Do You Do A Rifle Pre-Season Dust Off?

I don't really have to do a "dust off". The rifles I own are my hunting rifles and I shoot them regularly year round. Clover leafs are fun and when I get one with one of my rifles, off a rest or off hand, I'm a really happy camper. Mostly though, because I tire pretty quickly of just shooting paper, I spend my time at my own 100 yard range at the farm putting holes in expired propane tanks, home made gongs and dusting clay birds. I probably won't ever impress anyone with my marksmanship, but I have rarely needed a second shot at big game. I think that is because I regulary shoot the guns that I hunt with. And that all started many, many years ago when I only had one gun to shoot...yup...a 303.
 
I try to shoot one every month or 2. But when I do shoot.... I try to practice the way I may get to hunt, kneeling, off hand, resting off a tree or may be a shooting stick. I fire shots from different ranges and at targets the are roughly the size of the kill zone of my intended quarry.

Unless I am zeroing my gun, I see no purpose the shooting endlessly from a bench at a paper target. That is not how I hunt so what good does it do?
 
cdn1canhunt said:
I try to shoot one every month or 2. But when I do shoot.... I try to practice the way I may get to hunt, kneeling, off hand, resting off a tree or may be a shooting stick. I fire shots from different ranges and at targets the are roughly the size of the kill zone of my intended quarry.

Unless I am zeroing my gun, I see no purpose the shooting endlessly from a bench at a paper target. That is not how I hunt so what good does it do?
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Totally agree with the added proviso of working up a hand-load.
 
Many hunters who are not riflemen, are afraid of their sights, or more correctly are afraid of adjusting them. According to them, if the rifle was sighted in on May 3rd 1967, it must still be, so why change it?? Different ammo? "Makes no difference sir, the rifle's sighted in!" "UGH!"

"Whatta mean what grain??!! Bullets is bullets!" Then he called me an idiot.

There's the tried but true, "Shootin paper don't mean nothin, I never miss on game!"

There was a fellow I talked to a couple of years ago, who thought he might need a new rifle, because this one did,'t seem to shoot straight anymore.

"Huh, how long have you owned it?"
"Got it new in 1974."
"How many rounds have you fired through it?"
"Oh I bet 20 boxes by now."
"When did you clean it last?"
"Oh, I've never cleaned it."

Some guys make my head hurt.
 
I check the zero of the rifles I'll be hunting with as close to the actual season as possible as temperature in some cases effects the POI everything else being equal.
If you check your rifle on a bright day in July when the temperature is 95 degrees F and with the same scope settings and ammo in October when it's 35 or 40 degrees F depending on the load there could be differences.
Not enuf to cause a miss on a moose at typical hunting ranges but I like to imitate as many variables from the accuracy equation as possible.
 
I shoot rifles all year but don't use my big game rifle. I confirm zero, chrony my loads to verify trejectory a week prior and go hunting. Done this for 15 years and haven't had much issues.
 
Same as many here. I shoot rifles all year long.
After August I primarily shoot and focus on my hunting rifles and kit.
 
Unfortunately I've got the impression that a large percentage of hunters think that shooting from a bench constitutes as practice. I've had people tell me they are good out to 200yds on deer, because they have shot 200 off a dead rest at the range. Not the same thing..

ironsighter said:
Me too. The bench is great for zeroing and load development (vise versa, actually), but once that is done it is time for the sticks.
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I know "that guy"...there were a couple of him in a moose-hunting group I once belonged to. Don't shoot all year, go out a week or two before moose season, scatter a few holes into a 100yard target, and then clearly state that they intend to pull the trigger on any moose they see within 500 yards. A week later, they proceed to do just that...while shooting from a canoe!

To make matters worse, if...or rather, when...the animal doesn't keel over during the barrage, but disappears into the brush, they just shrug and continue "hunting" for another one.

Oh, and the guy whose high-power career and hectic work schedule prevent him from practicing? News flash: he will be offended at the suggestion that he pass up long shots. He is too busy to bother stalking up to game. If he can knock something over on the first or second day, he'll be gone like a flash...the world can't operate without him, don't ya know? All that sissy stuff about respect for animals and ethical hunting is for lesser people. He is special, and if you're too stupid to understand that, well, he can't be bothered to explain it to you.

And people wonder why I prefer to hunt alone...
 
NolanOsborn said:
Unfortunately I've got the impression that a large percentage of hunters think that shooting from a bench constitutes as practice. I've had people tell me they are good out to 200yds on deer, because they have shot 200 off a dead rest at the range. Not the same thing..
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Yep. And most of the time "good at 200" is far from good. I was at the range last weekend and there was a classic "deer with kill-zone" target on the 200y board. More than half the rounds were complete misses and wounding shots. He got 2 in the lungs and 1 in the heart - out of 10 rounds (who knows, maybe more that didn't hit the 1m x 1m paper). Probably figures he's "good at 200", and that's from a bench.

The image/stereotype of the moron hunter is not just some random thing the antis made up.
 
jjohnwm said:
I know "that guy"...there were a couple of him in a moose-hunting group I once belonged to. Don't shoot all year, go out a week or two before moose season, scatter a few holes into a 100yard target, and then clearly state that they intend to pull the trigger on any moose they see within 500 yards. A week later, they proceed to do just that...while shooting from a canoe!

To make matters worse, if...or rather, when...the animal doesn't keel over during the barrage, but disappears into the brush, they just shrug and continue "hunting" for another one.

Oh, and the guy whose high-power career and hectic work schedule prevent him from practicing? News flash: he will be offended at the suggestion that he pass up long shots. He is too busy to bother stalking up to game. If he can knock something over on the first or second day, he'll be gone like a flash...the world can't operate without him, don't ya know? All that sissy stuff about respect for animals and ethical hunting is for lesser people. He is special, and if you're too stupid to understand that, well, he can't be bothered to explain it to you.

And people wonder why I prefer to hunt alone...
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Presumably because it sounds like time spent with you would be downright miserable. haha not that I totally disagree with you though... :)
 
Animals I have shot at over a span of 50 years of hunting have a habit of falling down and dying with an extra hole in their bodies within an inch of where I aimed much more often than not.

Very seldom takes more than one shot.

I figure I must be doing something right.
 
cbh560 said:
Presumably because it sounds like time spent with you would be downright miserable. haha not that I totally disagree with you though... :)
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What??? You mean I'm not as charming as I think I am???? Sorry, not possible...:)

The older I get, the less patience I have for #######s like the ones I described above...but even when I was younger, I had a tendency to not look the other way when some of this crap started to take place. Fortunately, I wasn't the only one who felt this way, so the group just sort of imploded and we went our separate ways.
 
I used to hunt with people that never shot their rifles until just before the season, but after tracking wounded animals, and watching people miss easy shots, I am much more selective of my hunting partners these days. If you can't find the time to practice your shooting on a regular basis, then I won't be wasting my time hunting with you.
 
I, too, hunt alone much of the time. I like taking newbies out and have occasionally hunted with others of the "I'm the best" attitude, but only once. That has never worked out all that well for me. I have also had the true pleasure of hunting with high quality men and women whose philosophies closely resemble my own. I really treasure those memories.
I couldn't fire 5 rounds at an animal. I only ever load 3 into the magazine.
Normally, I shoot gophers all summer, but this year has been extremely busy with everything I own needing major repairs, so my time spent behind the sights has been low. I have booked off a week of leave in two weeks that I am dedicating to scouting, selecting, sighting, and shooting. Then two weeks in Nov to hunt.
I have had the distinct pleasure of being able to teach my wife to shoot and hunt. She is a deadly shot (I hide the ammo for her rifle, just in case) and has listened to everything she has been told. We usually hunt together from the same stand or blind and she has only missed one shot in 5 years because she was all crabbed up on her rifle and didn't change her position to a more natural one. Lesson learned for her. The back up shot from beside her scared her, but killed the doe.
Moral of most stories ending with an empty tag is a lack of preparation.
I was taught the "7P's" in the infantry. They translate into every walk of life just as well. What are they? "Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss-Poor Performance". Words to live by.
 
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