HuntingNut » News » Targets and Scopes

Home • Community Forums • Photo Albums • Register

Modules

• Home - Top 30
• Treasury
• Tell a Friend

Articles: Submit New
• Articles: Topics
• Contact Us
• Community Forums

Members List
• Photo Albums
• PointBlank Ballistics
• PointBlank Online
• Privacy Policy
• Private Messages

Reloading Database
• State F&G Agencies
• Statistics
• Your Account

User Info

Welcome Anonymous

(Register)

Membership:

Latest: IPutMoInYoA

New Today: 0

New Yesterday: 0

Overall: 13131

People Online:

Members: 0

Visitors: 200

BOT: 1

Total: 201

Who Is Where:

Visitors:
01: Forums
02: Forums
03: Forums
04: Forums
05: Forums
06: Forums
07: Forums
08: Forums
09: Home
10: Forums
11: Forums
12: Forums
13: Forums
14: Home
15: Forums
16: Photo Albums
17: Forums
18: Forums
19: Forums
20: Forums
21: Forums
22: Photo Albums
23: Forums
24: Forums
25: Forums
26: Home
27: Home
28: Forums
29: Forums
30: Photo Albums
31: Home
32: Photo Albums
33: Forums
34: Your Account
35: Photo Albums
36: Your Account
37: Forums
38: Photo Albums
39: Forums
40: Forums
41: News
42: Home
43: Photo Albums
44: Photo Albums
45: Forums
46: Photo Albums
47: Your Account
48: Forums
49: Forums
50: Forums
51: Forums
52: Photo Albums
53: Home
54: Photo Albums
55: Forums
56: Forums
57: Photo Albums
58: Statistics
59: Forums
60: Forums
61: Forums
62: Home
63: Photo Albums
64: Photo Albums
65: Photo Albums
66: Forums
67: Home
68: Forums
69: Forums
70: Forums
71: Forums
72: Forums
73: Home
74: Photo Albums
75: Forums
76: Forums
77: Forums
78: Forums
79: Home
80: Forums
81: Forums
82: Home
83: Photo Albums
84: Forums
85: Forums
86: Forums
87: Home
88: Forums
89: Forums
90: Forums
91: Forums
92: Forums
93: Forums
94: Forums
95: Forums
96: Home
97: Forums
98: Your Account
99: Home
100: Forums
101: Forums
102: Your Account
103: News
104: Photo Albums
105: Forums
106: Forums
107: Forums
108: Home
109: Your Account
110: Photo Albums
111: Forums
112: Your Account
113: Photo Albums
114: Forums
115: Forums
116: Forums
117: Forums
118: Home
119: Forums
120: Home
121: Forums
122: Photo Albums
123: Home
124: Photo Albums
125: Forums
126: Home
127: Forums
128: Forums
129: Your Account
130: News
131: Forums
132: Forums
133: Photo Albums
134: Home
135: Your Account
136: Forums
137: Forums
138: Forums
139: Forums
140: Forums
141: Forums
142: Forums
143: Forums
144: Photo Albums
145: Your Account
146: Forums
147: Forums
148: Forums
149: Forums
150: Forums
151: Forums
152: Statistics
153: Forums
154: Forums
155: Forums
156: Forums
157: Forums
158: Your Account
159: Forums
160: Forums
161: Photo Albums
162: Forums
163: Forums
164: Forums
165: Home
166: Forums
167: Forums
168: Forums
169: Forums
170: Forums
171: Forums
172: Home
173: Forums
174: Photo Albums
175: Your Account
176: Forums
177: Photo Albums
178: Forums
179: Forums
180: Photo Albums
181: Photo Albums
182: Forums
183: Forums
184: Photo Albums
185: Forums
186: Forums
187: Your Account
188: Forums
189: Photo Albums
190: Forums
191: Forums
192: Forums
193: Forums
194: News
195: Forums
196: Forums
197: Home
198: Forums
199: Home
200: Forums

BOT:
01: Forums

Staff Online:

No staff members are online!

Coppermine Stats

Photo Albums

• Albums: 308
• Pictures: 2452
  · Views: 824590
  · Votes: 1316
  · Comments: 86

Targets and Scopes

Targets and Scopes

By Ed Harmon

Did a thought ever occur to you, while shooting on paper, that your target was not quite right? If you had that thought, join the crowd of about 90% of scope shooters in the world. Most paper targets are simply not designed for serious scope shooting. The targets look like they should work OK, but in actual practice; they do not work that well at all. The diamond is not right, nor is the bull’s eye circle. The crosshairs printed on paper is not correct either, nor is any combination of the above target designs.

I ran a range for over 20 years. During that time I observed shooters dragging all manner of targets to the range. I finally decided to put that experience and over 20 years of competitive shooting into harness. So, several years ago, I set about designing a target just for crosshairs and red dots, not one but two very different targets. I also ran tests with various power scopes to determine the best power setting for very accurate shooting on paper at 100 yards. The intent was to develop a target that gave the shooter confidence in the results of three shot and five shot groups, primarily for load development. The idea was to also have a good idea about the group size looking through a spotting scope.

I think I shot on just about every target design printed both for sale and in books. None of the designs worked that well. It was always difficult to tell with clarity, one shot from the next, exactly where your crosshairs were positioned in relation to the exact aim point. The group size, estimated from 100 yards away, was a pure guess, mostly wrong.

What I first designed was a 1-inch square, with heavy lines for sides. The idea was to shoot the corners using the vertical and horizontal sides to position the crosshairs on the corners of the square. That was Ok, but when you tried to focus on one set of lines, the crosshairs, the lines became difficult to acquire and maintain focus upon. Next I increased the lines of the square in width. The result was better but still not quite right. Then I created a solid black square, walah, it worked like magic. Next the size of the square was worked on. It was found that a 2-inch square was perfect. The idea is to hold the crosshairs just off the corner so as to create a very narrow white line between the crosshairs and the sides of the square, vertical and horizontal, corner to corner. You duplicate the line, shot after shot. The scope is always kept on the vertical and horizontal plane in relation to the square itself. You eliminate the effects of the great scope bug-a-boo, canting.

How to improve the square, well I created a grid that is comprised of 1-inch squares with the 2-inch black square super imposed in the middle. When printed together and shot upon you can immediately tell the approximate group size. You can also tell over, under or horizontal adjustment. The grid permits you to get sighted in with just two adjustments and no walking. The shooting square upon square is attached, life size for copying. The square on a square target was created using Microsoft Word. You can convert the target back to word using Adobe Acrobat or you simply print the target on your printer.

Next we attacked the real problem and the one that there simply are no targets for, the red dot sight.

I experimented with a fellow in the 80s on circle sights, front and rear. The idea is to create concentric circles of the sights with the target in the middle. Your eye aligns the circles and the point of impact is the center. The sight system works real well, it just takes a bit of time to align the sights from shot to shot, for real accuracy. We worked on this project for about a year and a half after work.

The reason I have gone into the explanation is so that you have an idea about the source of the inspiration for the red dot target. The target is a black circle of such size that a red dot fits into the circle with a white ring around the dot, between the red and the black. The effect is three circles that your eye will align, shot after shot. This allows load development with a red dot sight at 50 yards, without any magnification. Does it work? We have used the target shown to shoot .100-inch groups at 50 yards. The target attached is designed for a 4-minute dot at 50 yards. The circle can be created and enlarged with most word processors. The dot target itself was created with Microsoft Word and converted to a photo file. If you have Adobe Acrobat you can reverse the process and create a word document from the jpg file.

A secret to sighting in dot sights is to turn the power down as low as possible to still be able to see the dot. The outside of the dot becomes clear which allows for good definition between the black circle and red dot. If you turn the power up to far on a red dot sight, the edge of the dot gets furry or blurred.

Scope power for shooting paper at 100 yards should be a minimum of 12x in order to achieve the very best groups. Groups can be shot with less power, however the process is a strain once you try a 12 or more power scope.

Last but far from least, while you are on the paper you should also test your windage and elevation adjustment to see what they actually are. Rarely will an advertised ¼ minute adjustment actually produce ¼ inch adjustment. Many ballistics programs today will allow a click adjustment print out to be run, based on your actual velocity and bullet BC. I keep a small font print out on all of my scope bells from 200 to 600 yards in 50-yard increments for the bullet and load I am shooting.

Posted by SwampFox on Tuesday, September 26, 2006 (16:54:27) (14029 reads) [ Administration ]