but unfortunately not very helpful when it comes to shooting! Nothing wrong with being ignorant....as long as it doesn't interfere with something you wish to do! I'm ignorant in reference to knowing how to perform brain surgery....but I could be taught how to do it! A lot can be done for ignorance.....but nothing can be done for stupidity!

I had a young man on my range yesterday that wanted to shoot 800 yards with his rifle. He had a 270 Mag in long action topped off with a Zeiss scope. When he pulled it out of the rifle case I knew there was a problem as this was a hunting type scope with no target knobs! When I related to him this problem....he pointed to the knob on the left hand side of the scope and told me...."all I need to do is rotate this to the number 800 and it'll be right on for 800 yards!" Yep....there's a problem! When I explained to him that this was and adjustment for removing parallax and how it can cause problems...he understood. I could tell from his facial expressions that he was quite 'torqued' about his prior thinking. I asked him at what distance the rifle was zeroed he told me 200 yards so down to the 200 yard line we went and I put the rifle in a fixture and bore sighted it. As it turned out the reticle was centered approximately 20" to the right when bore sighted. He told me that he'd taken two bucks with it this past year and I was wondering......how??

We forgot his rifle for the afternoon as for shooting from the 800 with it but the afternoon was not lost because we went back to the 800 and I told him "I'd like for you to shoot my rifle from here." I sat him down at the bench and got my .308 Winchester with heavy barrel for him and proceeded to explain a quick course in bullet drop and MOA requirements. I've got a NF 5.5x22x56MM mounted on this rifle and I told him to close the bolt on the rifle, get into shooting position and try the trigger on it. A very accurate load for this rifle is the Sierra 155 gr. Palma bullet with 47 grs. Varget and F210M primers, Winchester brass/neck turned. We had a fairly good breeze coming in from the 4 o/clock position and I told him to take Right 4 MOA which I watched him do and told him to take 22 MOA up elevation. He broke the shot and it was about 2" from dead center of the plate. The young man proceeded to shoot a very respectalbe ten shot group for me and was well pleased with his shooting. As it was getting late we finished the shooting.

Two hours later he texted me and wanted to know just what equipment he needed and would I help him get it together. I told him I'd do so gladly! He told me "that scope of yours is fantastic!" I agreed with him on that also!

This fellow has had previous instruction but not to the degree that some others I have taught because he's been knee deep in university studies and just hasn't had the time to shoot. He played linebacker for his high school team and when he wasn't on the ball field or in school...he was shooting ducks and deer hunting full bore! He's gonna make a good shooter though!

He's my 20 year old grandson and a heck of a great kid!

Even birds know not to land downwind!