Sight in crowd at the range

Unless its a new gun, or new optic, etc, why are you sighting it in...again? Never understood that.

Unless I might change an optic or switch to a dramatically different load, I sight the gun in once, and that's it.

Those who shoot all year round "in practice" generally don't need to "sight in"... again.

I shoot all year 'round, in competition and practice, and I sight in - rezero - my rifles before every match, and sometimes at the beginning of each DAY of a multi-day match (or end of previous day, depending on rulesets).
 
Unless its a new gun, or new optic, etc, why are you sighting it in...again? Never understood that.

Unless I might change an optic or switch to a dramatically different load, I sight the gun in once, and that's it.

Those who shoot all year round "in practice" generally don't need to "sight in"... again.

three years ago my Father In-law missed on a nice eight point Buck opening morning.
He was certain he must have hit that deer and we spent two days looking for any sign that it was.
We asked him if he had sighted in the rifle before hunting with it, and his reply was, “I didn’t need to it was spot on when I put it away last season”.
The afternoon of the day after, after we exhausted our search for the Buck, we took it to the range and it was off by a yard at 100 yards.
I always Sight in before the season. I feel that I at least owe it to the animal.
 
I worked a shift today as a RSO at my local range. I like working during site in season as it is not just a steady stream of AR's and people with 9mm's blasting away. Anyway, today's cartridges of choice were pretty equally split between 30-06 and 270 Win, with two 300 Win Mags and two 7mm/08 (both Tikka's, BTW). Usually it is a lot of 6.5 Creedmore and 7mmPRC.

I continue to be surprised at the number of folks that just blast away from the bench and never fire a shot standing, sitting or prone.
Sight in days are just that, not learn to shoot days.
But I certainly understand where you're coming from.
 
three years ago my Father In-law missed on a nice eight point Buck opening morning.
He was certain he must have hit that deer and we spent two days looking for any sign that it was.
We asked him if he had sighted in the rifle before hunting with it, and his reply was, “I didn’t need to it was spot on when I put it away last season”.
The afternoon of the day after, after we exhausted our search for the Buck, we took it to the range and it was off by a yard at 100 yards.
I always Sight in before the season. I feel that I at least owe it to the animal.
If this hadn't happened to my wife when she fell on her rifle carrying it on the sling.
When I test fired there was no way I could dial it back so in loosening the rings the rifle basically jumped back into alignment, it was SO twisted from that fall! I tightened the rings and it took just a couple clicks to zero.
The rifle is a Modle 77 Ultralight Ruger.
 
People who shoot at and hunt people - military and LEO’s - usually “familiarize” with their weapons twice a year. Soooooo - for a deer hunter to familiarize with their deer firearm once a year - sounds about right to me. Others that boast more range time, you are applauded - you are hunting one of the dumbest animals on the planet - you do not need sniper skills to take possession of a deer - the most difficult part of deer hunting is getting the animal to walk in front of you.

This will get me lots of hate mail at some point, but quite frankly I don't judge most "professionals" who tote firearms as being anything close to expert examples of gun handling and marksmanship. And I say this after having a local police department firearms instructor point my shooting out to some of his remedial students and tell them "If somebody like him is on the other end of the gunfight, it's going to be a very bad day."

We're still a few weeks away from "sight-in season" here in New Hampshire, but I know it's coming. Luckily I've been keeping up regular range visits all summer. And as for believing a rifle might need to be rezeroed after sitting, I do have a pretty, full-length stock CZ in .223 Remington that does seem to have a tendency to want to shoot to different elevations depending on the relative humidity. So yes, it's worth checking things out from time to time just to be sure.
 
When I'm sighting in a rifle, I'm not practicing. I'm trying to get that rifle and ammo dialed in so that if I miss, it's my fault, not the rifle, scope or ammo. Also, here in East Tennessee, one is lucky to get a shot over 100 yards. Not much practice is needed for short range shots. I'm sure it's probably very different in Idaho.
That pretty much sums up deer hunting throughout the South.
I worked a shift today as a RSO at my local range. I like working during site in season as it is not just a steady stream of AR's and people with 9mm's blasting away. Anyway, today's cartridges of choice were pretty equally split between 30-06 and 270 Win, with two 300 Win Mags and two 7mm/08 (both Tikka's, BTW). Usually it is a lot of 6.5 Creedmore and 7mmPRC.

I continue to be surprised at the number of folks that just blast away from the bench and never fire a shot standing, sitting or prone.
Just curious. When it comes to the more “traditional style “, bolt action hunting guns, have you noticed any sort of preponderance of a certain brand(s)?
 
That pretty much sums up deer hunting throughout the South.

Just curious. When it comes to the more “traditional style “, bolt action hunting guns, have you noticed any sort of preponderance of a certain brand(s)?
Not really. The last session I worked there were two Weatherby Vanguards, one Savage 110, one pre 64 Mod 70 and one push feed M70, one stainless Rem 700, one Begara and three Tikka T3's that I recall. So a good mix of brands this time. Mostly traditional cartridges as well, like 7mm-08, 270 WIn and 30-06. Sometimes there are a lot more of the newer released cartridges like the various Creedmore and PRC rounds.

The older rifles tend to have smaller scopes with turrets caps, the newer brands have bigger scopes with exposed turrets, as you would expect.
 
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Still beats the folks that don't worry about it because they did that last year or was that the year before last...

I don't always make adjustments but I do confirm my zero ahead of a hunt.
Same here. Since I shoot all year round with my rifles with various loads, when I decide what rifle/ammo combo I am going to use for the hunting season, I go out and check the zero off the bench. Then I will take the rifles along on my range trips and put 5-10 rounds through in two or three shot groups, shooting from various field positions each time I go. The last range trip before a hunt, I will check the zero one more time and leave the barrel fouled.
 
But I wish I had convenient access to feral pigs

I wouldn't mind it either but feral hogs aren't tough enough to live here. Lack of water sources, food supply, and shade means no hogs. There are rumors of a few southwest of Maljamar where there is a small man made lake but it is in the sand dunes under the caprock and the food source isn't there so I doubt there are. I have seen tracks in the mud but suspect they are mule deer tracks because mule deer are fairly plentiful and their food is different. On the other hand from stories I have heard and read about how destructive wild hogs are I am kind of glad we don't have to deal with them. Having been a hog farmer while taking Ag classes in high school I know just how destructive a boar or sow can be.

In my lifetime I have had exactly two stocks warp enough to move the rifle's impact point and both were 22 rimfire. I have also had one scope go bad between range trips. It was good when I put in it''s case and junk when I took it out the next time. I use well padded cases and am careful how I handle my rifles when transporting them. There are always gremlins waiting around to cause you problems and in this case it was a scope.
 
As it happens, I was at the rifle range this morning, sighting in a shotgun (ghost ring sights) with slugs. I sat down at the bench, loaded up a single round, torched it off, said something unpleasant while waiting for my corneas to re-attach, and decided to do my sighting-in from kneeling. A bit later, the rangemaster came around, patted me on the back, and congratulated me for being the serious sort of fellow who does his practice from field positions.

For whatever that's worth. 😅
I feel your pain. Back when I took my 40-hour rangemaster school we had an entire 8-hour day shooting 12 gauge shotguns. Before lunch we had several courses each standing, kneeling and prone, firing 870’s with two full power 00 buckshot followed in the magazine by two full power 1oz slugs. The prone shooting alone made for an afternoon of misery, even low base birdshot felt like a punch while we were shooting again after lunch. 😞

Stay safe.
 
Don't miss them days at all, being very fortunate to have a home range. I don't do alot of centerfire rifle during the yr, but they'll be out shortly. 3 shots to check zero, the rest of the case for practice. I hunt from box blinds or just a portable chair on the ground, so I practice from the chair.
 
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I have never seen a C-Pap hooked to a rifle before? ! !
AND it don't look that OLD 🤔

It's the low budget Amazon barrel cooler special, works like a charm..


Just used it this am zeroing a couple rifles for hunting loads.
 
I used to help out at our range on "sight in" weekend. I didn't really care if the shooters used a rest on the bench or shot from one of the other positions. Except if it was a new rifle or scope. Then I encouraged use of the bench and even brought my own rest and bags to loan out. And yeah, we encountered a few that needed watching! Mostly it was a fun weekend! That weekend was also a windfall for brass if you were a reloader!
 
I used to help out at our range on "sight in" weekend. I didn't really care if the shooters used a rest on the bench or shot from one of the other positions. Except if it was a new rifle or scope. Then I encouraged use of the bench and even brought my own rest and bags to loan out. And yeah, we encountered a few that needed watching! Mostly it was a fun weekend! That weekend was also a windfall for brass if you were a reloader!
Yes, we haul buckets of brass to the recycler. Lots of once fired cases. And a mountain of 9mm and 223 rem cases.
 
Still beats the folks that don't worry about it because they did that last year or was that the year before last...

I don't always make adjustments but I do confirm my zero ahead of a hunt.
Yeah I have problems standing for any length of time so all of my shooting is from the bench.
 
Prior to becoming a hunter, I mistakenly have shown up to plink at the local club the weekend before deer season. I figured the really good (thinking ahead) hunters sighted-in 2 or 3 weeks earlier and that these were all the last minute folks. It was cool seeing parents working with kids in getting ready. It was cool seeing the variety of guns/optics being sighted-in. Every bench was full and people were waiting. Nobody likes waiting, so there is a lot of story swapping and good-natured banter between how much quicker some got zeroed or who had the best group sizes.

After seeing some of the folks shoot, I started to feel sorry for the deer. One guy was using a 9" paper plate at 50 yards...because that is "the size of a kill zone on a deer" he told me. With a scoped bolt gun, he scattered 5 of 7 or 7 or 9 rounds on target. He showed me the target and said, "That'll hunt." He said he was leaving that day to go fill his feeder (being the weekend before deer season started). I asked how far his feeder was from the stand. He said it was 80 yards.:eek:
 
I see all sorts of firearms when I go to the CMP range, which is now my regular spot for target and sighting. First time I went to the 100 yard zero range the person next to me was sighting in a Krag rifle. A few lanes to my right was a couple guys taking their WWII milsurps out to play. One was an Arisaka of some type and the other was a K98. I felt in the right era of firearms getting used to my bubbad M1917 Einfield. I still see the AR and 9mm crowd keeping their defensive weapons in good shape. But year round, I see some interesting rifles on the sight in range. And of course, Garands fresh from the store on the hill.
 
I used to help out at our range on "sight in" weekend. I didn't really care if the shooters used a rest on the bench or shot from one of the other positions. Except if it was a new rifle or scope. Then I encouraged use of the bench and even brought my own rest and bags to loan out. And yeah, we encountered a few that needed watching! Mostly it was a fun weekend! That weekend was also a windfall for brass if you were a reloader!
That reminds me to keep an eye out for some 30-30 and 308 brass for the next few weeks. All my 30-30 is twice fired: factory+1, loaded by me. Not too big a deal since I rarely shoot full power loads, but worth tracking.
 
One thing I do is get to deer camp early and take one cold bore shot at 100 just to verify zero. I shoot year round but I don't spend a lot time burning my hunting rifle barrels...
 
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