Got a new to me rifle yesterday, and was eager to zero and shoot it. Also had new scopes on 2 older rifles and they needed zero and range time too.
A month ago I ordered out 2 Hawke Illuminated reticle 2-7X32 scopes to be put on some of my lighter varmint rifles. One went on my Ruger American .17HMR, and the other on my H&R/Sako L461 .222.
The new to me rifle, a Sako AII .243, got an also new to me Leupold VX1 3-9 that I acquired on the fire classifieds.
I have always bore-sighted from a gun vise with the bolt removed, but this week I bought a bushnell laser bore sighter, and used it on the .222 and the .243. Long story short, I shoulda saved my cash. The laser bore sighted rifles weren't on paper at 50 yards, and one wasn't on paper at 25. I did things the hard way at the range and got on paper to move to the 100 yard line.
The range was busy today, and all groups estimated by looking through spotter. Gridded targets essential
An early bright spot was the .17 HMR which I'd bore sighted with the bolt pulled. I fired 3 at 50, made an adjustment and fired 1 more. Then I set it aside to take to the 100 yard line.
At 100 I fired 3 rounds and looked through the spotter. Loaded 3 more and fired with the same hold. Wound up with an approx 3/4" group with one called flyer that opened it up to ~1 1/4".
The .222 took it's usual place as the small group shooter of the day. After zero was achieved, My final group was five 50 gr vmaxes into what looked like maybe 5/8" at 100.
The .243 I had no handloads on hand for. The loads I had were neck sized for my Model 70 and wouldn't chamber easily. I had bought 100 rounds each of factory Norma and Federal 100 gr loads that I took to the range for this Sako
Both loads shoot pretty close to the same POI, but the Norma load gave the better groups, averaging 1 1/4" with one remarkable group that was right at 1".
I wanna say that the packaging on the Norma ammo was stupidly excessive. They come in plastic packs, inside the box, similar to what Federal uses, but they have a little stop catch molded in over the base of the cartridge. I had to use a leatherman tool screwdriver to pry them out of the plastic.Might have not been as bothersome on a warmer day, but at 30 degrees it was a pain in the ass.
I was pretty happy with the day. I'm not a bench rest shooter my front rest is a Plano box with a piece of 1" foam laid across the top.
Scope observations.
I bought the Hawke scopes for their illuminated reticles. They have a good rep for forgiving eye box, and standing holding the rifle, I'd agree with that. Put them on a bench and lean into them, and I struggled just a bit for eye position on 7X.
These scopes are marked as 4 clicks per 1". I think the actual movement is finer than that, to the point of being excessively fine. They did move consistently and positively while zeroing both rifles.
The illuminated reticles allow a choice of red or green Illumination at 5 different brightness levels. The green is much more visible, almost to the point of being too bright on it's lowest setting. I haven't yet shot them under low light conditions, but I'm guessing that red level 1 will be the magic.
And then the new-to-me Leupold on the .243. I might not have even noticed that I was struggling for eye position with the Hawke scopes, til I picked up the .243 with the Leupy mounted. What a breath of fresh air to go from 3 to 9X with no neck stretching or strain whatsoever. But that's not news to Leupold fans.
All of the movements were positive and crisp, and zeroing with this scope was a breeze.
