I made a mistake today. Better at the practice range than shooting at a spring bear!

Michael Eichele · #1 05-03-2009, 01:56 AM

I was FINALLY able to get to my long range shooting spot today. After a very very long and frozen winter, enough snow and ice has melted in the river bottom for me to make it out there.

Early this winter I traded my NP-R2 NXS for a new NXS with MLR. I set up today at my zero range for a quick zero check. Man was it rough. The mirage was horrifec as well as the wind. All I could do was watch the bullseye move in every direction in relation to my reticle. I fired a shot and after verification, I dialed up 3 clicks. I fired another and nailed the 1 minute target.

I drove out to 600 yards and set up. According to my software I would need 2 mils even for a correction. Now bear in mind I am used to using my Mark 4 on my 308 with a Mil-dot. I layed down. Lined up on my 2nd mark and touched one off. Right after I fired, probably before the bullet even hit the paper, I realized I was no longer using a straight mil reticle and was now using a Mil reticle with 1/2 mil marks! I drove down to the target to see where I hit. Sure enough, I was 1 mil low. I drove back to 600 yards and let another one rip. This one found the mark. I drove back to 725 and set up at 3 mils and let her rip again. Both shots were 1.685" apart well within the 9.5" target I was shooting at. I drove up to 400 yards and landed another bullet right with them. All three bullets made a group of just under 3.3". this group was just a tad high and a tad left. After shooting one bullet at 500, it didnt find the group rather it found the dead center of the target. I really wanted to sqeeze some off at 1K but a very busy channel in the river prevented me from getting past the 725 mark. I set up again at 300 yards (my zero) for verification and a velocity check and went home.

Now I sure am glad I went to shoot LR before actually going out bear hunting. I very easily could have made that mistake in a hunting situation. This is a good reminder to ALWAYS be very familiar with new gear no matter how similiar it is to old gear BEFORE going after critters. It doest take much to screw up a shot in this sport. I am just glad I did it on a stupid peice of paper and not fur.

I still wont sleep any better.