Riflescope Ready: Sighting-In A Hunting Rifle

“The most accurate rifle in the world fired by the greatest marksman who ever lived is totally useless if not properly sighted-in.

Zeroing a hunting rifle may well be one of the most critical, yet controllable, aspects of hunting. Incredibly, though, a great number of hunters ignore the chore—or worse yet, do it incorrectly. Properly sighting-in a rifle before embarking on a big-game hunt is as fundamentally important as buying a license. If you forget or choose to ignore the process, you simply deserve to miss.

A lot of hunters shoot offhand at gallon milk jugs 50 yards away; and if they hit the jugs or even strike close enough to make them jump, they proclaim the gun just fine. Worse yet are the guys who don’t check the sights at all before hunting. Time and again, I have been in camps with hunters who didn’t bother to check the zero on their rifles. Some were proud of the fact. Others were argumentative. “It was fine last year. What can change?” they’ve asked with barely concealed hostility.

More than one of those guys found out what could change when he missed the chance of a lifetime. I could tell you I was gracious and didn’t gloat by pointing out that I had told them they were making a mistake. But, I’d be lying. There are enough things that can go wrong on any hunt, why gamble on something so easily controlled?”

To read the full article from American Rifleman, click here.

Photo Credit: Original Author

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