In the literature it says that shooting up or down at angles up to 15 degrees won't make any appreciable difference. It is straight and level down range from my shooting position. I use an NRA B-8 target attached to a wood frame about 4 feet off the ground. I want to be sure I am on the paper before I do anything else. With a new rifle, a new scope and ammunition I have never used before, I put my first target at 10 yards. After bore sighting, it is time to visit the rifle range to actually sight-in your rifle from a bench rest. If you don't have either, your local gun shop should be able to help you. If your rifle does not allow bore sighting the old fashioned way (by literally looking through the barrel), an optical or laser bore sighter can be used. With a suitable scope properly mounted to your rifle (be sure the scope is tightly attached), the next step is Bore Sighting. A reasonable balance between these two conflicting requirements is necessary when choosing a riflescope. There is a point, especially for the hunter, where enough is enough and field of view is usually more important than magnification at. The variable scope, for example a 2.5-7x rimfire model, might be set at 7x zeroing, but 4x in the field to take advantage of the lower magnification's greater field of view. Consistency is very important, no matter what you are shooting.Ī fixed power scope has the advantage of always being the same. The catch was for me to shoot the rifle consistently. Out to 100 yards I did not even consider wind direction and velocity.Īs you might have guessed, my group were about the same for all six brands of the different ammunitions at 25 yards. Eventually, I threw it all away and just focused on barometric pressure (altitude related), nose shape (drag coefficient) and speed out the muzzle as input variables. I kept track of six different bullet manufacturers and compared by nose shape and muzzle velocity (MV). For that you had to know your latitude, both for the range where you zeroed and where you were hunting. I was looking at temperature, humidity, altitude, barrel length, wind velocity, wind direction, barrel elevation or depression in degrees, and many others. I think it exceeded two dozen variables of internal and external ballistics. There are many potential variables to consider when shooting. 22 rifle is a Ruger 10/22 with four power scope. Since the small game hunter and plinker will not be shooting beyond 100 yards, due to trajectory and killing power considerations, a fixed 4x or low power variable magnification riflescope is all that is desirable. However, a large, high magnification scope is not the best choice for a. Some shooters think the riflescope is more important than the rifle itself and will spend more money on it. For the small game hunter, the problem is to zero the scope so the rifle is suitable for as many shooting distances as possible with the type of ammunition he or she intends to use. Most come with grooves in the top of the receiver to accommodate 'tip-off' type rings that make scope mounting very simple. 22 rifles come with inexpensive iron sights, but the vast majority are quickly fitted with telescopic sights.

This article is intended for the hunter and plinker who will be shooting at unknown (variable) ranges. Sometimes they will be shooting at rabbits or other running animals, where the range is rapidly changing. Hunters and casual plinkers will be shooting at targets at various distances, from close to the muzzle to, perhaps, 100 yards, so they need to take maximum advantage of the trajectory of the.

For squirrel hunting, a six pound rifle with a three pound trigger pull would be far more appropriate.Ĭompetition shooters and others shooting exclusively at rifle ranges should sight-in their rifles for the known target distance.

A 15 pound competition rifle with a super light trigger pull might be perfect for its intended application, but in the field it would be cumbersome, to say the least. These are two different worlds of shooting. Some folks shoot at paper targets exclusively. 22 rifle prices range from a few hundred to thousands of dollars. For beginners, it is a great introduction to the world of shooting. 22 LR is the most popular caliber in history, because it is inexpensive, light weight, relatively quiet, low recoil, accurate and perfect for small game hunting, plinking and target shooting.

22 subsonic trajectory chart