westernrover
Member
- Joined
- May 4, 2018
- Messages
- 1,613
I just started shooting with a rifle. The last time I shot one was 25 years ago and I didn't shoot much then. I got a bolt-action rifle, put a 5x scope I had on it, and went to sight it in. I held it on tripod, not clamped, just resting, bore-sighted it at 50 yards, adjusted the reticle and took a shot. I adjusted it again and took a shot at 100 yards. I shot a little group of three that was a little more than an inch. So I moved the target out to 200 yards. I hadn't calculated the drop, but I just held about 5 inches high. My group was about 5 inches lower still. I figure it was because my 100 yard zero wasn't quite on yet.
I had a real hard time keeping the reticle steady on the target using the tripod. I get a steady rocking like a pendulum that's a little over 1 MOA across. I think it's my pulse. I know to let half my breath out and hold it, but I can't stop that ticker. I think it's mostly coming through the shoulder. I can shoot left or right-handed, but it's about the same. The only way I found to get it to stop was to shoot prone with the rifle on a soft bag. That seemed to dampen the movement where the tripod wouldn't.
On the bag, I was able to make a 5 shot group at 200 yards that was about 5 inches tall and about an inch and a half wide. That was the last of my 20 shots.
At home, I was experimenting with the tripod. It has a plastic V rest on top. When I was shooting I was placing the forestock on the V just in front of my support hand. Is it better to support the barrel near the muzzle? Either way, it seems like the V rest won't dampen the movement my body is imparting to the rifle. Advice?
This is not a bench-rest rifle. It's just a regular hunting rifle. My goal is hunting. Deer, predators, that kind of thing. Shooting off-hand, I can only hold within about 4 MOA. Kneeling or with the tripod is about the same, maybe 3 kneeling and 2.5 on the tripod. It was only on the bag, prone that I could hold less than 1 MOA. To be clear, I'm talking about just holding here, not counting how far off I go once I start to pull the trigger.
I had a real hard time keeping the reticle steady on the target using the tripod. I get a steady rocking like a pendulum that's a little over 1 MOA across. I think it's my pulse. I know to let half my breath out and hold it, but I can't stop that ticker. I think it's mostly coming through the shoulder. I can shoot left or right-handed, but it's about the same. The only way I found to get it to stop was to shoot prone with the rifle on a soft bag. That seemed to dampen the movement where the tripod wouldn't.
On the bag, I was able to make a 5 shot group at 200 yards that was about 5 inches tall and about an inch and a half wide. That was the last of my 20 shots.
At home, I was experimenting with the tripod. It has a plastic V rest on top. When I was shooting I was placing the forestock on the V just in front of my support hand. Is it better to support the barrel near the muzzle? Either way, it seems like the V rest won't dampen the movement my body is imparting to the rifle. Advice?
This is not a bench-rest rifle. It's just a regular hunting rifle. My goal is hunting. Deer, predators, that kind of thing. Shooting off-hand, I can only hold within about 4 MOA. Kneeling or with the tripod is about the same, maybe 3 kneeling and 2.5 on the tripod. It was only on the bag, prone that I could hold less than 1 MOA. To be clear, I'm talking about just holding here, not counting how far off I go once I start to pull the trigger.