Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics I now understand the importance of eye-relief!

One of the guys that went to Canada with our group brought a 416 Rigby. I'm starting to accrue some empty cases for a collection so I asked if I could buy one off of him, knowing that they don't come cheap. He replied that I could earn one and the price of admission was a trigger pull. SO, I sat down and balance the Ruger #1 in my hands with elbows on my knees and took aim. Being a bit nervous, it took a couple of breaths for me to settle the crosshairs, then BANG! The Swaro whacked me upside the nose! Result was just a small scratch, but nontheless I learned that eye-relief can certainly be 'critical'.

Just thought I'd pass this on for a bit of levity.

Any other such stories out there?

BTW- This is the first time I've been 'kissed' by a centerfire, the only other time it's happened is with a ML with those stupid see-through mounts from the bench.

There are two kinds of shooters; those who have worn the magnum eyebrow and those who are going to wear it. I got mine last year. After several years of shooting nothing but varmint rifles, I sit down at the bench with my new 7 Rem Mag, sit it in the sand bags and proceed to fire off a shot free recoil, like I just did with the .222 varmint rifle. I'll never need to be reminded to hold onto that thing again.

Got a small one right between the eyes a few weeks ago -- crawled the stock on a .338 Win. Mag. shooting 225-gr. max. loads with a 2-7 variable set on 6x. Put the 4x back on that rifle.

My shooting coach, Martin Teglasi, calls it "the mark of Sorrow"...

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I have so far (knock on wood) avoided the mark. My son got his 2 years ago shooting a 300 win mag in a bad postion in the field. My father got his shooting my then new 30-06 back in 72. tom

Pointer,

Several years ago, I bought a Ruger #1 in the self-same .416 Rigby. Several of my shooting buddies asked what in the world I was going to do with it. I answered: Hunt deer! So, the first day of season, I carried the Rigby out to the deer blind. (BTW, it was equipped with a 1.5x Burris when I bought it.) My intent was to swap guns when I came in for lunch. Lo, I never came in for lunch. About 2:00 p.m. I spied a nice 7 pt. buck off to my right. I kind of skooched around and lined up the crosswires on the buck. Squeezed the trigger! Ka-Pow!! something whacked me in the forehead! That was the only time I have ever fired one shot and drew blood twice. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

BTW, my aim was true. One 350gr. Speer bullet thru both lungs and the deer didn't go very far. And it didn't ruin any meat, either. But from then on, I vowed I would leave the elephant guns to Africa.

P.S. I also learned that the crosswires of a 1.5X scope cover up a lot of deer @ 92 yds.

the9.3Guy

A barrel light 375 Ack. After the first smack on my nose (included blood), I just figured I had been inept at handling the rifle. I had shot it many times before with no problem. After I got the bleeding stopped, I shrugged it off and fired again--and again got whacked. This time it hurt. I turned the scope power down, shot some more and everything seemed fine. I turned the scope back up to full power and got whacked again, this time in the eyebrow. Throughout this ordeal my groups were good.



On the way home I realized I had swapped scopes--put on an OLD (20-30 yrs) Leupold Vari X II. Measured it's eye relief and found the old Leupold had 3/4" less than the newer ones. Ever since then, I only shoot newer Leupolds on heavy kickers and have't had a problem. I won't use any scope with less the 3.5" of eye relief at max power, so many German scopes are automatically excluded.



Blaine

I earned my scar from a 338, Model 70 and a damn Burris 1.5-6X Signature Scope. Got kissed on the very first shot, took another shot to convince me something was not right. By this time blood was running down my nose.
Went home measured eye relief on the Burris then mounted my Leupold Vari-X III 2.5-8X. I picked up a full 1.25" and that made all the difference in the world.

You guys should go back to the original 1945 K2.5 that had 6" of eye relief. It is still the best scope for a big double rifle.

I had a SAKO finnbear in 300 WBY in my hands when I was surprised by a coues deer that I had hunted for two years. I was off balance and the first shot bloodied me so bad that I couldn't see out of that eye for all the blood. I switched to the left side and fire 3 more rounds and never cut a hair...

After the barrel started giving up, I restocked it with a McSucks and a Gary Schneider 338 barrel chambered to 340 Wby. The 2-7 Burris fullfield would whack me in the shooting glasses EVERY time from the bench.

I finally put a Vari XIII on it and it was the best recoil reducer I have ever bought. I haven't had it touch me since!

When I brought the used 99F in .358 Win to the range I was really excited. I had mounted a 4X Lyman and it must have been too far back. One of the first shots hit me on the eyebrow and drew blood and it hurt. I stopped the bleeding and resumed shooting only to hit myself again in the same spot!

I must have corrected that scope mounting position later as I have never done that again. There is no scar but it's a lasting memory.

I always appreciated this story of my Dad's magnum scar. It occurred back in the day when regular guys were having .300 H&H's rechambered to accept the then new .300 Weatherby magnum (poor man's Weatherby).

He jumped a spike elk on a ridge line that took off for timber 100 yards below. When he shouldered the rifle, the scope was fogged and he couldn't see through it (you older guys will remember that era). But when he pressed his eye in close he could see well enough to shoot. Knew he was going to get belted, but took that elk down with a neck shot and that scope bled him right along with the animal. My Dad, a real man.