Article Summary: Sighting in your rifle is not just a matter of going to the shooting range and having a little fun. Truly sighting in your rifle takes time, patience, intelligence, and most of all a plan. It is worth the effort so the next time you have that buck of a lifetime in your sights everything will go perfectly!
Article Body: It’s a cool, crisp morning and you are sitting on your favorite ridge amongst three large rocks that keep you hidden from critters walking up the draws on both sides. What could be better, you walked in quietly about an hour before sun up and now that sun his seeping warmth onto your shoulders as you begin to see the deer making their trek back to their bedding areas after a good night of feeding in the corn fields at the bottom of your ridge. You’ve diligently taken the time to figure out the shots you might be presented with and ranged them all with your rangefinder. You’ve planned these shots since last season and now all you need is a nice buck to cooperate and you’ll finish it the way you always have in all of your daydreams.

With the perfect hunt still in your mind, there he is! The beautiful 6x6 whitetail that you saw last year as a 4x4, and he’s strolling directly into your shooting lanes. The gun is ready, the mind is willing, you are all set up and he’s walking broadside at 100 yards. The cross-hairs are placed directly on his front shoulder and this is the moment of truth. A slight whistle, not enough to scare him but enough to get him to stop, which he did. A long slow breath and you squeeze the trigger. Bang!!!!! Did he go down? No….he’s running full speed up the draw and out of sight. How did that happen? Everything was perfect but somehow after all of your careful planning you shot low. You grab your trusty rangefinder and check the distance again, that was right. With the idea in your mind that you couldn’t have possibly missed you slide down the ridge to search for a blood trail only to not find one. Thinking to yourself the entire time about the opportunity you’ve been dreaming of and what could have possibly made it go wrong.

Wow….does this conjure up nightmares for any hunter’s out there reading this. It sure does me, of course it is my story, or was as the case may be. But to this day I still haven’t figured out how I missed him. But I do have a few ideas. The one that I’m going to blame it on is sighting in my rifle. I had just bought the rifle the previous year after the season was over and had an expensive scope put on it that would allow me to count the flies on a deer’s back at 200 yards. When I had bought it, winter had set in with its normal brutality so I wasn’t able to make it to the shooting range until June to play with my new toy. Once there I started shooting without a real idea of what I was doing other than trying to hit the target. I shot my new gun close to 30 times that day because man, it felt good to shoot the new gun and see how it ripped that plywood to shreds. I only wished I was ripping the target to shreds as well. I made adjustment after adjustment and by the time I got done I had about 15 holes in my target that was a 14”x 14” square so I figured I was doing pretty well.

I knew I needed to go back and shoot some more but I needed more ammo anyway so I called it a day. Two days later I went to buy more shells and since the first two boxes had cost me 80 bucks I went for the discount shells since I was only going to target practice anyway. The next weekend I returned to the range and went through the same ordeal of adjusting my scope only to find I was having the same results. Unfortunately, that was the last chance I got to make it to the range before hunting season. But hey, a deer is a good size target I should be able to hit one if I see it. It wasn’t until after my hunting misadventure that I figured out what had went wrong.

First….sighting in a rifle isn’t supposed to be fun. It’s a process that takes thought, time, and most of all patience. You can’t go out and shoot a high powered rifle over and over and expect it to become accurate. There are variables that need to be considered. The barrel gets hot; this will change the trajectory of every bullet you shoot. The barrel gets dirty, same result. So on and so forth.

The correct way goes something like this. Get a shooting sled to make sure that the gun is in the same position for every shot. Mark the sled on the table so if it moves you can put it back. Always buy the same type of bullets or if you use reloads make sure they are the same. A bullet is not a bullet regardless of what the box says! Shoot your gun 3 times at the same target, aiming the same way every time before making any adjustments. Clean your gun after the 3 shots and then make adjustments, allowing the gun barrel to cool before lining up for the next 3 shots. Don’t over adjust your scope. If you adjust after every shot you don’t develop a pattern and that is what you’re trying to accomplish. Weather is another factor that most people don’t consider, but if you hunt in an area that is predominantly cold during the winter your gun will shoot different than in the summer. A rule of thumb is for every 25 degrees in temperature drop, your bullet can drop up to as much as 1 inch for every hundred yards. I’m not the most technical guy but I do know that it drops exponentially more after that.

You will find that if you try this your sighting in adventure will be easier and provide the accuracy you are looking for when that special moment arrives. Until then shoot straight and good luck.

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About the Author: Bob Darrah, hunting and outdoors enthusiast. For more information on the hunting equipment mentioned in this article visit our website at www.huntingforoptics.com
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