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broadhead

Sight In Question - Help Needed

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About a month ago I got back into rifle hunting and in doing so got a new rifle and scope. I just finished my first 50 rounds through the barrel following the manufacturer's break in procedures, and while doing that have been working on getting the rifle zeroed at 100 yards. Two weekends ago I was about 1" right so after shooting I made the necessary adjustments and went back to the range the next weekend to pick up where I left off, thinking I should be pretty close to dead on but this time after shooting again I was about 1 - 1 1/4" off to the left. So thinking I wasn't paying attention when I adjusted I made the necessary clicks to put it back to what should have been dead on. Yesterday I went back again expecting to be all in the center circle but this time I was almost exactly 1" right again. The good news is the groups are excellent now - almost 1/3" 4 shot group  - but the bad news obviously is that while the shot groups are excellent the point of impact of the groups is not. I did the obvious checks and the windage adjustments are 1/4"/100 yards. The rings are tight and my trigger squeeze was good. Wind effect was negligible at best.

The one thing that I immediately suspect is that because I need to keep my cheek off the stock a little bit to get a full sight picture I might be inconsistent with how my eye is lining up in the scope but I didn't think with a high end scope that should be an issue. The bullet should go where the cross hairs lie, no? Maybe I'm wrong. Based on everything the most likely culprit is shooter's error - but what is the error? I'm thinking about adding a cheek riser to help with that issue and I should make sure I'm lining my body up square with the rifle as opposed to leaning over it, which I may have been doing yesterday. I'm not experienced enough with rifle shooting to recognize what's going on so if anyone can help me out I would greatly appreciate it. At this point I plan to go back to the range and keep shooting 3 shot groups to see what happens but anything insight would be great. Thanks!

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9 minutes ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

If you are not making contact with your cheek, that is 100% the culprit.

Well I'm able to make contact with my cheek to stock but I'm not able to relax my cheek on the stock. Regardless it seems like that is where I'm lacking consistency and causing the issue isn't it?

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1 hour ago, firstcoueswas80 said:

If you are not making contact with your cheek, that is 100% the culprit.

I tend to agree w/ this poster.  You may be inducing parallax into your sight picture.  Normally, factory scopes are pre-set for parallax at 150 yds. (depends on brand) and will only be a few fractions of an inch off at normal hunting ranges - assuming you line up with eye box and cheek weld. 

If you are noticeably off to one side or the other, your POI will be different from your POA.

forepaw

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Inconsistent cheek weld, recoil management, and body position will absolutely cause L-R errors.  Get a cheek pad and get consistent.

I ALWAYS zero my hunting rifles 3/8" left and 0 elevation @ 200 yards to allow for spin drift at distance in the position I will be shooting from.  If shooting long range, that is 90% of the time prone.  Shooting from a bench afterwards will always produce shots that are about 1" right for me.  Shooting from a sitting position will cut that error in half.  I take that into consideration when hunting.  With allowing for 3/8" left @ 200, it keeps spin drift to within 1" +/- @ 700-750 yards or so.

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53 minutes ago, forepaw said:

I tend to agree w/ this poster.  You may be inducing parallax into your sight picture.  Normally, factory scopes are pre-set for parallax at 150 yds. (depends on brand) and will only be a few fractions of an inch off at normal hunting ranges - assuming you line up with eye box and cheek weld. 

If you are noticeably off to one side or the other, your POI will be different from your POA.

forepaw

 

31 minutes ago, lancetkenyon said:

Inconsistent cheek weld, recoil management, and body position will absolutely cause L-R errors.  Get a cheek pad and get consistent.

I ALWAYS zero my hunting rifles 3/8" left and 0 elevation @ 200 yards to allow for spin drift at distance in the position I will be shooting from.  If shooting long range, that is 90% of the time prone.  Shooting from a bench afterwards will always produce shots that are about 1" right for me.  Shooting from a sitting position will cut that error in half.  I take that into consideration when hunting.  With allowing for 3/8" left @ 200, it keeps spin drift to within 1" +/- @ 700-750 yards or so.

Thanks guys. Reading your comments absolutely makes me more confident in what is going on and they are very much appreciated. I think the first thing to try is to raise my cheek to stock to eliminate the inconsistency in sight picture. The next thing I look forward to doing is shooting from the prone. I have never been able to get completely comfortable on a bench, and even though a good bipod and squeeze bag are making me very steady and my groups are tight I'm still ending up leaning over the gun and reinforcing bad form. I would bet dollars to pesos that without realizing it yesterday I was leaning over and around the rifle rather than squaring up on it then dropping my cheek which was sure to change my sight picture. Okay the plan is set. Thanks again.

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3 hours ago, broadhead said:

 

Thanks guys. Reading your comments absolutely makes me more confident in what is going on and they are very much appreciated. I think the first thing to try is to raise my cheek to stock to eliminate the inconsistency in sight picture. The next thing I look forward to doing is shooting from the prone. I have never been able to get completely comfortable on a bench, and even though a good bipod and squeeze bag are making me very steady and my groups are tight I'm still ending up leaning over the gun and reinforcing bad form. I would bet dollars to pesos that without realizing it yesterday I was leaning over and around the rifle rather than squaring up on it then dropping my cheek which was sure to change my sight picture. Okay the plan is set. Thanks again.

Also, just to make sure, check yourself for dominant eye.  Maybe you already have, but if you are cross-dominant it can do strange things to your sight picture.

forepaw

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9 minutes ago, Hoss50 said:

Right after I read the replies earlier in the thread I ordered a very similar one from the same company. I'm sure that will help but the more I think about it the more I'm sure that when I was shooting yesterday I was leaning myself around the rifle and not squaring on it which is a really bad habit and almost guarantees my groups will be off. Now all I want to do is get back on the range and figure it out. Yesterday was the last of the break in rounds so now that I'm done with that I can shoot as much as I want. I can take my time and get it right. Thanks again everyone.

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Get a stock that fits you. Take the rifle and grasp it, close your eyes and shoulder it. Get comfortable then open your eye and see what the sight picture is. 

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