The question I've been muddling in my mind is before a match and you want to verify your gun's zero and you could only have one distance what would it be, chickens, pigs, turkeys, or rams? Think of a crowded match with less time than you'd like.

This is based on you already having your elevation numbers; 0, 2, 4, 8; 0, 1.5; 3.75, 7.75, (or what ever you ammo/gun need)............... known.

Where would you you pick & why?

My choice is Turkeys as they have the least surface area and this seems to always be a tough one for me.

Pete A.

Either the turkey or pig. Depends if it is windy, then pig.
Ter

The biggest sight change is at 100M. Get the rams right. If you get that one right, there will be less error at any of the intermediate distance.

2 cents,

SteveM

I like to start my pre match preparations offhand on the pigs. There is enough margin of error room from center to give me a confidence boost from some quick hits. Also there is room to determine any windage or elevation deviation from your previous shooting. But it is more of a mental thing with me. Al

I don't want to start a match feeling rushed, so I check zero on chickens and, if there's time, warm up with a bank of each. Elevation and group testing should have been done before match day.

I would grab a score card and find out what animal that I'm starting on first and then sight in on that one, if time permits the other animals after that. My 2 cents.

Notebooks with records of location, dates, weather conditions and settings come in handy....I can walk up to any of the three local ranges I shoot on and not sight in with my 52 and still pull off at least a 25, no matter what anilmal I start on. If you you know your scope well and no the animal distances (we shoot both the reduced 50 yards and 60 meter pigs), chicken setting is the most important..because all your longer distances are based off that zero.


Innocent Mary

Jim Beckley wrote:I would grab a score card and find out what animal that I'm starting on first and then sight in on that one, if time permits the other animals after that. My 2 cents.

Same here

What Mary said. Chickens.
Think about it. You know your comeups and the chicken is "zero."

I'd have to agree with Mary and ajj. I've got my settings written down for each animal on the back of my eyeblind and after two years of shootin I dont even look at it anymore because I know how many minutes I have to go up for each animal based on my zero which is at chickens. If youve got that you should be fine. even with differnent ammo you'll only be a couple of clicks off from your orginal settings.

I have really good settings for all animals for no-wind conditions. Most of the time the big range variable is the effect of wind at the longer targets. Therefore, I always start at the Ram or Turkey from the bench and shoot to see what the windage setting is. I've got knobs on my scope and I use them when shooting turkeys and rams to adapt to that day's conditions. YMMV


BTW - don't show up with a clean rifle barrel as the POI will change as you start shooting.

edgehit

edgehit,
we always shot three to five fowling rounds in prone/position before even starting on the sighting bull...ofcourse we cleaned the barrel after every day of shooting at least ( and that was if you were lazy)....sometimes after every 40 shots.

Innocent

What Jim said. You know all the changes between animals so once you get started the rest should be easy. You know, just push the easy button.

I would agree with Mary and AJJ, if you did not have any wind to contend with, then all you had to worry about was come ups, but around here we have to deal with the lefty and righty alot of the time. Most of the time when you get your sight settings right before the match, it's blowing the other way by the time the match starts!

I always verify chicken setting first, as that's what I reset my target turrets at zero on and base the others on that. If time is tight, then I check rams. Depending on temperature my click chart is a little different, usually needing a couple more clicks to be on a rams in colder weather than warmer weather. If I know the chicken setting is right and I know how much it takes to get to rams, I know within one click for pigs and turkeys. I think that last click of perfection on those is more in my head than anything, anyway.