The rabbit hole of precision shooting continues . . .
Today was the final zero on the Ruger Precision 22LR. I have right at 200 rounds through it, things
have remained stable, so I did an initial cold bore shot (about 2 inches high)
followed by 4 more rounds on the first target. As you can see by the photo it was a fairly
open group. I followed with another 5
rounds on target 2. The group dropped to
around ½”. I adjusted down ¾ MOA and
shot two more 5-round groups that held ½” within the center of each target.
Bottom line, I think this particular rifle is “dialed in”
as well as I know how to do it. From
this point on, the accuracy and precision falls squarely on my shoulders and my
precision shooting ability. And that, in
deed, is the purpose of range trips going forward with this particular rifle. It revolves around all the fundamentals –
mounting the rifle to my shoulder, use of a rear shooting bag, use of a bipod,
clearly placing the scope reticle on the target, working on my grip and making
sure it doesn’t affect the POA, working on placing my cheek on the comb and
again making sure it doesn’t affect the POA, placing my finger on the trigger,
a smooth trigger press straight to the rear and running the bolt smoothly so as
to not greatly affect the sight picture.
It’s always the “details” . . . the small things that make the
difference in your final result.
Past that, how do you evaluate that “final result” . . .
your ability to shoot accurately and precisely. For the zeroing process that this range trip began
with, a traditional bullseye styled target served sell. But, past that, there is a broad range of
different types of targets available – from steel to paper. Today I ran across a simple 23 round test of accuracy
and precision that is contained on a single 8 ½ by 11 sheet of paper.
The very first dot is a “cold bore” shot. Virtually every rifle’s POI will change as a
barrel heats up. It’s important that
you, the shooter, know how your specific rifle shoots for its cold bore
shot. One thing I noticed here is that
it’s first 5 rounds are much more scattered that I would really expect. That said, after that it settles right
down. Once I completed its final zero I
moved on to the above precision shooting target. It’s designed to be used at 100 yards but
with the RP22LR, I used our 50-yard range.
The cold bore shot was followed by 10 dots, I shot all 10 strong
side. Next was a 3 round headshot and
then two boxes, 3 rounds each. Final, 3
hostage shots. I dropped 4 of the 23 for
an 83%. I’ll take it for a first
pass.
So what should your targets help you with? I believe they should be appropriate to what
you are working on. For me, I view my
long guns as part of my defensive capabilities.
This new target fills a broad range of “squares” – from allowing me to
see how my rifle acts for its cold bore shot, how accurately I can hit my
target, how well I can execute a head shot, how accurately I can engage a
target quickly and finally, how I can execute a hostage shot. All in all, this target does a pretty good
job of allowing me to evaluate a fairly broad range of skills.
In under all of this is also the value of simply spending
time on the range with one of my firearms.
To be able to “run the gun”, time on the range is a must. I’ve said this a number of times but let me
repeat it one more time. For those
firearms you intend to depend on to defend yourself and your family – from carry
gun to “patrol rifle” to precision rifle – buy 1,000 rounds for each in January
and then spend 100 rounds every month to keep up your skill set. This would be between 3-4 hours per month
working with your firearms. That’s
enough to maintain a skillset. I view it
as a minimum.
Bottom line . . . grab your gun, hit the range, have fun
and learn something!