Greybeard
Member
A little trivia here for others also possibly seeking "the perfect zero" before hunting season ...
At the last Market Hall gun show, a vendor at a table adjacent to ours had what appeared to be a rather old book entitled "Position Rifle Shooting" by Bill Pullam and Frank T. Hanenkrat. I gave them the requested $5 for it after reading the cover description of "A detailed analysis of rifle shooting psychology and technique, as applied to learning and coaching on every level of marksmanship skill from basic fundamentals to Olympic competition." After noting the publication date of 1973, I began reading the thing off and on as time allowed.
With an elk hunt approaching shortly, my brother and I made a run yesterday afternoon down to a private range to check the zero on our '06s. In thinking back on it, the last time mine was even fired was 2 years ago and I had it sighted in about 1.75" high at 100 yards to supposedly be dead on at 200 yards. My intent yesterday was primarily just to see where the Remington 700's grouped with the Hornady Light Magnums with the 165 grain "Interlock" (plastic tip) bullets as opposed to the 165 grain "Interbond" (lead tip) bullets used on a simlar trip 2 years ago. Hornady ballistics table and the chronoed 2960 fps out of my 06 says it needs to be 1.5" high at 100 yards to be dead nuts at 200, 7" down at 300 and 20" down at 400.
The bad news of the day was the wind. It was blowing a good 15 to 20 mph with gusts of maybe 25. There were convenient target stands out to 300 yards but we decided to just shoot at 100 yards to reduce some of the effect of the winds coming from right to left at approximately 45 degrees. There was a shooting bench and we improvised further support as best we could with a backback and a bag of kitty litter. The center of my first 3 shot group with the old "Interbond" ammo (that the gun was sighted in with 1.75" high 2 years ago) was at 10:00, about 4" high and 4" left.
I made a couple of "SWAG" adjustments to the scope and fired one of the new "Interlock" bullets. Centered about 1.5" high, slightly right Fired another. Holes almost touching. Fired another. Centerline of target 1.5" high, just slightly left of the others. Tweaked the scope 2 clicks to the left and figured a real good place to quit under the conditions, maybe try again on calm day. If no opportunity to do so, we departed, feeling confident on being zeroed for the vital area of an elk out to at least 200 yards.
Coincidently, when I settled into reading the "Position Rifle Shooting" book again last night, quotes from pages 150 and 151 jumped out at me:
"Shot groups fired in heavy, varying wind conditions usually have a marked tendency to spread out on a line drawn across the bull from ten o'clock to four o'clock. This is easily understood if one recognizes that the right-hand spin of the bullet, in conjunction with a wind from the right, creates a vacuum in the ten o'clock area of the axis of the bullet, and the bullet tends to move into the vacuum. Similarly, a wind from the left causes a vacuum in the four o'clock area.
The simplest way to remember how to make vertical changes for wind differences is this: increases in wind velocity increase the vertical ten-to-four o'clock spread; decreases in wind velocity decreases the vertical spread. Thus, if you click right to accommodate an increased wind from the right, you will probably need to also click down, because the increased wind velocity has increased the tendancy of of the bullet to rise toward ten o'clock. But if you click right to accommodate for a decreased wind from the left, you will probably need to click up, or the decreased wind velocity has decreased the bullet's tendency to move down toward four o'clock.
The characteristics of each gun and sight system are different, but as a general rule, three clicks of windage adjustment require one click of elevation adjustment in order to obtain a zero sight setting."
After finishing the book, I spent a few minutes on another favorite forum. I forget who it belongs to and probably should give credit, but I certainly could appreciate a member's sig line that may very well be applicable to my scope "tweaking" yesterday: "If it ain't broke, fix it until it is."
At the last Market Hall gun show, a vendor at a table adjacent to ours had what appeared to be a rather old book entitled "Position Rifle Shooting" by Bill Pullam and Frank T. Hanenkrat. I gave them the requested $5 for it after reading the cover description of "A detailed analysis of rifle shooting psychology and technique, as applied to learning and coaching on every level of marksmanship skill from basic fundamentals to Olympic competition." After noting the publication date of 1973, I began reading the thing off and on as time allowed.
With an elk hunt approaching shortly, my brother and I made a run yesterday afternoon down to a private range to check the zero on our '06s. In thinking back on it, the last time mine was even fired was 2 years ago and I had it sighted in about 1.75" high at 100 yards to supposedly be dead on at 200 yards. My intent yesterday was primarily just to see where the Remington 700's grouped with the Hornady Light Magnums with the 165 grain "Interlock" (plastic tip) bullets as opposed to the 165 grain "Interbond" (lead tip) bullets used on a simlar trip 2 years ago. Hornady ballistics table and the chronoed 2960 fps out of my 06 says it needs to be 1.5" high at 100 yards to be dead nuts at 200, 7" down at 300 and 20" down at 400.
The bad news of the day was the wind. It was blowing a good 15 to 20 mph with gusts of maybe 25. There were convenient target stands out to 300 yards but we decided to just shoot at 100 yards to reduce some of the effect of the winds coming from right to left at approximately 45 degrees. There was a shooting bench and we improvised further support as best we could with a backback and a bag of kitty litter. The center of my first 3 shot group with the old "Interbond" ammo (that the gun was sighted in with 1.75" high 2 years ago) was at 10:00, about 4" high and 4" left.
I made a couple of "SWAG" adjustments to the scope and fired one of the new "Interlock" bullets. Centered about 1.5" high, slightly right Fired another. Holes almost touching. Fired another. Centerline of target 1.5" high, just slightly left of the others. Tweaked the scope 2 clicks to the left and figured a real good place to quit under the conditions, maybe try again on calm day. If no opportunity to do so, we departed, feeling confident on being zeroed for the vital area of an elk out to at least 200 yards.
Coincidently, when I settled into reading the "Position Rifle Shooting" book again last night, quotes from pages 150 and 151 jumped out at me:
"Shot groups fired in heavy, varying wind conditions usually have a marked tendency to spread out on a line drawn across the bull from ten o'clock to four o'clock. This is easily understood if one recognizes that the right-hand spin of the bullet, in conjunction with a wind from the right, creates a vacuum in the ten o'clock area of the axis of the bullet, and the bullet tends to move into the vacuum. Similarly, a wind from the left causes a vacuum in the four o'clock area.
The simplest way to remember how to make vertical changes for wind differences is this: increases in wind velocity increase the vertical ten-to-four o'clock spread; decreases in wind velocity decreases the vertical spread. Thus, if you click right to accommodate an increased wind from the right, you will probably need to also click down, because the increased wind velocity has increased the tendancy of of the bullet to rise toward ten o'clock. But if you click right to accommodate for a decreased wind from the left, you will probably need to click up, or the decreased wind velocity has decreased the bullet's tendency to move down toward four o'clock.
The characteristics of each gun and sight system are different, but as a general rule, three clicks of windage adjustment require one click of elevation adjustment in order to obtain a zero sight setting."
After finishing the book, I spent a few minutes on another favorite forum. I forget who it belongs to and probably should give credit, but I certainly could appreciate a member's sig line that may very well be applicable to my scope "tweaking" yesterday: "If it ain't broke, fix it until it is."
