We have reviewed the components of a riflescope, we have properly mounted one on our rifle and we have bore sighted it. Now we are going to take the rifle to the range and we are going to sight it in and then we are going to see how accurate the rifle/scope/ammo/shooter system is. Before we take off for the range, I suggest you pack some small sand bags or a bag pack or some type of large soft object that will not be attached to the front of the rifle (no bipod, that introduces more problems for people who do not know how to use one properly. We can cover bipod use some other time.) I would also suggest you bring a rear bag or sock with sand or maybe even a glove for your non-shooting hand. A high power spotting scope would also be great to have if your scope is less than say 20X, so you can see your bullet holes. For targets, bring regular targets with the square inches and also some blank sheets of paper and a marker.
When you get to the range, get to a table and drop your stuff on it. If you are shooting prone, even better, but I will continue as if we are at a bench or table. If you are quite sure of your boresighting, hang a target at 100, else put one at 50 or 25 even. Make sure all the screws on your scope mount and rings are tight. Do that before you begin, trust me on this.
Now set the front rest that you brought on the bench. It should support the rifle in front of the action, but not at the end of the barrel. (I am assuming you are right handed from now on.) Now sit at the bench and cozy up to the rifle. Position your head so that your shooting eye can see the eyepiece clearly and completely. There should be no dark circle in the scope. The higher the magnification, the more critical the eye relief becomes and the more important it is to have a proper position. My match rifles have fixed power 36X scopes; they are adjusted so that when I get behind them my head is naturally positioned at the exact spot where my eye sees the entire picture. I have no difficulty seeing through these powerful scopes, but it may take you some time to find the proper spot.
If your scope is a variable, it should be set on the lowest power for now.
Ok, here is the first secret to highly accurate scope shooting: The shooting hand only pulls the trigger, the non-shooting hand drives the rifle.
By this I mean that your shooting hand, the one that is going to pull the trigger, should not be controlling the rifle and aiming it. Your non-shooting hand is the one that does that and it does it by controlling the rear of the stock at your shoulder. The front rest will hold the rifle and then you put the rear bag or sock underneath the stock and pull the rifle to your shoulder with your left hand underneath the rear of the stock. The left hand drives the rifle on the target by squeezing the rear bag or making a fist or whatever device you are employing in the rear. You can try this by putting your right hand on the table and simply using your left hand to aim the rifle. I suggest you practice this a little bit and get comfortable doing that; before long it will be second nature. At the public range near the house, I see people using front rests with their non-shooting hand underneath the fore end or better yet on top of the stock or even the scope. The results are best left unmentioned.
Once you are confident that you can aim the rifle with the left hand, use your right hand to load a round. Now for the first sighting shot, place the reticle directly on the target, take a few slow breaths and then exhale some and using your right hand, squeeze the trigger when the reticle is exactly on the target. Make sure your right hand only pulls the trigger and does not move the rifle. Stay in position and let the rifle recoil normally, do not move. This is called follow through and is our second secret. You see most people yank the trigger and jump right up to look around. Look for what, I have no clue, but we know to stay in position and let the rifle recoil, it's also a good time to finish exhaling.
By the way, you need to do this quickly. If you can't get the shot off within 5-6 seconds from the time you start aiming, back off the scope, take a breath and then try again. Looking in scope for a long time will only induce tremors and make your eye lose its acuity. This is actually one area where quality manifests itself; a cheap scope will create issues for your eye faster than a quality scope, but even with a quality scope, the eye will lose its acuity after 8-10 seconds. If you want to stay on the scope, look around the picture, get off the reticle and then come back to it. In other words, don't get fixated in the scope.
Once the rifle has recoiled, stay in position, especially the left hand and use your right hand to work the action and load the next round. Using the spotting scope set up next to you, or if a buddy is spotting for you (even better), find out where the bullet hole is. If you are on paper, shoot a second round exactly the same way as I just described above, using the same sight picture. If you have done everything right, and your screws are tight in the mount and rings, you should have two bullet holes very close to one another on paper. Stop right there, and then calculate the exact amount of correction required to bring the average of the two shots to where you want then on the target. Where you want them on paper is outside the scope of this discussion, it all depends on your application, just make sure you twist the knobs in the proper direction and for the proper amount of correction, no half measures here. Let the rifle cool down for a bit.
(Note: if you are not on paper, this is where a buddy spotting for you is a great asset. It is hoped that he can tell you where you are shooting and you will be able to make corrections. A few ideas are if after 2 rounds you are not on paper, aim the next round at the left edge of the target, then the next one at the right edge of the target, then at the middle bottom of the target and finally middle top of the target. If all these fail to get a bullet on target, get a bigger target or bring the target closer. Next time do a better job on your boresighting.)
Ok, the rifle is cool and we are now going to confirm the zero. Get in position as described above, and get three cartridges ready. Now, with the minimum of movement (stay in position and use only your right hand to work the action and load the cartridges,) fire off the three rounds using the exact same sight picture. If you made the adjustments properly, your group will be exactly where you wanted it to be. Chances are you decided to make the point of impact the same as the point of aim. This will create a problem because as your bullets impact, the point of aim gets mangled. Regardless, we are now ready to try for the best possible group.
Here is secret #3, focus your attention on the target with your reticle, don't pay any attention to the group that is forming on the paper. In order to achieve this, it would be best if you would not make your target the exact point where the bullets will impact. In other words aim at a spot below where your bullets will form a group. First increase the magnification (to the maximum if you want,) and then crank the elevation up by 5 MOA, you want the bullets to be 5 inches higher at 100 yards. Leave the rifle to cool and take one of your blank pieces of paper and using your marker make a dot in the middle of the page about 4-5 inches down from the middle. Remember your shots will be 5 inches higher than your point of aim.
Back at the bench, you are now ready to extract the very best group possible. Make sure you have 5 rounds (target rifle with heavy barrel,) or 3 rounds (hunting rifle) or 1 round (Mini-14,) and then settle back in your now favorite position. Shoot all the rounds while you are totally focused on the dot at the bottom of the paper. That dot will not change, the group will form above. Drive the rifle with the left hand, pull the trigger with the right hand without moving the rifle, do your follow through and concentrate on that dot only. Don't even look at the group forming. Breathe slowly, exhale a bit, hold it, pull the trigger, exhale and follow through. Do not break position, load and go again.
The rifle shot should not some as a surprise, it should fire exactly when you pull the trigger, but do not yank the trigger.
