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: patrad69

New Today: 0

New Yesterday: 0

Overall: 13133

People Online:

Members: 0

Visitors: 319

BOT: 1

Total: 320

Who Is Where:

Visitors:
01: Forums
02: Forums
03: Forums
04: Forums
05: Forums
06: Forums
07: Forums
08: Home
09: Forums
10: Home
11: Forums
12: Forums
13: Forums
14: Forums
15: Forums
16: Home
17: Forums
18: Forums
19: Home
20: Forums
21: Home
22: Forums
23: Your Account
24: Forums
25: Forums
26: Forums
27: Home
28: Forums
29: Forums
30: Forums
31: Forums
32: Forums
33: Forums
34: Forums
35: Forums
36: Forums
37: Forums
38: Forums
39: Forums
40: Forums
41: Home
42: Home
43: Forums
44: Forums
45: Forums
46: Forums
47: Home
48: Home
49: Forums
50: Forums
51: Forums
52: Forums
53: Forums
54: Home
55: Forums
56: Your Account
57: Forums
58: Forums
59: Home
60: Forums
61: Forums
62: Forums
63: Home
64: Forums
65: Your Account
66: Forums
67: Forums
68: Forums
69: Forums
70: Forums
71: Forums
72: Forums
73: Forums
74: Forums
75: Forums
76: Forums
77: Home
78: Forums
79: Forums
80: Forums
81: Forums
82: Forums
83: Forums
84: Home
85: Home
86: Forums
87: Forums
88: Forums
89: Forums
90: Forums
91: Forums
92: Home
93: Forums
94: Forums
95: Home
96: Home
97: Forums
98: Forums
99: Forums
100: Forums
101: Forums
102: Forums
103: Forums
104: Home
105: Forums
106: Home
107: Forums
108: Forums
109: Forums
110: Forums
111: Forums
112: Forums
113: Forums
114: Forums
115: Forums
116: Forums
117: Forums
118: Forums
119: Forums
120: Forums
121: Forums
122: Forums
123: Forums
124: Forums
125: Forums
126: Forums
127: Forums
128: Forums
129: Home
130: Forums
131: Forums
132: Forums
133: Forums
134: Forums
135: Forums
136: Home
137: Forums
138: Home
139: Forums
140: Forums
141: Forums
142: Forums
143: Forums
144: Forums
145: Forums
146: Forums
147: Forums
148: Forums
149: Forums
150: Forums
151: Forums
152: Forums
153: Home
154: Forums
155: Forums
156: Forums
157: Forums
158: Your Account
159: Forums
160: Forums
161: Forums
162: Forums
163: Forums
164: Forums
165: Home
166: Forums
167: Forums
168: Forums
169: Forums
170: Home
171: Forums
172: Forums
173: Forums
174: Forums
175: Forums
176: Forums
177: Forums
178: Forums
179: Forums
180: Forums
181: Forums
182: Forums
183: Forums
184: Forums
185: Home
186: Forums
187: Forums
188: Forums
189: Forums
190: Forums
191: Home
192: Forums
193: Forums
194: Forums
195: Forums
196: Forums
197: Forums
198: Forums
199: Forums
200: Your Account
201: Forums
202: Forums
203: Forums
204: News
205: Forums
206: Forums
207: Forums
208: Forums
209: Home
210: Photo Albums
211: Home
212: Photo Albums
213: Forums
214: Forums
215: Forums
216: Photo Albums
217: Forums
218: Forums
219: Home
220: Forums
221: Home
222: Forums
223: Forums
224: Forums
225: Forums
226: News
227: Forums
228: Forums
229: Forums
230: Forums
231: Home
232: Forums
233: Forums
234: Home
235: Forums
236: Home
237: Forums
238: Forums
239: Forums
240: Forums
241: Forums
242: Forums
243: Forums
244: Forums
245: Forums
246: Forums
247: Forums
248: Forums
249: Photo Albums
250: Forums
251: Forums
252: Forums
253: Forums
254: Forums
255: Forums
256: Home
257: Forums
258: Home
259: Forums
260: Forums
261: Forums
262: Forums
263: Home
264: Forums
265: Forums
266: Forums
267: Forums
268: Forums
269: Forums
270: Forums
271: Forums
272: Forums
273: Home
274: Forums
275: Forums
276: Forums
277: Forums
278: Forums
279: Forums
280: Forums
281: Home
282: Forums
283: Forums
284: Forums
285: Forums
286: Forums
287: Forums
288: Forums
289: Forums
290: Forums
291: Forums
292: Forums
293: Forums
294: News
295: Forums
296: Forums
297: Forums
298: Forums
299: Forums
300: Forums
301: Forums
302: Forums
303: Home
304: Forums
305: Forums
306: Forums
307: Forums
308: Forums
309: Forums
310: Home
311: Forums
312: Home
313: Forums
314: Forums
315: Forums
316: Forums
317: Forums
318: Forums
319: Forums

BOT:
01: Home

Staff Online:

No staff members are online!

Coppermine Stats

Photo Albums

• Albums: 308
• Pictures: 2455
  · Views: 824805
  · Votes: 1316
  · Comments: 85

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) (14189 reads) [ Administration ]