So, went out this morning to check the zero on a couple of deer rifles before the season. It never ceased to surprise me which rifle are unchanged and which ones need adjustment. Out of 4 rifles, 2 of them needed some adjustment and 2 were exactly where they were last year.

It also surprises me when I hear guys talk about how they never check their zero.

Good luck to everyone this season, whatever you are hunting.

I check my zero all year long! 😃

Fixed it!

I've got one or two that seem to always need some tweaking. The rest I rarely have to touch unless changing loads or optics.

I shoot many of the guns all year long as well, but sometimes I break out a different or older rifle for deer season or as a back up!

IME if rifles need tweaking they have bedding issues.

Exactly!

Could be

I'm never had an issue with a bedded, fiberglass stock.

Mostly haven't with wood, bedded stocks. Have with unbedded wood stocks.

Why so many follow the 'If it shoots good, don't worry about bedding it' mantra is beyond me.

i disassemble my weapons yearly,and shoot several thousand rounds a year

I like to check zero. More trigger time the better.

Understandable, but I'm one that doesn't worry about bedding if a rifle shoots well, preferring to leave well enough or better - and often much better - alone. Mostly I've only found re-zeroing to be necessary when changing loads or ammo batches.

That said, I do free-float my wooden-stocked rifles and helped my buddy do his when he first got it back in 1999. His Ruger MKII 7mm RM goes year to year with 160g Grand Slams without needing adjustment, using ammo he built several years ago. When we checked it a month ago it was still on from last year, +2" at 100 and pretty much matching calculated drops out to 600. Last week I fired it for the first time in years when I had a user-induced ammo malfunction with my .338WM. Took down a 6x5 bull at 411 yards, quartering away, with a shot placed exactly where I wanted it - about 6" behind the front leg, centered vertically and angling to a point just ahead of the far leg.

His rifle isn't bedded and my guess is history will repeat again and that rifle will still be zeroed the next time we get it to the range. None of my Rugers are bedded either and all shoot well enough that I don't mess with them.