Shooting with a scope

T

troydtroy

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Kingston, Ontario
I recently purchased a Remington 700 BDL in 30-06; this is my own, first, legitimate hunting rifle. I followed suit by buying a vari-x II from a nice fella here in the EE.

With that being said, I have always been an open sights kind of guy and never really shot with a scope before.

Last Saturday, I went shooting with it for the first time. My friends were hitting their targets through the scope (weirdly it only needed slight adjustments) but I had a little more trouble. I wasn't hitting my targets.

Could it be just a flinch? Do I just need more practice?


Does anyone have any suggestions for me?


Thanks for all the help!

Troy
 
If your friends are not having any issues with hitting what they aim at, the issue is obviously you. It could very well be a flinch, but without being present to watch you shoot, there is no way to determine the issue.
 
Adjust the parralax to suit you...

If thats not it I would say you are flinching...Closing your eyes just before you shoot? Afraid of scope bite?
 
If you give a bit more information maybe someone can help. Were you shooting from a bench with bags, offhand, or sitting? There are techniques that need to be mastered when shooting such as controlling breathing, trigger control and even how to hold the rifle. In some cases when first using a scope the larger image and magnified tremors can throw a shooter off when they try to force the sights on the target instead of letting them settle on an area of the target, this is especially true when shooting from an unsupported position.
 
He has already said that his friends had no problems with it so it's clearly a "him" problem.

Here's how to diagnose your issue. Set the rifle up steady on sandbags so that the scope is aligned to the target. Then with an empty chamber (check and double check) cosk the action and squeeze the trigger while holding dead steady on the target. Watch the crosshairs for movement. If they jump as you pull the trigger, then you're flinching, or anticipating the recoil. This will make your shots go all over hell and creation. The only cure for this is lots of dry-firing and serious concentration on trigger control. Once you're able to dry fire without the scope moving around then you can go back to the range and try live firing again. If you have a flinch so bad that you're missing the target, any live fire before you've got your brain rewired by extensive dry firing will be a waste of time and ammunition as you will do nothign other than reinforce the flinch.


Don't mean to talk down to you. One can never tell for sure how much experience another guy has by reading their posts, but you sound to me like a new shooter and flinching is one of the biggest detriments to accurate shooting with new shooters.

let us know how it goes.
 
sight it in, start at 10 yards
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I f your distance was beyond 25 yards it is difficult to sight in
You have to start close zero it ,then walk it out
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You are missing:

My friends were hitting their targets through the scope (weirdly it only needed slight adjustments)
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If his friends are hitting what they are aiming at, the scope must be sighted in.

He has already said that his friends had no problems with it so it's clearly a "him" problem.
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Exactly.
 
troydtroy said:
I recently purchased a Remington 700 BDL in 30-06; this is my own, first, legitimate hunting rifle. I followed suit by buying a vari-x II from a nice fella here in the EE.

With that being said, I have always been an open sights kind of guy and never really shot with a scope before.

Last Saturday, I went shooting with it for the first time. My friends were hitting their targets through the scope (weirdly it only needed slight adjustments) but I had a little more trouble. I wasn't hitting my targets.

Could it be just a flinch? Do I just need more practice?


Does anyone have any suggestions for me?


Thanks for all the help!

Troy
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First time I read it...I didn't pick-up on the fact that everyone was shooting the same rifle. lol Sounds like you're flinching. Do you FEEL steady when you're lining-up the target? As you're just about to pull the trigger...do you get an "Uh-oh...this is gonna' hurt!" feeling? Are your buddies around you making you nervous? Are there other guns at the range going-off all around you? Could be lots of things. As someone said already, I don't know what your experience level is so it's hard to tell. The good news is...it doesn't sound like the rifle or scope are the issues.

I've taught all my kids to shoot (again, don't take this the wrong way) but the #1 thing young shooters do wrong is to pull...actually, yank the trigger. A careless trigger pull will move the rifle enough to throw the POI (point of impact) off all over the place. There is lots of opinions on good technique...but once I have the rifle on a steady rest, and the target lined-up..I inhale slowly with my finger on the trigger and as I exhale I slowly increase the pressure on the trigger until it goes off. If while exhaling the gun moves then examine why. The rifle isn't secure...or secure enough. I use a cheap Hoppes front rest, and a $25 rear bag filled with rice. Not perfect, but pretty solid.
 
Hey guys!

I just want to address the fact that you are not offending me whatsoever. My experience level with rifles is minimal. Previously I have been shooting with the occasional unscoped gun. But other than that, shotgun hunting has been the sum of my experience so far.

If you can imagine it, I shot the 700 off of a hill facing the target roughly 100 yards away. I tried sitting down as well as prone.

I've shot a 770 in 30-06 before, the kick was much worst than the 700. I can handle the kick, I'm not too worried.
I think it might have something to do with the yanking of the trigger rather than pulling the trigger as .22LRGUY mentioned. I was talking to a guy today who said that since I have no experience shooting with a scope I may not be looking down the scope correctly (It makes me look dumb as sin; but ill take any suggestions).

I will be out shooting soon with my 700 and I will let you know how it goes and follow all these great tips.
 
I started out with iron sights and shotguns and had a problem with flinching and closing my eyes when I got my first scoped rifle. Pretty sure my eyes just didn't like having something so close to them that was going to recoil back at them as I had never had a problem with the recoil of shotguns. I have mostly corrected it by dry firing and consciously forcing myself to keep my eyes and on the target until the shot is off. I still catch myself slipping at times though, especially when I'm firing my muzzleloader from the bench. Damn thing does not have enough eye relief, I got scoped twice last fall trying to sight it in.
 
Have you shot the rifle from a firm cushioned rest at 25 yards?

You were where? A gravel pit?

I'd recommend a range with measured distance and properly sighting in the rifle at 25 yards before you try at 100.
 
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