Rifle Zeros..?

[deerwhacker444]

J Miller's quote on another post got me wondering:

I once had a neighbor that went deer hunting every year in AZ. If my memory is close he had a Savage 99 of some sort. One day I was present when he told his cronies that it was almost time to buy a new box of ammo. He'd had the present box since the day he bought the rifle and only had a couple rounds left.
Each year he'd fire one round, and sometimes bring home a deer, sometimes not. Never practiced, never checked his zero. I was maybe 16 then and this irritated me no end. I didn't hunt but I was shooting then and I knew where my rifles hit.

Those kind of hunters I call slobs.

Joe

I personally have a few rifles that are scoped that I like to hunt with. I've developed loads for them and installed quality optics. But, I might not shoot a particular rifle for a couple of years. With my current situation I have to drive 1.5 hrs to get to the range and I might only be able to do that a few times a year. However, with my rifles in the safe I've never worried that one of my rifles might be "unsighted" if you will. So I ask you folk, is that bad practice on my part. Once my rifles are sighted in, I generally figure they're SIGHTED IN. If I want to grab one and go to the woods, I do it with out thinking about it. Is that bad practice.? I haven't been bitten in the butt yet...

[LeverBob]

DW...most likely you'll be just fine. However, it would be good drill if you at least checked it-say...a couple of weeks before setting out. Just good practice. It'll also refamiliarize you with the gun a little better than just setting out cold.

You're a seasoned levergunner...do as you please...just MHO pard.

What do the boys say?

LB

[bsaride]

I would shoot it once sighted in.

I would also prefer to get some range and/or practice in before hand.

I would check it anytime it got rough handling.

I always check sights/mounts etc when I take them out to make sure nothing has come loose.

[JReed]

You do run the risk of having your zero bumped out of whack if you knock the gun right or hit a nasty pot hole on the way to your hunting grounds. It is a risk that you take if you don't recheck from time to time.

[Don McDowell]

Stocks can warp, from either moisture, or drying out, changing the point of impact a goodly amount. Not a bad idea to crank a couple of rounds thru before heading into the field. Even if you just pop a couple of rounds to see that it's hitting 1/2 or so high at 50 yds is better than not checking at all.

[BigSky56]

Scoped guns need it they can get out of alignment easy, iron sighted guns I only check them if I change the load or the horse falls down on it. danny

[Malamute]

I think it's a good idea to check it also. I shot at a deer once a couple years ago, and missed. It was an easy shot. I decided not to shoot again until I checked the zero. It was about 5 or 6 " higher than I expected. I then remembered that I had been shooting a different load for practice and hadn't rezeroed for my hunting load. I don't use different loads in that gun now, it's a dedicated hunting rifle unless I get some duplicate loads made up to practice with. Also had a ring mounting screw break on another rifle. That changed the zero by a foot or more in elevation @ about 40 yards.. I should have noticed it by looking, but at least if I had shot it before taking it hunting, I would have figured out something was wrong.

I noticed a friends rifle was missing a ring mounting screw. This was as were on the way to hunt. I had a spare rifle that he used to hunt with.

I've noticed the elevation lock nut loose on a receiver sight a couple times, but the zero didnt seem to have changed. I have had the slide in receiver sights get bent down from banging into something and change elevation.

[pharmseller]

I look at it this way:
Even champion professional basketball players practice their free throws.

P

[Pete44ru]

I've always been a single-loading-per-gun sort of guy, and once I find a load a particular rifle likes, I zero for it and keep 100 (or so) like rounds in stock/reserve for that rifle.

Since all my centerfire hunting necessitates an out-of-state trek, ALL my hunting rifles used on a particular trip will have their zero checked at the destination - even if it's only a single shot. (all I'm likely to get at game, anyway)
Ya see, I've got a couple of "friends" (?), who like to coon-finger everything they touch - my rifle's scope & sight adjustments included.

I shoot RF occasionally for practice, but always get out to the range every year just prior to hunting season - where I NEVER shoot at bullseye targets, just brown cardboard ovals, staked out at random distances afar, again doing the single shot thing with the rifle(s) I intend to use that season.

It drives target shooting perfectionists ranting & crazy, when I outshoot them.

.

[dkmlever]

Checking all the action screws one or twice a year can help keep things tight and "sighted" in. I will check zero before the season with scoped guns like Danny, but not with open sited guns. Once the season is going I do not check the scoped guns again unless I have fallen or banged it hard. It does take a hard knock to wack a scope off but why take the chance. Someone else talked about the moisture with wood stocks causing issues. And heck...shoooting is fun why not send a few down range to check!

[kimwcook]

Always check my firearms before going hunting, be they scoped or irons. Cheap insurance that it wil go bang, is still sighted in and practice. Murphy is alive and well.

[76/444]

One of my rifles, I haven't sighted in ,.... for years!And it is always on. But, then again, I guess just shooting it is checking it, so I guess I should say I have never had to adjust it in yeras, instead! Others are pretty good about staying in, some it is more a problem with ring screws. I don't like lock-tight. But, overall, if I don't abuse them, they stay in consistently.

Contrary to many others,... I feel excessive shooting to be over-rated, unnecessary and detrimental to my weapon. When I am just MAINTAINING familiarity with a piece, 3 or 6 rounds once a month does it for me. If,... I,... am sighted in. Maybe a dozen or so if it feels like it just needs some more.

Now, playing around!!!! Different story,... and 50 to 100 rounds is common.

[WCF3030]

I don't check my zero on my 30-30 before deer season. I don't do any thing different berfore the season starts. This is because I never stop shooting my rifle. I use the same load: Lyman 173gr, with WW, lube and gas check it is 187gr, 28.5 gr of H-335 and a LP primer. I average 25-50 rounds a week with open sights and scout scope most from the Jack a-- seated position from 25yds to 150yds.

[texasguy]

I think it's a good idea to check it also. I shot at a deer once a couple years ago, and missed. It was an easy shot. I decided not to shoot again until I checked the zero. It was about 5 or 6 " higher than I expected. I then remembered that I had been shooting a different load for practice and hadn't rezeroed for my hunting load. I don't use different loads in that gun now, it's a dedicated hunting rifle unless I get some duplicate loads made up to practice with. Also had a ring mounting screw break on another rifle. That changed the zero by a foot or more in elevation @ about 40 yards.. I should have noticed it by looking, but at least if I had shot it before taking it hunting, I would have figured out something was wrong.

I noticed a friends rifle was missing a ring mounting screw. This was as were on the way to hunt. I had a spare rifle that he used to hunt with.

I've noticed the elevation lock nut loose on a receiver sight a couple times, but the zero didnt seem to have changed. I have had the slide in receiver sights get bent down from banging into something and change elevation.

This is exactly what happened to me. I missed an easy shot because I left my elevator on a setting for .38's and not the .357 Buffalo Bore hunting rounds I was using. This will not happen again.

[Nath]

I tend to take the oppurtunity if I see a handy target on the way out to just check or will intentionally pack a card target just in case I get chance to shoot a few rounds say somewhere out of the way.
I also have a cork board like the ones you pin letters to etc that sometimes stays in the car for this very purpose.

I do know of hunters whome sometimes come back from a long trip empty handed and then comfirm their rifle is off!

Nath.

[KirkD]

You never know when Murphy's law is going to strike. I'd definitely check the zero. If it is too far to the range, check it once you arrive in camp. Most deer don't seem to be bothered by a few rifle shots fired in camp to check the zeros, and by the time you get to hunting, they will have forgotten about them anyway.

[Blaine]

I've had the zero on my 39 Mountie change a couple times...I have the D5 on it and cannot figger out why it's loosey goosey.....On the other hand, my 1895GS was sighted in 10 years ago, on Leupold QRWs, and has not moved all that time in spite of the scope being off and on the rlfle mucho times, but yes, I check it every year.

[jerry b]

Any wood stocked rifle will have a good chance of zero wandering over the year as the wood shrinks, swells, etc. Plastic stocked rifles get knocked around, even if mostly sitting in the safe as you move things about.

You would not only want to check zero before taking a rifle out to hunt, you'd want to do this several times a year when you practice. Few around here ever practice. Many of the few shoot only from a bench when they do "practice".

I don't quite understand all of that mentality.

[jnyork]

It depends on your definition of "sighted in". My club hosts a public sight-in day every fall at our range, and it is a zoo, I can assure you. Quite a few of the nimrods are perfectly satisfied to call their rifle "sighted in" if they can hit a pie plate off the bench at 100 yards three out of five shots. I do not exagerate. Anyway, if this is good enough for you, then sure your rifle will likely stay "sighted in" from year to year without much attention.

If, however, you enjoy being able to hit EXACTLY where you are aiming to a standard of +/- an inch at 100 yards, then you will be well served to go out and take some shots and make SURE it is still "sighted in".

JMHO, flame suit on.

[SteveR]

I have a bore sighter and works great for quick checking. If its off then I bring it to the range to check. I load up new handloads and shoot them prior to season opening.



Steve

[Bigahh]

I think it would drive me absolutely Bananas if I didn't know exactly where I was hitting before I went hunting. It's a piece of mind thing for me.