Duh! How long have I been shooting?

[Monkeyleg]

I started shooting in 1963 on the school's shooting league. Over all those years I learned a few things, including how to adjust a scope.

That seemed to escape me today, though. I took my m4gery to the range to play. I was sighting with an EOTech, so it was only at 25 and 50 yards.

The sight was zeroed for 25 yards from the previous shooting session. I adjusted for 50 yards, but didn't hit the tennis ball I was shooting at. I adjusted a bit more. Still nothing.

I dialed the elevation back to where it should have been (I thought) for 25 yards. That target was way off. I adjusted a bit more. It got worse. I adjusted more and it got better.

I shot at 50 again, and it wasn't even on the paper. I don't know where the shots were going.

Then it hit me. The little arrow on the sight says "down", as in move point of impact down. I was thinking move the reticle down to bring it to point of impact.

I went through all of my ammo on this idiocy. My last shot was in the red on the 25 yard target. I'm hoping I don't have to waste more ammo when I go out this weekend to make sure it's on.

Yeah, I'm a bright boy. 

[Northwoods]

Apparently you've been shooting for too long.  And therefore getting old.

[CNYCacher]

Wouldn't you want to move the point of impact down to hit a 50-yard target when you are zeroed for 25 yards with that setup?

The distance between the sight line and the bore axis, and the flat trajectory (within 50 yards) for a .223, seem to me that if you had a sight that was dead-on at 25 yards, it would be an inch or two high at 50

[Monkeyleg]

The distance between the sight line and the bore axis, and the flat trajectory (within 50 yards) for a .223, seem to me that if you had a sight that was dead-on at 25 yards, it would be an inch or two high at 50

Precisely. And I should have been adjusting the sight by turning the elevation screw toward the head of the arrow next to the word "down", as in move the point of impact down. In actuality, that's moving the reticle inside up, but you're not supposed to think that way. I was thinking of the word "down" as in moving the reticle down. I wasn't thinking about what I've learned the last nearly 48 years.

At least I got some shots off at the tennis balls at 25 yards before I made adjustments. None of the ranges I went to around Milwaukee would allow anything but paper targets. It's nice to shoot at something like tennis balls or aluminum cans or plastic bottles, something that moves.

[CNYCacher]

Got it.  I misinterpreted what you wrote, and thought you were trying to move the POI up.

[Strings]

>And therefore getting old<

"Getting"?

[Monkeyleg]

That's a pretty wimpy dig, Strings. You can do better than that. Or are you losing your edge with age?

[KD5NRH]

Then it hit me. The little arrow on the sight says "down", as in move point of impact down. I was thinking move the reticle down to bring it to point of impact.

Want to make it worse? Somewhere in my pile o'stuff, I have some no-name red dot where "down" means move the reticle down.

[Strings]

Some family stuff going on...

[209]

I find my mind is no longer retaining facts as I age so  I have all of the manuals for all of my scopes in my range bag.  When I take a scope to the range, I find I have to refresh my memory often times.   

[Monkeyleg]

If I hadn't shot this rifle with this sight in a long time, I could understand to some degree getting confused. But I just shot it last weekend.

Too much on my mind, like the beautiful butt on the office girl at the gym.

[Scout26]

You need to completely disassemblle the sight and try to put it back together.  It's okay if if doesn't work or you have spare parts left over.  Just send it a back and ask for a new one, free.


 

[Monkeyleg]

Scout26, do you remember the really funny part of that story? EOTech replaced the disassembled magnifier with a new one.

[AJ Dual]

Don't feel bad.

I was working my club's (Monkeyleg's former club up here in WI) hunter sight in clinic as a R.O./line-watcher/helper two weeks ago.

This one guy was trying to sight in his scoped Benelli with Hornady SST's (Google the price per box of 5, don't forget to add shipping, or retail markup & tax...) at 25 yards, and he went through one hundred of them, chasing the holes all over his targets, before one of us realized what he was doing, and told him to not adjust his scope until he'd gotten a three shot group to work from.

Although, by then, I think he was getting confused, because there was already a dozen holes in his target by the time each cease-fire was called.

I don't know if he ever got sighted in right, although he seemed happier by the end and had moved his target out to the 50 yard berm... Although I did help him clear his shotgun... when the magazine cap came loose and it spontaneously disassembled itself in his hands while shooting it.

And I KNOW he went through 100 of them, because after everyone left, and we were tearing down for the day, I collected all the fancy brand new once-fired high-brass hulls to make hot slug reloads for my Saiga 12ga and counted them.

He burned through anywhere from $200-300 worth of slugs. For that, he should have just bought a butchered cow. 

There was easily $150 in factory new once-fired brass on the ground when all was said and done. The "hunter only" types of shooters are definitely a different breed... I'll tell you that. 

This other guy was doing the "opposite thing" with his scope too.

Then there was the poor kid who's dad sent him alone to our sight-in with a friend and his father, and a box of .35 Rem for his .30-30... 

[Tallpine]

If you're shooting high, just move the target up 

[Monkeyleg]

Why didn't I think of that, Tallpine?

AJ, was the guy with the shotgun wearing a cowboy hat and duster? I had a guy in that outfit do the very same thing with his shotgun. He had to make a run to Walmart for more ammo. I have no idea how many rounds he burned through and never got on target. Not even at 25 feet.

[AJ Dual]

Why didn't I think of that, Tallpine?

AJ, was the guy with the shotgun wearing a cowboy hat and duster? I had a guy in that outfit do the very same thing with his shotgun. He had to make a run to Walmart for more ammo. I have no idea how many rounds he burned through and never got on target. Not even at 25 feet.

No, this was an Asian/Philipino guy.

He had a devil of a time getting the barrel/receiver/and recoil/inertial bolt tail of his Benelli back together when it all came apart on him. 

[Monkeyleg]

Too bad he got the Benelli back together. Society would be safer if he hadn't.

Guys like that generate conflicts in my beliefs that everyone should be able to own guns.

[AJ Dual]

Too bad he got the Benelli back together. Society would be safer if he hadn't.

Guys like that generate conflicts in my beliefs that everyone should be able to own guns.

Meh..

He was mostly safe, and better than many, kept the gun downrange, didn't sweep the line. Obeyed range commands. His shots were all on paper, just never a group, so unless he's a complete idiot and takes a shot he shouldn't, he'll be okay.

Unless he's in a situation where NOT shooting or a near-miss would get someone hurt or killed. I don't think he'll be hired as a PD/SWAT sniper any time soon. 

[Monkeyleg]

I suppose.

I had one guy who came to a sight-in after having been out hunting the weekend before. He'd aimed at the mid-chest of a deer, but nearly blew a rear leg off. The deer still got away, though. He decided he needed to sight in his gun. 

[Regolith]

Too bad he got the Benelli back together. Society would be safer if he hadn't.

Guys like that generate conflicts in my beliefs that everyone should be able to own guns.

People need to learn somehow.  Not everyone has gunny parents or a good friend who can show them the ropes and keep them from committing mistakes. It'd be better if someone at the range could take them under their wing and show or tell them what they are doing wrong, rather than muttering under their breath about how they shouldn't have a gun.

[Monkeyleg]

People need to learn somehow.  Not everyone has gunny parents or a good friend who can show them the ropes and keep them from committing mistakes. It'd be better if someone at the range could take them under their wing and show or tell them what they are doing wrong, rather than muttering under their breath about how they shouldn't have a gun.

True, but there's just some people who will never get it. There was a guy at our club for awhile who was constantly handling his guns--even loading them--when people were downrange. He would sweep everyone on the firing line. I told him countless times to step away from the bench during a ceasefire, and to keep his muzzle downrange. I'd still catch him doing the same thing. One time he was handling his gun during a ceasefire, and I startled myself yelling at him, as I don't usually yell.

A friend of mine wasn't so polite. When the guy swept my friend with the muzzle, my friend told him that doing so was putting his life in danger, and he would respond the next time by shooting the idiot. He meant it, too.

[Regolith]

True, but there's just some people who will never get it. There was a guy at our club for awhile who was constantly handling his guns--even loading them--when people were downrange. He would sweep everyone on the firing line. I told him countless times to step away from the bench during a ceasefire, and to keep his muzzle downrange. I'd still catch him doing the same thing. One time he was handling his gun during a ceasefire, and I startled myself yelling at him, as I don't usually yell.

Yeah, if they're committing repeated safety violations, especially after being warned, kick em out so hard that they bounce. But if they're being mostly safe, and seem to be willing to learn, I don't see any reason to discourage them.