Posted: 10/6/2008 6:44:51 PM EDT
| Never sighted in a gun before and was looking for help. Precision rifles seemed like a reasonable place to look for help. Can someone recommend a good (or the best) bench rest for getting dialed in and/or outline the process for getting very accurately dialed in? |
|
You need a good steady position (whether bench or prone). Scope or iron sights? Either way I'd start up close (25 yds. or closer, to make sure you're on the paper. If not on the paper at 25 yds. you may need to be even closer (usually this is only a problem when first shooting with a newly installed scope). Sight it in so your bullets are hitting about 1" below your point of aim and it should only be a couple inches high at 100 yds. (but this also depends on the caliber and this sighting system). |
|
What kind of shooting are you planning on doing: just shooting from the bench or shooting from various field positions? Sighting in at the bench is good to get group sizes (a way of determining the accuracy potential of the rifle and ammo) but where the bullets land is often not in quite the same place as when you are shooting from real postitions. About any sand-filled bags will work to get you a stable position on the bench. The good bench rests allow for fine tuning of the rifle position and help with getting the rifle back into exactly the same postion after recoil, but for the most part they are not needed for most rifles. Set the front bags up so that the rifle is at a comfortable height as you sit with the butt in your shoulder pocket. Next fit some smaller bags at the rear to support the buttstock. Allow yourself enough room to get your body in position as well. There are rabbit ear bags that help keep the rifle vertical and these are a good investment. Your rifle should be bore sighted before going to the range (unless you are using the stock iron sights) where the scope and bore are parallel. You can do this at home by removing the bolt (in the case of an AR you have to separate the upper and lower receiver) and sighting down the bore at a dot on the wall. Make a second mark above the lower dot that is the same distance as the scope is from the bore. Move the crosshairs on the scope to the upper dot without disturbing the rifle. The rifle should be on a sturdy table with sandbags---much like what you will do at the range. With your bore sighted rifle cradled in the sandbags, shoot one shot into a target that is 25 yards away. If your shot is near the center, you can then move the target to 100 yards. If it is way off, adjust the scope. At 25 yards you will need to move the scope 4 times the markings on the turrets. That is if the shots at 25 yards are say 4 inches left, you will need to move the scope 16 inches right. Most scopes have either 1/4 minute of angle (1/4 inches at 100 yards) or 1/2 minute of angle marks. This means with 1/4 minute clicks and a 4 inch adjustment at 25 yards you will need 64 cicks. If you are using iron sights, most of these are 1 minute clicks. The same princples apply with shooting one shot at 25 yards and moving the sights accordingly. After adjusting the scope, or iron sights, shoot another shot just to make sure you didn't go the wrong way. Then move the target to 100 yards. Shoot ten shots at 100 yards as carefully and as consistently as possible. You want everyting to be the same for each shot. Take the target back to the bench and find the group center. I like using tracing papet with concentric circles, the smallest being 1" in diameter and each circle being 2" larger. Center the group in the rings and mark where the group center is. Now measure how far left or right the group is and how high or low it is. You can then move the sights to put the group in the center. Once you have sighted in at the bench this way, then you can do the same thing in field positions and at other distances. Write down how much and which direction you moved the scope or sights each time you make an adjustment. This way you can use this information to realign your sights later. |
|
Grab two socks- calf length.
Buy two bags of black beans (dry) for about $2 a bag at the grocery store. Dump the bag into the sock. Zip tie the beads into the sock. Pull the sock back over itself, covering the zip tie and sock. This bag of beans can get thrown under your forend on some object to get some height off the bench. The second bag goes under the toe of the stock and can be squeezed to manipulate elevation. This will almost eliminate pulse. If your range permits shooting prone shoot prone, and put your body line behind the rifle. This should help speed the process along. |
|
Quoted:
Does POI shift horizontally from 25, 50, 100 yds.? I'm wondering if I should set that at 25 yards, that way I only have to worry about the vertical axis at the desired zero range. In short yes, how much depends on your weapon and ammo. If your only going to shoot at 100 yards you could sight in to be dead center at 100 yards, or you could do a 25/250 BZO. If you bought your gun new it should come with a book which should explain how to sight it in. What type of gun are you shooting? What type of shooting are you doing, different distances? target? |
|
Instead of the 10 rounds fired at 100 yards mentioned above, I only fire three rounds to get a triangulation; I then make adjustments based off the center of the triangle. Not only does it save ammo, it helps keep the barrel cool. Also, I do not move the target from the 100 yard mark back to the bench, I use a spotting scope and plot the adjustments using a spare target at the bench. That way, there is zero deviation in the range and it keeps everything consistent. The entire time, I make sure to maintain the same grip/posture/stance/ect so that each round fired is carefully placed.
This method has worked not only for me, but all the customers I help sight in rifles at the range where I work. |