Mebbe you got better stuff in your plug!!!! Rule of thumb don't fit alll.

So much for all the range work and worrying about being an inch off or less at 100 yards. Had two deer crossing left to right. Waited untill they crossed my "safe tree" marker then looked through scope and was surprised that one was a buck. I was guessing at yardage (he was a lot farther away than I guessed) and speed (he was faster than I thought) so I lead him what I thought was right and he went right down. The doe was running right next to him and she went down too. I thought I had got them both, but the doe got up and ran away. We tracked her for at least one hundred yards and saw no blood trail. "my" buck (8 point "basket " rack) must have ran into her when I shot him. My bullet hit well behind what I had estimated. But I got my first deer at the ripe old age of 62.

My shot was 67 yards with the deer running left to right, down hill, with a 15 - 20 mph wind from the left through some sparse evergreen trees. Wind chill was minus 7 in light snow and it was about 3:30p pm. This was the first anything we had seen in 2 days of hunting. The person off to my left had shot but missed completely. It was a GREAT DAY. I own a lot to the younger people I was hunting with for all their help and support.

Vint2... 1 inch rings and they were installed by the guy at the gun shop where I bought them. My point was that looking at the old barrel, where the base mounts is not a machined surface. The base that the rings attaches to is machined, but I would think that the screws that hold it down could bend it if the outer barrel isn't true. And of course, I used the base from the "old" rifle that I was having so much trouble with. Maybe I'm just looking for perfection.

Good job takin' yer first deer...Running shots are tough to pull off.

That's all I'm gonna say...

vint2 wrote:

Mebbe you got better stuff in your plug!!!! Rule of thumb don't fit alll.

Still lookin for the "Rule of Thumb"....

Good job on that first deer!!! Proves you gotta watch us old guys!!!!LOL!! (I am 71!!!)I would not worry about those rings if you trust the guy who installed them.
As for rule of thumb, keep looking youngster and you 'll find it!!!

My local gun store actually has a reamer. I'm going to do that "box" test both big (10 inches) and small (2 inches) before and after and see if it makes a difference... some time early next year. When I dismantled the 'old' rifle, I noticed that the marks under the scope base showed that it wasn't seated uniformly. To clear the hammer, I had to use the taller scope rings. The longer they are, the more any errors will be magnified. Probably won't make a big difference. I just like tinkering.

I found two different sets of brushes used by welders to clean their tips. I bought the shorter set at my local tool store for $5.00. I think it was #14 that is the closest size to .035. It's listed as .032 I believe. The next size up is .037 if I remember correctly. The .032 brush is about half way between the biggest and smallest, so there are several sizes.

That should make cleaning a lot easier and should also eliminate misfire problems!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

I did my box test. The temp started out at 4 above, but was 2 below by the time I was done. I still had a round in it from deer hunting... a '294' Barnes bullet and 120 grains of Blackhorn powder. It was dead on. I wanted to do this with the least amount of fuss, so I used Sock Wave 250's with the E-Z-Load sabots and 100 grains of Blackhorn with no cleaning between shots. I didn't do any testing as to how much powder would give me the best accuracy. These bullets are about 20% lighter than the Barnes bullets, so I used 20% less powder than I used with the heavier bullets.

My first 250 test bullet was 8 1/4 inches BELOW the Barnes bullet. I was shooting over virgin snow, so I found both sabots. The barnes sabot was about 6 yards out and just laying on top of the snow. All 4 petals were open at 90 degrees and the base looked fine. The Shock Wave sabot hit about 15 yards out and it was moving pretty fast. I dug it out of the snow. It is a two petal design. One petal was missing and the remaining petal hadn't moved. No wonder there aren't as accurate as the Barnes. The base did look OK.

The rifle went from room temperature to outside temperature. I adjusted the scope up 10 inches (38 clicks) and shot. The bullet moved up 9 1/2 inches. I then adjusted the scope and took back the 38 clicks. The bullet only dropped 5 1/2 inches. I fired again and it dropped an additional 5 1/2 inches. (Bullets 4, 5, and 6 give me a 4 inch radius)

Since I had checked movement of the cross hairs inside where it was warm before I went out, I had to assume it was the cold weather that was causing the problem. This is a brand new scope. I shot again (no adjustment) and it went high 3 inches. I shot once more, and it was almost touching the bullet hole from two shots previous.

So I adjusted up 38 clicks again, only now I rap on the scope pretty hard. It moved up 12 1/2 inches. I shot again (no changes) and it dropped 3/4's of an inch. That's about a 2 inch radius) I adjusted right 38 clicks, raped it pretty hard, and the bullet hit 8 1/2 inches right. I shot again (no changes) and it moved an additional 2 3/4's right. Shot once more and it moved back left 3 1/2 inches. That's a 4 1/2 inch radius. Winds are from the right at 45 degrees and 10 to 15 mph.

I only have 2 bullets left. I click down 38 and rap pretty hard on the scope, and the bullet moves down exactly 10 inches. I shoot my last bullet and it's 3/4's of an inch lower.

So, using my radius's, up gave me 10 1/4 inches, right gave me 9 inches, and down gave me 11 1/2 inches. I didn't get a chance to move it back left, but it was 8 1/4 inches to where I started. So I did end up with a box that was roughly square.

As a kid I was always taught to treat a scope with kid gloves. I think I'll get a rubber hammer now :-) . I'm going to try again (who knows when with Iowa weather) using the rubber hammer and only moving 5 inches at a time. I'll try for a calm day.

Farmboy, down here we learn to adjust a scope starting to shoot high/right and adjusting it down/left. This way your srews inside are derterminating the movement of the inner tube.
When you go the other way, you unscrew the adjustment screws and the movement of the innertube is determinated by de springs that should push the tube back.
So what do you trust most, the screw or the spring?

So to start, we screw both adjustementscrews so that the POI moves to the right and up. We gently tap the scope so that the springmovement is (hopefully) not stopped by sticking or whatever resistance.
And then we start the real adjustment.

Aloysius... Are all scopes that way? I never gave it a thought till I read your reply. My best 'luck' has always been opposite. Adjusting up and right have been the most accurate and going down or left (what I usually refer to as 'going back' for some reason) gives me the most trouble.

This time of year the temperatures are brutal. Usually near zero and wind chills well below zero. So when I make a field adjustment, I usually put a magnetic scope rectile on the end of the barrel and watch to see if the crosshars actually move.

At room temperatures I never have a problem. So when I get serious, I shoot a few rounds and plot it on the software available on this site. Then I take the rifle home and let it come up to room temperature. I put the rectile on the barrel end make and watch the adjustment. I usually rap it a time or two for good measure. Then I put the rifle in my unheated garage where it will go back to the cold temperatures then try shooting again.

But once I get it close (maybe 3 inches max) I can never seem to get it dead on. If I move it 12 clicks (3 inches) it will either move 6 inches or maybe not at all.

This is a brand new Nikon scope that has been fired maybe 30 to 50 times. The barrel and receiver are newer yet. I got them a week before deer season. I'm taking off the two piece scope base (the only thing left from the original rifle) and replacing it with a one piece base and replacing the scope rings with Barris heavy duty rings.

Let's first put things straight. When I say from right/up till down/under I mean the movement of POI.
On most scopes you can find the adjustment screws on top and on the right side. So when you move the POI to down/under, you fasten the adjustmentscrews.
That's how things work here and not only for me, also for my colleagues
I don't know if it's the same in places where people are driving at the left side of the road, maybe then also the adjustmentsrews on scopes work the other way around
Just try it. If it doesn't work OK for you, you can forget it (till you meet the same problem again)

Aloysius... I think the majority of my problem is the cold weather. If I take the rifle inside, let it warm to room temperature, make the adjustment(s), everything moves the way it's supposed to. But when it gets bitterly cold, like a minus 18 C, it will adjust against the screw, but not with the spring. Even with knocking on it. I think the lube just all but freezes. So what was going on, was the first adjustments would work, but as the rifle got colder and colder, it would only adjust the one way.