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Biggest ERRORS shooters make ZEROING RIFLES pt1
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- Опубліковано 9 кві 2015
- This very common mistake causes shooters a lot of frustration they do not need. And it is not a rifle issue or a scope issue. It's a SHOOTER problem originating directly between your ears that are standard issue, left and right, one each!
The rifle is a savage 110 about 30 yrs old. in 223 rem. Scope is a Shepherd 6x18, w/V2 ret. The ammo is hand loads that will stay at or under 1 MOA. I use great rifle to check out questionable scopes and great scopes to check out questionable rifles and in this case, both to prove a point.
I've been shooting a long time and this just shows that you're never too old to learn something new! Thanks
it's a valuable video for the newbies. Many new shooters don't have a person to mentor them like our father's did in the past.
delmont223 Eeeks!
I did not realize that I do know a gunsmith that told me never put a flashlight mount on your barrel. Because the barrel waves when you shoot.
Because so many newbies don't have fathers at all.
I am in that exact boat. I've had to learn everything the hard way and I had no idea this was an issue. I will have to double check my optics to make sure they're properly zeroed in this manner.
when i see hunters rest barrel in tree crotch i got to laugh
Now im gonna go to the junk yard and search for my scope to ask for forgiveness 😭😭
comment deserve more likes
I can't think of a better way to explain this. Thank you for all the pains taken to show this.
I had no idea resting the rifle on the barrel vs the stock made a difference. Thanks for the video.
As an ex armorer in the Guard, I can tell you are right on about floated barrels!👍👌
That's crazy never would have guessed it would make such a diffrence. Great video
Beautiful! Thank you. Status as Rifle Range Detective, Scope Zeroing Division confirmed. You're saving a lot of shooters a ton of grief. Assuming that they pay attention.
Great video! I love simple videos like this that actually show things that other people just talk about. You hear so much contradiction in shooting, it good to show proof! Nice job
Great detective work, I've seen this before myself. Good lesson for sighting in and using scopes.
Very well done example of why barrels are "floated" and how easy it is to negate that by how you use it.
Also good reason to make sure the barrel is not touching he fore end when rested I take a dollar Bill and slide it from front to back and make sure it will move freely. Cheaper 300 guns have clearance issues and should be addressed with bedding the rifle.
I’m so very grateful for my childhood and being raised in a family of Marksmen and Gunsmiths. That’s a great shooting rifle BTW, I hope your Friend has been instructed in correct procedure now. Great video as well.
weather an old shooter or new this is great information , the art of handing info down to new shooters has been corrupted here is Aust due to the laws in place. a lot of new shooters have no idea and go to the gun shop and get a rifle that if they are lucky , has been bore sighted and think thats all it needs. they have passed the licence requirements and thats it 95% of them have never even held a firearm prior to this. most of these are townies ( people that only live in the city ) and have had no practical training from a young age, like it used to be .. and sorry for the rant , great work ..
Thank you for a clear precise video. I don't know why so many people commenting feel a need to call others names. Some people " just don't know". Maybe the negative comments are coming from the so called "range experts" ? A hunter and a professional or trained shooter are two different animals all together sometimes. Good video.
A tight grip as opposed to a loose one will also affect the group. By that I mean consistency is key to a good group. Do everything the same exact way and the results will be likewise.
Good advice.
I can't for the life of me figure out why any one would change the rifle position at all. even if their doing it wrong out of the gate.
thanks for the video.
Agreed... when trying to duplicate shot placement, why would you change positions on the rest ? The word " duplicate " ( even if its wrong ) says it all..
@@ngzcaz Maybe they weren't paying attention and just moved it on accident. Because their so engrossed with sighting in the scope. Their forgetting the other little details. I will fully admit I did stuff like this when I was a new shooter. I had no one to teach me. So UA-cam and youtubers like this man were lifesavers for me.
The guy that posted this has taken the time to show people the effects of resting your gun on the barrel. That is kind of him.
Thanks for that. In the past I had been good at sitting in rifles. However this last time it was late at night shooting out of the back of a pickup truck. I made this same mistake and I never knew why I was having this issue
Thanks you have enlightened me!
That’s an outstanding demonstration my friend thank you for uploading.👍
Great video, simplicity ... Excellent demonstration.
In similarity: Funny story.
I purchased a M1903/M1903A3 for unbelievable price which I believe was used in the Civilian Marksmanship Program, Prior to buying I ran a dollar bill between stock and barrel, it was free floating . It so happened to be a left handed stock sporterized. "The Stock looking like a log." I am right handed, so what the heck .. I cut the cheeck side to accommodate right side, took the stock down futher added a swivel based UTG Bi-bod and created a wood flat based rear stock rest; football pads for cheeck rest attached a 10 round bullet strip. Camo Painted using pine straw for a cool design. I'm talking less than $125.00 bucks! Has a Rem 700 front sight and the original bridged peep sight. Shoots sub moa 100 yards with NATO 147 grain 7.62 x 51 ammo. Take it to the range I get people laughing .. until they see how it Shoots.
I recently bought an amazing Fajen mannlicher Gun Stock that fitted almost perfectly slight shaving for the rear bridged sight, gun looks amazing, kept old stock. Have not had opportunity to shoot since swapping stocks. Hoping it hasn't restricted the free floating barrel.
Video demonstrates the importance of any pressure on barrel.
When I was taught to shoot and mess with sites or scopes. You always fire three shots. Reposition, fire three more and then once again. This method has always worked for my. By doing it three times, you will find all your problems or find success.
I have struggled with sighting rifles at times, and this videos points out a possible reason why.
Thank God I was raised by men who knew how to shoot. I am retired now and work at a Range and it is unbelievable the silliness I see. God Bless Texas
When my costumors buy a new rifle, I always go with them to zero their scope in the stores underground shooting tunnel. I give them a few tips and pieces of advice, do's and don'ts, also I always say: "take 2 shots before you dial the scope." One shot and a control shot, just to eliminate shooter error. Mostly just for new shooters. Within 5-10 minutes my costumor is placing his/her rounds right untop of each other, the following smile is worth it!
Is that a “tumour or a tumor “? No, a customer!
Yes, dry fire and call the shot. No live fire until shots are called right-in-there.
Brilliant work, i find it hilarious when people blame perfectly good equipment instead of their lack of knowledge haha
Outstanding video !! See this all too often where I shoot. Also another problem I've noticed is newbies over torquing the rings on their mounts which causes the cross hairs to jump spaces when adjusting. The very same results can happen. sometimes just a simple adjustment of a couple clicks up/down or horizontal can make the impact couple inches off. My point....don't over tighten those rings. 25-35 in/lbs of torque is sufficient. There is no need to damn near twist off the head of the screw tightening down your rings lol
I learned a long long time ago, never offer advice at the range. It piss's off the "Experts".
So, I'll sit there next to them and punch out a happy face on my target while he's all over the place trying to figure it out.
Did this once, the guy was laughing at my grouping. Right up to the point where he actually saw what I had done. Can't understand why he didn't speak to me the rest of the time I was there.
Dave Perala Amen. Something about "gun" guys who aren't actually gun guys not being able to take helpful advice. Hell, it could just be the nature of being a guy period. I've learned just to wait until people ask. If they want to waste ammo it's their money lol.
Another big newbie mistake when sighting guns in is the difference between point of impact, and point of aim. As in the difference between moving the crosshairs to the group, and moving the group to the crosshairs. Seen plenty of people logic their way backwards on that one unable to figure out why the groups keep getting worse.
My personal favorite is people using the cheapest ammo they can find to sight in a gun, or sighting it in with ammo that they don't intend to hunt, or target shoot with.
a few times I've had guys walk over to me, hand me their rifle, and ask if I can make it shoot like mine. I cut old oxygen tanks in half and weld a chain so I can hang 'em. One day I was shooting 100 yards and a guy asks me to sight his AR and give a 30 rnd mag, so I got I got it sighted on paper with six rounds then hit the steel tank 24 times with the rest of the mag. So I hand it back to him and he fires another 30 round mag at my steel tank only hitting it 4 or 5 times, and with that he was really excited and completely satisfied he actually hit something that far.
HAHAHA oh man!!! I've shot long range competition and have done well in the past...but being a girl this statement couldn't be more right! HAHAHA I once won a competition but we were given a warm up 2 shots hahaha and the guy next to me was having a similar problem as this movie...I offered a quick pointer and was so harshly shot down hahahaha so all I did was shoot. I won and the man after seeing my groupings was mad as hell and didn't talk the rest of the time...infact he left early after they announced the winners. Man some people think cause they're male and like guns they are inherently great at shooting them...reality is it takes tons of range time and some study to learn to shoot really good. I've also had men offer to buy my gun at the range for 2k more than I paid for it. Those men approach me with some humility so I can have a small sit down with them...usually they leave happy with their own equipment and excited about putting in more range time. Very well said Dave and commentary crowd!
Accurately stated observations..I’m just out of Army after 21 years and the masses of civilian “shooters”..are oft diametrically opposed in all points to a the culture and ideology that soldiers train in and with..
Haha nice. I have ppl like that at my club in nys
All I have to say about your video is your obviously a well experienced shooter and anyone who has a shooting area inside thier house to shoot outside thier house is someone who you DEFINITELY want to listen to.
Great video
The biggest error (by far) that I have noticed many shooters make is when they listen to other shooters that have no clue either. I cannot count the times that I have heard one shooter tell another to adj. their scope 4 clicks equal 1 inch, but they were shooting at 25 or 50 yds. And when adjusting iron sights, I have witnessed people shooting up half a box of shells before getting it right. Remember, not everyone at the range knows what the hell they are doing and some of the most confident are often the most inaccurate. Please understand, I am not, by any means, contradicting what was demonstrated by this video. I found it to be quite accurate and informative.
Excellent video. Very properly put together & organized. Good info for a novice shooter. Thanks
As a range safety officer , I have seen this many times . They put the rest close to the end of the forearm, after 1 to 3 shoots the recoil moves the rifle back and is resting on the barrel. Some shooters don’t notice this or don’t know this makes a difference. As you said they adjust the scope put the forearm back on the rest and it’s way off and they are lost. Then they have no confidence in their rifle. If they still have any ammo left and you inform them what’s happening most of the shooters are great-full and some don’t want to listen but that’s ok !
Wow, this explains a lot about why I ended up searching for this video.
Yes sir, barrel harmonics, there's lots of research and science there, thanks for taking the time to demonstrate, great vid.
Very true, I’m a range officer, seen this hundreds of times, where people rest the rifle on the barrel, huge mistake.
Impossible to accurately zero anything when using inconsistent weapon placement. That should be pretty basic.
I’ll admit 2 things. I was not aware that resting the barrel on the rest could change the path of the bullet that much. Secondly I had no clue that idiots ever rested the barrel on the rest. It’s the most unnatural thing I’ve ever seen. Great video
I knew not to rest the barrel on the stand but never knew why. Thanks for doing this little video, I learned something (again).
I am a beginner, I just started rifle shooting and I always found it weird to rest the rifle on the barrel... now I know why, thanks. One of the things my brother told me, when starting was: "same position, same stance, same trigger pull... you want consistency, you want to be able to repeat what you did last time... don't worry about accuracy at first, if you are wrong, be consistently wrong... once you are able to repeat consistently, then work on hitting what you aim at..."
I have never done a lot of shooting but, growing up in Maine, we were always around guns. The only advice, that I remember, was from my father, who sighted his rifle standing, without a rest. His was always open sights, so scope problems didn't enter the picture. Before hunting season, he would always sight in his deer rifle. Being open sights, the range remained the same so he just checked to make sure that the sights hadn't been bumped out of alignment. His theory was that it should never take more than 3 shots to get it right, that is if he had to make any changes.
You need a nobel prize, man. Thank you.
I understand that touching the barrel will introduce new pressure points that will affect the barrel harmonics, but I never imagine it would be repeatable, excellent video very well done
For some break-barrel airguns, you'd want to rest on the barrel, because barrel moves up/down. Windage can be tightened up with hinge screw, but elevation can be all over the place, especially with worn gun. I blamed the random drift on cheap scope, cheap pellet, just about everything except the gun until I accidentally rested it on barrel.
Very good video. Well edited. I wish more would be respectful like this of our time, and cut out the comments about their summer vacation, being ill, etc.
The adjustment after the very first shot was the problem , resting and making shots on your barrel is the other problem . Very good video .
I find it hard to believe, that very many people, whom are diligent enough to sight in their own rifle, using a commercial target, are not diligent enough to maintain a consistent resting point, whether it be on the forestock or the barrel.
I zero'd my new .30-.30 scope resting the forestock but also using my sling as this also ensures my eye and cheek will be in the exact distance and position for each shot I take. Used 50yds as my first sightings and grouped my final 3-shots in the size of a dime. Your so right, your setup is very important and must be consistent and should be close to how you would normally expect to be holding for eye placement, why I sling and shoulder placement. As you brought out, never rest the barrel.
I think this video just explained how I threw a shot on an otherwise sub MOA group....I used a velcro strap on the tripod rest to better secure/stabilize my rifle....I lapped the velcro over the barrel and tightened it down and my following groups significantly changed..I never thought that slight pressure on a rifle barrel could have such a significant affect. Thanks...very informative video.
Just bought my first bolt rifle and got the scope mounted and boresighted...heading to the range this weekend thank you for the great tip!!
Very good elaboration...thank you. Now I know why i miss my targets even after zeroing my scope.
Good detective work. I've never had this problem since I always use a bipod. I just suck in remembering which direction to dial my windage/elevation knobs. Lol.
Villamor78, windage knobs will have either an (R) or (L) and elevation usually (UP). It means the point of impact on your target will move in that direction. Sorry if this is not as clear as I would like it to be. Try not to think about moving the cross-hairs, just the bullet hole on the target.
This is about vibration of the barrel while the bullet is traveling down it and Midway USA did a similar video to explain the difference of bedding or floating a barrel. I still dont actually know whats better because all of this varies rifle to rifle--how the barrel was made, what kind of steel, how its mounted in the receiver, what influences are there against the barrel, the weight of the barrel, the length, the weight of the overall rifle, the caliber, the type of cartridge. The variables dont end. I think....it doesnt really matter so much that modern, common guns are not made so precisely but that the shooter learns to compensate for built-in errors. This becomes crazy and maddening when you have 10 or 15 guns you are rotating. In my life anyway, the best shooters had the fewest guns. If you have one rifle and one pistol you will get to know them so well and shoot really well.
Always like it when I finish a video and I think to myself "I just learned something" Thanks for helping.
I've seen this on professional hunting shows. Amazing.
good info,I learned this the hard way with a black powder rifle one day at the range lol.the rest was a box with a pillow stuffed in it and when i laid the rifle on it to get a rest the barrel was resting on the edge of the box on the other side of the box and no matter how far I tried to adjust the scope down each shot was about 6 inches high at 100 tards I finaly seen what was going on and cut the far side of the box away with my pocket knife and then got the rifle sighted in no problem before I ran out of powder and lead lol.
Like Dave, I too learned this a long time ago. Like he said you don't offer advice at the range unless you're truly asked for help or it's a young person who wants to learn for it makes all of those know it all's mad... I like the Shepherd scope you have. I have one as well it's the 6x18 V1A it on a 300 Wby mag. They work great and have had it out to 1000m. Nice video for beginners.
You are correct that you should always rest the rifle on the stock. I suspect however that when you rest on the barrel, it is not moving the barrel so much as changing the harmonics. Which will change the point of impact. There are rubber sleeves you can slide over a barrel at different points to try and find the harmonic sweet spot of your rifle. Typically used on mass produced rifle barrels more than top shelf custom barrels. The point is that harmonics make a difference and that is why you always want to rest in a consistent spot, the forearm being the intended place. Anything resting against or touching the barrel can change the harmonics and send a flyer places you do not want.
That is some awesome advice. Hard to believe it would make that much difference but I sawed it wit my own eyes
Just bought my first rifle today with a scope. I've never dialed in a scope before so this was very helpful. Thank you for posting.
You are 100% Correct.....I've seen the same thing happen over and over.....People don't listen .....Thanks
Thanks for the tips. I never rest on the barrel. I did remove the bi pod on my rifle and it too, changed the point of impact on my target. I never would've thought that, but it did. Of course it was a cheap injection molded stock with screw in sling swivels but hey, I didn't know.
Good to know. Doing some research I find barrels resonate or vibrate during firing. I've seen and heard of barrel tuners that will help in accuracy. And I know barrel thickness and bedding the receiver helps in accuracy. Now I know there is much more factors involved. I've watched this video before. It's always amazes me how much this afects bullet placement.
Interesting stuff.
Cool video and great info most people probably would just blame the gun or the scope. Nice to see a fellow Nebraskan making good informative videos.
Excellent demonstration.
Never knew this. Very helpful. That explains why I shot my deer and dropped it right there while not resting it on anything but later that night stuck my gun out of the blind with it resting on the barrel and missed twice. Thanks
The heat of the sun will give you an error too
Amazing that people would do this!
That voice reminds me of Levon Helm (RIP, drummer and vocalist in The Band) - some may recognise him as the old Tennessee firearms expert in Shooter (2007).
People keep making the same mistake with rifles. A good rifle isn't "accurate," a good rifle is "consistant" meaning it launches a bullet down nearly the same trajectory with each shot. But to make the rifle consistant, the shooter has to do all the steps of aiming and firing the rifle as consitantly as humanly possible. This video shows one of the ways you can do things inconsistantly and the effect it has on the end result, the bullets impact on the target.
One point I will argue is the choice of a rest. A different rest material will make a noticable, if smaller, shot dispersion than positioning the rifle to rest on the barrel or the stock. When teaching boyscouts how to shoot properly, they are taught to rest the rifle on their hand, and then rest their hand on the rest. This makes the immediate support for the rifle (the hand) more consistant and prevents them from placing the barrel on the rest. This is also applicable to hunting as you likely won't have a bench rest handy, but a tree limb, rock, etc, makes a nice rest for your hand, upon which you can rest your rifle to make a more consistant shot. My own opinion here, but the only time I would rest a rifle directly on a bench rest is if I'm using a dedicated bench rest rifle that will not be fired from any other kind of support. Because... consistancy. All told, good video.
Yes, the bullet ALWAYS goes in the direction the barrel is pointed, a definitive and uniform arc, therefore, to understand where the barrel is pointed, the rifle must be fired without moving it using consistent sight alignment and the trigger must be pulled utilizing SMOOTH trigger control.
Rick Koehler When shooting from the bench with any type front rest the weak hand should be used to pinch the rear bag. In other words, be the fine adjustment getting on target and steady. Regarding hunting rifles once the rifle's favorite ammo is found and the sights/cross hairs are dialed in to said ammo the bench should be where you sit to cool off, have lunch or write down important data relating to your practice. Field positions are the only way to practice for the hunt. If the fore hand acted solely as a "shelf" I'd agree with you but humans being human are not likely to let that happen. That's why I say keep your hands off the rifle as mush as possible while we're testing the rifle. From the bench the idea should be to remove the human element from what's happening as much as possible. Doing so most accurately tells us the ammo our rifle shoots the best & the shooter has a level of accuracy to strive for.
Great info. Makes complete sence too. I have the problem of resting my AR on the barrel and my shots end up high. I will make the adjustment to resting on the fore guard and recheck my results. I'm going to bet that my precision becomes 100% better
Right on!!! Just like aiming at different holds...gives different results....
good video ... good advice, consistency is the key .. many never notice the simple things .. before they know poof goes a box of ammo and stomping off, thinking something is wrong with scope or gun.
Great demonstration. Barrel harmonics are typically most peoples issue with, “my gun shoots like #&@#%”. It’s usually about tuning what you have to your barrel’s very unique harmonic signature.
Excellent demonstration!! Super good job.............
I am a long time shooter myself, and have told a lot of people not to shoot off the barrel when sitting on a rest. Where the hand rests when hunting, is where the gun should be sitting on a rest when target practicing. On the other hand, I have seen guns that don't move the group when resting at different places. Practice will tell where the gun needs to sit.
Another common mistake I see, is no one practicing off hand shooting after zeroing. Typically, you don't have a rest when hunting, so why not practice shooting at targets freehand? This is the true test after zeroing.
Very very good sir. Spot on, little things truly mean a lot. Thanks.
Nice to see solid logic at work. I think your deduction is sound. Good work!
Yes resting on the barrel is a no no. Free float and bed the action helps.
1. Bore sight it to get on paper
2. take a few shots (do not change the guns position on the bag or where you are gripping it) to make sure are grouping.
3. Make turrent adjustments
4. Move out to further range. Scope can't errors will show up further down the range so have to verify it.
I never imagined that someone would actually make this kind of error when sighting in a scope!
You'd be surprised at what some people will do!
I can, but common sense is keep everything stable and the same when sighting in a scope or even iron sights for up close (.22 for 25 yards, for example)
and they give these people a "gun license"
As an experienced shooter, I would never do this. In fact, the thought never crossed my mind. The way I always viewed it was that the forearm is where you rest the rifle, not the barrel. So I never considered this possibility. Seeing the difference it can make though is interesting. It's not surprising, but it is interesting to see that. It makes total sense. Thanks for making the video!
This makes so much sense!! Thank you so much!!!
true also that changing where we rest the rifle stock or barrel changes the vibration, so rifle must lay in the same place every time, for example the stock was moved a inch or two further or closer in position wich changes vibration or harmonics of the rifle, in the same way tuning forks in science class will vibrate less or more depending on where touched changing the frequency thus changing the frequency on the barrel and the whole rifle
WELL DONE A VERY VERY HELPFUL VIDEO MISTAKES I HAVE MADE IN THE PAST THANKYOU FOR YOUR GUIDANCE.PETER.
Most do not understand that one of the “secrets” to getting a decent group is consistency. Consistency in EVERYTHING. The hands/cheek placement and or placement on a rest. Eye relief. Trigger manipulation. And last but not least, natural point of aim.
"Or Whatever you think is cool" said with a low growl.....Awesome Video.....This dude is psychedelic....
Very good, informational video, Plus no silly or noisy music.
Very interesting. I never realized that this could have a dramatic result. Always rested on forearm while zeroing in, makes sense... you don't hold the barrel when firing
Very good video with solid advice and I love the editing tricks, nice touch
Good analysis of his groups. Yep, pressure on the barrel is not good for accuracy.
Great lesson in a brief video. 👍
First I bore sight the rifle.
Then fire1 shot, then put the crosshairs back to the bullseye and move the crosshairs to the bullet hole of your first shot.
Then fire another round to confirm, if you aren't dead on the bullseye, its back to the bullseye to make the same usually fine adjustment as on your first shot. Always go back to the bullseye to make your adjustment. This method works flawlessly and saves valuable ammunition.
Good info for people learning to sight in. Thank you, i learned something!
really does it matter what the guy is doing. This was an outstanding vid. being able to duplicate what he did and shows us all. Newbies don't know about this stuff. Nice language now i see why so many don't allow comments. these few ruin it for all of us. But they know all and figure the rest of us are idiots. And we may be. But learning is a life time venture. And those who think they know it all, well usually don't know crap. Or have small penis syndrome.
Michael Andersen this is a pretty dumb thought.
Sean Rehse , agreed. I always learn a lot from comments. I can filter out the good, the bad and the ugly. And make my own opinion. I’m learning all the time thanks to UA-cam. 3 months ago I would have told you cant on a rifle isn’t that important. But after a yt schooling I changed my mind. Life is great when you keep learning stuff. 😋
or both
I could tell before watching this human error. And how the guy rested shot placements.
Great video!
That took me until 4:59 To understand why that made a difference. Nicely done. Thank you
This is why you must use a good steady rest, While sighting in any Rifle etc. So that the Rifle does not move around while shooting it.
I read many people here doubting the detective work of the video poster because they cannot fathom a sensible shooter to make those kind of mistakes. Yet everyone forgets (including the video poster) that they sell rifle bipods that go attached to the barrel which if you really think about it, there is more probability for the shooter in question to change from the rest to the bipod when doing his zeroing, than resting his rifle on the forearm for some shots and then on the barrel for the other shots, and then go back to the forearm.
Most people are unaware that the barrel oscillates in an orbital pattern around the bore during firing. Resting on the barrel dampens this, but not in a reliable fashion, therefore erroneous shot placement.
I personally have never seen or used the barrel as a rest.....that's just strange. Even my friends that don't know better when shooting have never used the barrel lol. Good job figuring it out!
Thankfully for me, the first lesson i learned about zeroing is every shot should be taken the same same way, never move the gun, and if it happens to be done wrong (i.e.using the barrel and not the stock, wear a glove because youll have to hold the barrel when shooting.... or deal with re zeroing...lol). Great explanative vid. 👍👍👍
You could be correct. No real way to tell. However, it is common for most rifles to shoot a cold barrel first shot that is different than the subsequent warm barrel shots. The next thing on my list would be the ammunition. Is it bulk or cheap or is it good quality or match grade? Or, are these rounds hand loaded by the user? Then, there's wind. Was this a windy day? There are other factors but if it's the scope no matter where it is zeroed, the rifle should be able to shoot "the square". Shoot three rounds at the bullseye. Then set the elevation up a certain amount of clicks and shoot three more rounds. Then move the windage knob that same certain amount of clicks, let's just say ten, so the rifle will shoot right. Then, same drill. Move elevation knob down that same ten clicks. Shoot three more rounds. Then finally move windage so rifle shoots left ten clicks and that should bring you back to the first group. If after all those adjustments you wind up in the same place as your started, the scope is good. If it's way, way off then the scope isn't good and either needs to be re-installed or replaced. The last thing I would say would be "how is the rifle"? Is it a good quality rifle or is it a WWII surplus with a worn out barrel or something in between? I'm sure some other people have some thoughts.......
Thanks a lot! Great tipps for newbies! Keep up the good work!
Problem with most shooters is two fold, first the shooter does not know how to call the shot to understand if the shot went on call no sight adjustment is necessary, and second, the shooter does not know the value in inches his MOA incremented sight has at zero distance. For example, he does not know that a 1/4 MOA increment of sight adjustment will move bullet point of impact about a quarter of an inch at 100 yards. The result is a day at the range, many boxes of ammunition shot, and a frustrated shooter who thinks his scope is broken. BTW, this video is excellent regarding the effect of a poor position. The shooter should understand the factors of a solid position: bone/artificial support, muscular relaxation, and natural point of aim. And, of course the shooter needs to understand the need to shoulder the rifle for proper butt to shoulder, firing hand grip/trigger finger placement, stock weld, non firing hand contact on handguard, and elbow placement.
You MUST be consistent from shot to shot in order to get the greatest possible accuracy from your rifle. This includes: How far forward the rifle is placed on the rest - some rests have an L shaped projection that sticks out in front of the rest which acts as a reference to how far forward your rifle is placed. A few millimetres can make a difference in the point of impact by varying the ocillations of the barrel from shot to shot. Other factors include how firmly you are pulling the butt into your shoulder; How firmly you are holding the pistol grip; Where and how firmly your cheek is placed on the comb of the stock; Trigger squeeze, including position of pad of finger on trigger etc. etc.
The overall goal is to eliminate as many variables as possible. The same stands true for ammunition.
You can take the uniformity goal to the 'N'th degree with reloading. Every little bit helps.