Tips & Tricks
Just Because they say your scope is 1/4 MOA doesn’t mean it is.
Do you know what its like to put the cross hairs where they’re supposed to be and not have the bullet go there? I do it’s extremely frustrating. I was using Sierra I-5 ballistic software and time and time again I checked to make sure everything was right. I was ok to about 400yds but from there on I kept on getting further and further away. I thought ok my muzzle velocity must not be right, but it was. Then I thought maybe the atmospheric data was wrong, but it was also right. I even changed my zero to try to make it line up but that didn’t work either. Even when I broke my flight path into different velocity regions and changed the BC (ballistic coefficient) value in each region, trust me that was a headache and still not even close. You see my scope is 1/8 MOA, which is a 1/8 inch at 100yds, or so they say. So what I did is I put a target up at 100yds and dialed my scope 40 MOA witch should be 40 inches at 100yds. But when I did I actually got 26 inches. Now divide 26 inches by the number of clicks it took and that gives you your actual click value witch in this case it turned out to be .0875 instead of .125 (1/8) MOA. Now some ballistic software allows you to change your click value to the correct amount, some don’t. Sierra I-5 does not. So I changed my software to another type and presto never had a problem since and the manufacturer of my scope was kind enough to calibrate my scope to the correct amount.
WIND
Ok let’s talk about estimating wind!
In a perfect world the wind at shooter, mid range and at target would come from the same direction with the same speed but anyone that has ever talked to HP customer service knows that we are far from a perfect world. So we have to be able to estimate wind in all three wind scenarios. Ideally you would have some sort of a digital wind speed indicator at the shooting position, if not, the tools for estimating wind at your position are the same you would use for the estimation at your target. The following wind speed, that I will refer to, will be wind gust and/or the max wind felt or seen. When you feel wind on your face it is about a 3 to 5 MPH wind speed, when leaves and small bushes start to move the wind speed is about 5 to 8 MPH and when wind speed is about 8 to 12 MPH the branches on small trees will start to move. Now wind speed mid range is a little more difficult. To do this I prefer to use a spotting scope 20x-30x power but binoculars that are also 20x-30x power (no more than 30x power) will do the trick now what I do is adjust the focus until I see a mirage, such as heat coming off a road, you will use this to determine the mid range wind. Picture smoke rising, when the wind blows the smoke will start to lie down, the mirage will do the same thing. At 60 degrees there will be about a 1-3 MPH cross wind, at 45 degrees there will be a 4 to 7 MPH cross wind and when the mirage is perfectly horizontal there will be an 8 to 12 MPH cross wind. This is not perfect science and with a little practice you should become fairly accurate when estimating wind speed. Becoming skilled at this will separate the men from the boys!
Trigger control
If you are having trouble with your trigger control I have an easy trick to help you.
First off you need a snap cap so you don’t break your firing pin. You can use a
spent shell, BUT ONLY ONCE OR TWICE. Now balance a dime horizontally on the tip of your barrel and dry fire. If you move or shake at all, the dime will fall off. If you practice this, it won’t take long and you will have excellent trigger control. And remember that you need to let the gun surprise you when you fire, and not know when the gun will go off.
Mil-Dots
If you are a long range hunter you know that you don’t always have time to dial your scope for the shot. So here is a trick that can help, as a quick reverence to use mil-dot hold over.
scope lens cover
One mil-dot equals 3.6 MOA, so it is really easy to figure out your drop and put it inside your lens cover. You can also if you wish put in your wind drift as well.
The Sweat Spot
One thing about long range shooting as it relates to hunting is when you shoot the game that you are after you want it to go down. If you shoot behind the shoulder you will kill the game but it may not go down right away. Now if you shoot a deer at 1,000 or 1,200yds you don’t want to go over there and then have to find it. So here is my tip. The place you want to shoot the game if you want it to go down is high in the shoulder. When you do that the game doesn’t have the ability to stand on its front legs and will fall right on its face. Make sure that you keep in mind that when the game is quartering away that you shoot for the back shoulder. Even when you aim for the shoulder you still hit the vitals and the game is usually dead by the time you get there.
Reloading Tips
Whether or not you have reloaded in the past or it is something that you would like to do, it is important to do things as consistently as possible, when you do things consistently, accuracy is automatically the result. Now I have seen and herd of many people that when putting in there powder, they often just use the through to measure there powder. Often never measuring there powder charge more than every five rounds or so. I tried to see how accurately you can measure your powder in this sense. What I found is that about every six or so, you get a drastically deferent amount of powder. Now for the average hunter this may not be a concern, but when it applies to shooting long distance, that is not acceptable. The way I figure it is that there is more than enough that can affect my bullet after it leaves the barrel and I should do my part in reducing everything that is in my control. Even though it takes a bit longer, I prefer to measure and weigh every round that I reload. Giving me the most consistency, that I can produce in measuring my powder for my reloads.