Getting Ready And Sightin In For Deer Season

[ThomasT]

I went shooting again today to test my new Rossi R95 in 30-30 and a new Savage 243 Axis (not Axis II) and thought I would post some groups. I went a few days ago and got generally sighted in but decided I needed a little tweaking. Mainly on the trigger of the Savage. The Savage came with a factory wood stock from Boyds. Just a plain, simple, no frills hunting rifle.

I polished the mating surfaces and clipped one coil off the trigger spring. The polish job seemed to do the most good. The trigger was gritty and hard to pull with some creep. Now it breaks clean at I am guessing around 3.5 pounds. Good enough for a hunting gun.

I made some targets from Banner Paper and hot pink craft board for the Dollar General and glued the 4" squares on with Elmers glue sticks. I really liked them. Easy to see and easy to line the scope hairs up with the corners of the squares.

I never touched the scope on either gun. I had sighted them in the other day but wasn't happy with the groups. So I gave both guns a really good bore scrub.

The target on the left was the 243. The first shot was almost dead center. The second high and left and the last two right close to the first shot for around a 1" group. The right group was the R95. The first shot was high and right then the next three went into about a 1.5" group.

These were just random loads. The 243 was 40grs of IMR4350 and a Speer 100gr Grand Slam and the 30-30 was 29grs of 3031 and a 150gr Remington bullet. With load work the groups could probably be improved. But I am happy with my results.

[tangolima]

Groups look good. What was the distance? Did you fire fouling shots before shooting the groups?

I don't hunt, but I know people who do. What counts is hitting a 6" diameter target within the first 3 shots from cold bore. If your groups were shot from a cold bore, you may be able to hunt farther out.

-TL

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[reynolds357]

The Axis should shoot significantly better than the Rossi.

[ThomasT]

The groups were shot at 100 yards. The bores were cleaned the day before and no fouling shots were fired. The three shot from the Savage measure right at 1" and those were just a load I selected that was below the top load in the manual. A different load and bullet may shoot better. I don't think Speer Grand Slams are known for pin point accuracy. Just good hunting bullets.

The Rossi 30-30 group is less than an inch and a half and no fouling shots. The first shot went just above the pink square and the next three in the center of the square. The big squares are 4" and the smaller squares are 2".

I fired those 8 shots and packed up. I am ready to hunt with either one of those guns. My 30-06 is sighted in and so is my 7-08.

Let me get a hundred rounds down the bores of both guns to get them burnished a little and I bet the accuracy improves a little. Both are new out of the box with a total of 9 shots for the 243 and 12 shots for the 30-30. And of course different loads may shoot better. Or worse. You never know until yiou try.

[ThomasT]

I didn't think about doing this before but I opened the pictures on the computer and enlarged the pictures until the squares were as close to 4" as I could get them. It looks like the left hand 243 three shot group measure one and one eigth and the right hand 30-30 group measures one a three eighths.

I am happy with any 30-30 that will shoot under 2" with the first load tried and while I am sure the 243 can be improved, for the very first load tested I will take it.

[jmhyer]

As tangolima said, I always fire 2 or 3 fouling shots through my cleaned bore before hunting. Otherwise, I have noticed that the first shot out of the clean bore has a different POI than once the bore is fouled. Also (as TL noted), when shooting for groups, I try to simulate hunting-scenario (i.e- cold bore)) shots as much as my anticipation/impatience will allow.

[tangolima]

I map the 3 shots from cold bore. One rifle (ar-15 Wylde) consistently has the first shot 1.5moa to the left and the MV is always 2-3% higher. I compensate for it by holding right.

Cold bore is a misnomer. The poi shift doesn't seem to have much to do with the temperature, but rather how long the bore has been at rest. 24 hours seems long enough, 1 hours is not. It is at least so for all the center fired rifles I have mapped. There are different schools of theories to explain that.

-TL

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[stagpanther]

The poi shift doesn't seem to have much to do with the temperature, but rather how long the bore has been at rest. 24 hours seems long enough, 1 hours is not.

Have you tried giving your rifle Ambien?

(sorry, I couldn't help it )

[tangolima]

Maybe I should take some myself .

-TL

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[Jack O'Conner]

My 1995 vintage Winchester 30-30 has never shot better than a two inch group at 100 yards with a variety of factory ammo. Since this model has the angle-eject feature, a 2-7X scope was mounted. I have downed many mule deer with this carbine and none got away. My point is that two or three inch clusters at 100 yards will always topple big game with a broadside shot presentation. Jack