For my fuddy friends

Some fudd lore Ive been told

One guy I know will only use ammunition from the same manufacture of gun that hes shooting. Im fairly certain he misconstrued the hunter safety training rule of matching your ammunition to your barrel stamp calibre. In his case its a Remington pump rifle that he will only feed Remington ammunition. Hes been doing this for over 40 years so hes not going to change now. I gave up trying to convince him it was safe to shoot other brands of ammunition.

Another guy, well into his 60s and retired, has a Win 94, with the goofy side mount scope (the scope is a 3/4" tube too). He asked me to help him sight it in. At 50m he was about 8" off POA. I told him I would adjust it, and he said "No, leave it where it is. Dad sighted it in and he never missed a deer. I just need to adjust for it in my head".

Ok then. To be fair, Ive never actually seen this guy miss a deer either. He does kill what he shoots at. But his reasoning was making my head spin.
 
I have an Uncle who uses a rangefinder for golf, but doesn't take it hunting. Also says there's no reason to rush out in the morning moose hunting, as you'll never shoot one before 9AM. I know this to be true as he sent one round over the back of a young bull at 8:05 two years ago :)
 
Taking the neighbour hunter out to confirm their rifle is zeroed can be a bit challenging.

On the one hand they have to fire a decent amount of ammo. Taking out their 1/2 box of Remington Circa 1979 and expecting to come back with all except 1 or 2 is the normal expectation of many and unfortunately totally inadequate.

When you mention that groups are needed to establish consistency, you get a look that says - "Why would it not be consistent?"

It's also difficult to tell someone without insulting them that

1. The rifle is low end and the scope on it is really crap
2. The ammo is bargain basement crap not to mention old and probably not stored under the best conditions.
2. Your shooting is not optimum. The last time you shot was when Trudeau Sr. was in office.

Before I'll take the neighbour out again - probably 5 years from now - there has to be a list of ground rules or it's not worth going out and then possibly getting blamed for him wounding that buck that showed up at 100 yds,

Ground Rule One - Buy two boxes of exactly the same ammo of a known reputable brand and expect to shoot one up completely for the range sight in. That will give us at least 6 groups worth, to try to hopefully zero a target at a reasonable distance. Tell him there will be a final exam and save the last 2 rounds for his final exam which is 2 rounds fired at an 8 in circle under 2 different field expedient positions (sitting and prone) at 2 different yardages that should be well within his grasp. If he's only capable at just 100 yards then it's a 100 yards and he needs to know that.

Ground Rule Two - He does all the shooting, all the time and keeps the final exam target witnessed and provided by you with all particulars (Ammo, distance, position, rifle, date fired.). He is to keep this target and refer to it from year to year as a constant reminder of his skill set. The target won't lie to you in a year when your mind thinks you're better than you really are.

Ground Rule Three - The first ##### you hear about the cost of ammo and is this really necessary and this is probably good enough - you pack up. Tell him this up front. Today you're definitely going to splurge and fire a whole box.

Remind him that we are using my range, my targets, my tape and my truck to get there for his benefit , so for him to furnish 2 boxes of reasonable ammo (say two boxes of WW Canadian Tire - one for sighting in and one to hunt) is perfectly reasonable for him to do, so he has the best chance to bring home his buck.

Some may consider this harsh but I think we owe it to the sport to have a degree of respect for the game. I hear that you have to take a hunter skills test in many parts of Europe before being issued a licence which is an excellent idea.
 
Fisherguy55 said:
I have an Uncle who uses a rangefinder for golf, but doesn't take it hunting. Also says there's no reason to rush out in the morning moose hunting, as you'll never shoot one before 9AM. I know this to be true as he sent one round over the back of a young bull at 8:05 two years ago :)
Click to expand...

Hahaha!
 
A Texan I worked with told me switched from 30-06 to 300winmag so he doesnt need to calculate holdover on 800 yd shots. Sometimes there's no point trying to correct the silliness, both of you will end up pissed off.
 
I actually watched a guy a couple years ago trying to zero his rifle using a Caldwell rest system. The funny part about the whole thing was he had his barrel resting in the front part where the fore stock would fit into. So after a couple time of watching him walk back and forth to check his grouping. I tried hinting to him what the problem was as to why his group was all over the place.

Well, needless to say he did not listen to me and told me that he always sighted his rifle like that! All I said was good luck and have a nice day. I have no doubt this person had wounded and missed more deer than he ever killed.
 
ah ah some good ones here ... mine too ... a 100 m sight in for 30-06 at 100m spread was bigger than 2 times my 2xl hands but good enough as the moose or bison heart are bigger than that ...fewer wounded animals never changed his mind ...

another one more hilarious from a brand new 300 or 338cm installed with a scope left the store and missed a moose at 400m ... never tried at the range. he was not able to put a bullet a 100m on the target as we went together at the end of moose season ... never willing to waste money on shooting on paper ...

how many we have like that around us ...
 
medvedqc said:
ah ah some good ones here ... mine too ... a 100 m sight in for 30-06 at 100m spread was bigger than 2 times my 2xl hands but good enough as the moose or bison heart are bigger than that ...fewer wounded animals never changed his mind ...

another one more hilarious from a brand new 300 or 338cm installed with a scope left the store and missed a moose at 400m ... never tried at the range. he was not able to put a bullet a 100m on the target as we went together at the end of moose season ... never willing to waste money on shooting on paper ...

how many we have like that around us ...
Click to expand...

In my opinion, only very experienced shooters should use a bore sighter. The vast majority of hunters need the shooting practice that sighting in a scope from scratch provides. Ive got no use for the things myself. I think theyre a joke, but I understand that they do have uses in some circumstances.
 
A few years ago I was at the range waiting my turn at the bench. A fella in his mid fifties was kneeling at the bench with his shiny new Weatherby MkV in 300 Wby, using his left forearm as a front rest. He’d take a shot, spin the dials and repeat until he had burnt up a whole box of ammo.

When he finished ‘sighting in’ he told me he had finally been drawn for a coveted southern Saskatchewan Bull elk tag and had just purchased this new rifle for the hunt. To this day I wonder if he got his bull, the 2’x2’ piece of cardboard he was shooting at looked like it had been peppered with buckshot.
 
Suther said:
And a lot of gun guys are far more interesting in shooting fast and making lots of noise than small groups and making hits at long range...
Click to expand...

Ok, that reminds me of a guy in one of my old camps we nick named 'Rambo". He used a 30 M1 for deer hunting at close quarters. He could empty that little rifle faster than you could think about it. But he never did hit anything with it.
One of the guys bet him $100 he never would.
He took the bet!
still hasn't admitted defeat and paid up though. That bet has to be at least 30 years old.
 
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