s rounds all over the target.

The rifle rest and the sandbags, ALONE, should “hold” the scope’s crosshairs perfectly ON the bullseye without your aid. Shooting right handed, I hold the rifle’s forearm in my left hand which is laying on the sandbag in the rifle rest’s cradle.  My hand provides additional “cushioning” and a more realistic result since my hand will be holding the rifle’s forearm in exactly the same manner in the field.

I use the other two sandbags under the toe of the stock to steady it... and I use the last, smaller sandbag to move up or down the base of the stock between the stock and the larger sandbags to make the rifle as solid as possible so that the scope's crosshairs are held EXACTLY on the center of the bullseye without any aid from my hands.  In this way, I can best determine which "load" is most accurate in my rifle.

Naturally, my hand will NOT be resting on a rifle rest and sandbag in the field, but my gloved hand may be resting against a tree or over a stump while cradled in my hand which will be providing the “cushion” necessary to keep the rifle from “bouncing away from” the rest.

When shooting in the field at game, ALWAYS try your utmost to have your rifle “rested” against something solid if possible… with your hand in-between the rifle and the solid rest, of COURSE.  The least accurate shooting position is “off-hand” without a rest.

The same thing would happen in the field if you laid your rifle across a tree branch to steady your rifle just prior to the shot.  You must always have plenty of cushioning (like a semi-soft sandbag or your hand… and a gloved hand is better) between the hard surface of the rifle's fore-stock and the solid surface you’re laying it on to steady it to the shot.  Failure to assure a solid, but “soft” rest leads to inconsistent groups.

I’ve been very satisfied shooting off the bench rest using a large, cast aluminum rifle rest that has an adjustable “cradle” together with 3 large (25 lb. shot-bags) sandbags and one small (made using a 5 lb. shot-bag) made from old shot-bags I filled with clean, dry sand, folded the end of the shot-bag over a few times, then hand-sewed them thoroughly shut… leaving a little extra room inside the bag so the sandbag wasn’t “hard”, but had “give” to the sand bag.

I don’t remember what the rifle rest cost… bought it many, many years ago… but you can probably get one today for around $30 or $40.  I lay one large sandbag on the cradle of the cast aluminum (with screw adjustments on the “neck” of the cradle as well as each leg of the rifle rest)… and put the other two large sandbags under the toe of the rifle’s stock.

Then I use the small sandbag between the two larger sandbags and the bottom of the stock to give me the final “adjustment” as I look through the rifle’s scope at the target.  Once everything is “solid” and the scope’s crosshairs on perfectly centered on the target’s bullseye… and nothing is moving, I take a deep breath & let it out, then another deep breath and VERY SLOWLY let it HALF out while beginning the squeeze on the trigger.  Usually the shot fires before I get down to a “half breath”.

I use this method to “work up” my hunting loads because this method works for me and gives me the best 3-shot groups my rifles are capable of shooting.

I often work up my loads by firing at a target only 50 yards away since a 3x.-9x hunting scope doesn’t have enough magnification (for me, anyway) to clearly see the small bright orange target “dot” at 100 yards.  Since the purpose of “working up” the highest velocity load consistent with the most accurate load which eventually becomes one’s “hunting load”, you can only shoot as accurately as you can see.

Therefore, I “work up” my loads at 50 yards, then once my “hunting load” is determined, I re-sight in my most accurate "load" in at 100 yards using my ballistic program to determine how high I want the group to be at 100 yards in order to give any particular “load” and rifle it’s maximum “point-blank” range.

Most high-velocity rifle’s “point-blank range” will fall between the 240 to 300 yard range depending on the rifle’s velocity and bullet weight.  As example, my .300 Savage handloads using 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip Bullets @ 2675 fps has a “point-blank range” of approximately 260 yards.  This means I can hold “dead on” the target from the rifle’s muzzle out to 260 yards and the bullet’s line of flight will never be more than 3 inches above or 3 inches below my line-of-sight.  This insures that if I do my job in aiming my rifle in the center of the “kill zone”, the bullet will hit the game animal within 3 inches ± of the center of the kill zone.  Since all kill zones on big game animals are at least 9 inches in diameter, such a shot should produce a humane one-shot-kill and almost instantaneous death.

Here is an example of my Savage Model 99 in .300 Savage’s exterior ballistics:
25 yards  =  +  .05 inches
50 yards  =  +1.28 inches
75 yards  =  +2.19 inches
100 yards = +2.75 inches
125 yards = +2.98 inches
150 yards = +2.84 inches
175 yards = +2.30 inches
200 yards = +1.36 inches
225 yards = ± 0.00 inches
250 yards =  - 1.79 inches
260 yards =  - 2.64 inches
270 yards =  -3.55 inches

As you can see from these calculations, my rifle has a “point-blank range” of a almost 270 yards if sighted in 2.75 inches high at 100 yards.

You can also buy pre-shaped shooting bags that will help “steady” your rifle when shooting from the bench rest.


Strength & Honor…

Ron T.

[Cabin4]

sand bags under the forearm stock and under the butt stock are a must. the sand bag under the forearm should not be in contact with the barrel.

if you want to sight in a rifle and by this i assume you are scoping it, then doing whatever it takes to get the rifle stationary is essential to not only sighting it in but also to find out what ammo it realy likes. once this is complete and you are satisfied with the sight-in and ammo that shoots the best, then put the sand bags aside and shoot/practice from your hunting positions.

Yesterday I spent over 5 hours at the range with 3 guns. all my shooting sessions are done with a cold barrel. thats why i take 3 or as many as 5 guns. i shoot one, take a little rest, pick up the other, same thing then the third and shoot it. by rotating rifles this way, by the time i get bak to the first rifle the barell is cool enough to shoot off another. with a hunting rifle, don't try sighting in your gun with shot after shot after shot. let the barrel cool down. also the same with shooting it for groups or trying to find what ammo works best. let the barrel cool down. when your hunting, your shot at the animal will be with a cold barrel, so the same should be your practice at the range and will give you an honest representation of the groups the gun will shoot in the field when it counts.

[WW1]

use sand bags front and back, make sure the rifle is dead on.......then move to different field positions....that way you know if it is you or the rifle......ww1

[Ron T.]

2eagles… you’ve gotten some excellent advice here…

What Cabin4 sez about letting your rifle’s barrel cool down between shots is very important as well as being very TRUE!  I should have mentioned that myself because I also do the same thing… I.E., take more than one rifle to the range with me when I’m working up loads or sighing the rifle in with hunting loads prior to going hunting.

As Cabin4 so correctly pointed out, you’ll be shooting the deer or whatever game animal you’re hunting from a COLD barrel, so naturally, you MUST sight your rifle “in” USING A COLD BARREL!

The same premise applies when you’re working up loads.  Shooting shot after shot in short order until your rifle’s barrel is “hot” doesn’t tell you a thing about the accuracy of that particular load.  A load that may shoot into a “sub-minute-of-angle” group @ 100 yards when the barrel is hot may not come even close to shooting that tight a group if each shot is fired from a COLD barrel.


Strength & Honor…

Ron T.

[2eagles]

Thanks for the help, guys!  I ordered bags today.  Jim