Deer Hunting 2021 - Part Two, Zeroing In.

I am always intrigued by pursuits where my assorted interests overlap.  It makes things more fun.  Consider the physics of marksmanship.  Well, I can't consider it deeply because in such matters I am just smart enough to see the questions and a measly few of the answers.

But sending a projectile a reasonable distance for northern Wisconsin deer hunting (100 yards give or take a bit) with sufficient accuracy is not straightforward.  Gravity kicks in at some point and straight lines will betray you.  This assumes you can aim straight to start with, a dubious assumption for this tyro, and that your rifle was accurately sighted in.

And on that point....when I bought a rifle earlier this year the shop was too darned busy to put the scope on and sight it for me.  My son helped me a bit, but now it is time to fine tune.

Step one:  I got this nifty little laser.  It fits inside the barrel and will give you that straight line "bore sight" accuracy.  

In general lasers will work to sight things at 25 yards.  Beyond that the reflected red dot probably can't be seen well enough.  Unless......

What you see above is a dot of a special "retro reflective" tape made by 3M.  We use it in robotics applications.  Instead of sending the light back in a haphazard fashion it bounces it directly back.  In its extreme applications I've heard you can bounce a laser off a target left on the moon and detect its return.  So, 100 yards seems pretty doable.

And off to the woods.  I decided to set up in an area we actually hunt in.  This time of year there is nobody around and the sight lines and backstops are good.  Plus, its a real world test, albeit with a lot more leaves this time of year.  Here the rifle is secured on a stable bench, aiming at that blue target.  I set it 55 yards away.

Although the laser reflection was absolutely Eye of Sauron bright at that distance, and in fact would have been out much farther, centering the cross hairs on it did not put me on target. 

The reasons for this are probably multiple.  There is more laser scatter than I expected.  So although you will get a flash back at a long range it is not guaranteed to be a perfectly straight line.  Also, seeing as I am missing low, there could be some gravity involved.  But mostly I suspect its my inexperience as a new shooter with a new rifle.  Well, you adjust the scope with the rifle locked down, dialing the cross hairs to where the shots are clustering.  After a bit of fiddling and a new target, things were looking better.

From the lock down times we have a bunch of carryout pizza boxes on hand.  They make an excellent final target.

And the results?  Well to make it realistic I of course had to take the rifle off the bench and fire it normally.  Three rounds quickly from a sitting position at a plausible deer hunting range.

I consider this to be quite good considering my newness to hunting and it being the first time I've ever sighted in a rifle.  It should put food on the table.  And not pizza.

Ongoing practice of course is needed, and I will walk it out to 100 yards next time.