GREAT TIPS for LONG RANGE shooting accuracy!

[scottls]

TIPS for LONG RANGE shooting accuracy!

Ever notice that you are dead on at 100yds, but right or left at 300yds...!? :confused:
light bulbI now get GREAT centered groups at 500yds..., after I finally figured out how!?- MT’s #1 gunsmith & Leupold techs, put me onto my solution! ;)
-I just took my Caribou at 489yds!- Tikka T3 .338mag (Federal Premium), Swarovski TDS scope (100 to 500 yd marks), Leica range finder (a rangefinder, is a MUST!).

Here is the problem!-
1. Your scope has to be “!perfectly!” aligned to bore (1” dowel..., doesn’t do it!)!
2. Then your windage crosshairs have to be “!perfectly!” vertical to bore (tip!- level your rifle when shooting long distance!).

My ultimate FIX!-
Notes!: This is MUCH easier with 2 people!- one to hold gun steady/sight down scope..., while tightening screws!
Blue loctite ALL screws (stock to action also!)!

1. Center your scope to bore “!perfectly!” - Put your rifle in a gun vise, and put a laser full chamber/bore dot (I used Cabela's...), on a far wall...
a. Now center your windage crosshairs to dot- total stop-to-stop turns, divided by 2...
b. Turn screws on rear ring mount, and “!perfectly!” center on dot .

2. Level your crosshairs “!perfectly!”...!-
Note: I’ve tried “several” crosshair leveler tools..., and finally got the GREAT/easy one my gunsmith uses!- “EXD ENGINEERING VERTICAL RETICLE INSTRUMENT" (leveler too!) (Brownells)).

Want to check your scope alignment?- Level your rifle, hang a plumb-bob string on far wall..., and see if vertical crosshair is “!perfect!”!?

3. Now go range, & fine tune!
ENJOY!

[Forester]

Your method will work about as well as you can "eyeball it"...you might read this and give it a try.

http://www.longrangehunting.com/articles/reticle-perpendicularity.php

[RockyMtnMT]

Good info. What do you think of putting a scope level on? I know from all my years of shooting archery competitively that you can not do it with out a scope level. Without a level to reference weather or not you are canting, there is no way to really tell. It seems that a rifle would be the same, just longer distances.

Sorry to hijack the thread, but have been thinking about this lately.

Thanks, Steve

[davewilson]

i have a level that rides on the action feed rails and i level my gun with it. then i rotate the scope till i get groups that hit on the verticle line as described above. you might not be perfectly leveling the scope, but you make it so the gun shoots on a verticle axis that is in accordance with the way it tracks.

[silvertip-co]

I've had this theory for a while that the rotational forces of the spinning bullet 'also' cause left or right drift at longer/longest ranges, depending on whether the rifling is left or right hand. But that's just a funky idea I thought of, wish I knew more physics.

[Ridge Runner]

not a funky idea silver, I have read a couple places where 1k bresters use 1moa on dead calm days for spin drift not sure how they come to this conclusion, just what I've read.

Now as to leveling centering all that
before mounting scope turn it down to lowest power, hold it against a mirror, you'll see the reticle and a reflection of it, turn the turrets until the reflection is exactly in line with your reticle, your turrets are now centered. I put a b-square level on my base then mount the scope.
I set the rifle on the floor at one end of my hallway pointed to my living room paneling (approx 50'), I set the eye relief and line the reticle up with the plumb line on the paneling and tighten the rings.
with the rifle still leveled and the reticle on the edge of the plumb line I now slowly turn the elevation turret 1 complete revolution each way and note how the reticle crawls up and down the edge of the line. if it wanders enough for me to see it I adjust the scope and repeat.
RR

[britz]

Not only does spin drift have affect on EXTREME long shots, also, if the bullet is airborn for extended periods of time the rotation of the earth can affect a shot - more in the relm of artilary than rifle shooting however ;)