Gun Thread: End of August Edition!

Howdy, Y'all! Welcome to the wondrously fabulous Gun Thread! As always, I want to thank all of our regulars for being here week in and week out, and also offer a bigly Gun Thread welcome to any newcomers who may be joining us tonight. Howdy and thank you for stopping by! I hope you find our wacky conversation on the subject of guns 'n shooting both enjoyable and informative. You are always welcome to lurk in the shadows of shame, but I'd like to invite you to jump into the conversation, say howdy, and tell us what kind of shooting you like to do!

Holy Shitballs! How in the ever-loving Hell did it get to be the end of August? Know what happens after August? September! And after September? The TXMoMe! Beginning next week we'll have exciting details on our get-together in Texas, so stay tuned!

With that, step into the dojo and let's get to the gun stuff below, shall we?

Providing content with very little personal effort has long been a guiding principle of mine when creating the weekly Gun Thread. Last week it dawned on me that I could reuse material from the Mid-Range Shooting Clinic syllabus, so here is some more of that!

Rifle Zero

So what is zeroing a rifle? Simply put, it's adjusting the sights or optical reticle so it aligns exactly with the bullet impact on target at a specific distance with zero wind and elevation. For the purpose of this discussion I will refer from here on out to optics although the concepts are mostly the same with iron sights.

Every single rifle has to be zeroed if you want to stand much of a chance of hitting a target beyond about 100 yards or so. With changes in velocity and bullet weight, it's very easy for the ballistics to vary to such a degree that a non-zeroed rifle will miss even inside that distance. Every single time you change ammunition, you must re-zero your rifle. You may get lucky and be somewhere on target close in, but the results will only get uglier the farther out you go. A shooter with a non-zeroed rifle stands little chance of hitting a target beyond a couple of hundred yards. It is absolutely essential the scope reticle is pointing to the exact same place as the bullet is going, or you might as well be shooting without sights at all, and you're probably just wasting your ammunition. What is the point of carefully selecting a target through the scope when your rifle barrel is pointing somewhere else?

This is why I spend so much time harping on consistency in ammunition. Inconsistent ammunition, with respect to either velocity or bullet weight, is the same as changing to different ammunition every time you chamber a round. If you know the weight of the bullet and its velocity leaving the barrel you can compute a ballistic trajectory. Alter either variable, and the bullet goes somewhere else. No exceptions. Once again, changing ammo will change the zero. Atmospherics also begin to influence the equation at greater distances, but for now let's stick with the basics.

The good news is that zeroing a rifle is no big deal and is not hard to do. I zero my rifles at 100 yards because I mostly shoot at fixed distances and that keeps the math simple, but it's not uncommon for hunters to zero their rifles at 200 yards or some other distance if that better suits their purpose. Again, all you are doing in the zeroing process is moving the reticle inside the scope so at zero elevation and zero windage indicated, it matches the point of bullet impact at a fixed distance, in this case, 100 yards.

So what is required? A sturdy bench, some sandbags or other shooting rest, a spotting scope and a sighting target. I use pre-printed targets with one-inch grid squares, but that isn't even completely necessary. A blank sheet of paper with an aiming dot will work fine. You can even zero a gun without a bench or sandbags, but you need an absolutely stable platform to work from so small movements in your gear and set up do not affect the point of aim.

The process is simple. With an already fouled barrel, choose a calm day, set up your stuff, and as carefully as possible take a shot at the target. An assistant is helpful to spot impacts landing off the target. Let's say you're lucky and hit the target but the bullet impacts right 3 inches and high 2 inches from the aim point. I like to take a second shot at this point to validate the first. All things being equal, the difference in the two impacts should be small, ideally in the same hole, but at least making some sort of group. For argument's sake, say they're pretty close; almost touching, which tells you your setup and ammo consistency is good. All you need to do now is dial down 2 inches and left 3 inches and you should be in the center. My rifle scopes all use the minute-of-angle (MOA) convention, so at 100 yards it would be down 2 MOA and left 3 MOA. Take a third shot and observe the results. Hopefully you're in the center, but if the impact is wandering around, you need to begin investigating possible causes like goofy ammo or stability and marksmanship problems. Once the bullets are going to where the reticle is pointing, loosen the screws on the scope turrets, turn the caps to read zero for both elevation and windage, tighten them back up and you're done.

Below is a WeaselAcres video which includes the process for our visual learners.

Easy Peasy!

Here is a video of Lena Miculek (Jer's daughter) prepping and competing in the 2025 IPSC Handgun Nationals.

What things do you notice about her pre-match walkthrough process that might contribute to her success? How about things she does during the match?

What happened to the Armed Attorneys babe?

FSJ goes medieval on Lamb Baby with a special guest appearance by Gertie. Due to the graphic nature of the video, viewer discretion is advised.

This week's episode: Chain Store

"We have no information but there is no cause for fear"

Here are some different online cigar vendors. You will find they not only carry different brands and different lines from those brands, but also varying selections of vitolas (sizes/shapes) of given lines. It's good to have options, especially if you're looking for a specific cigar.

Cigarsinternational.com
Cigarpage.com
Famous-smoke.com
Cigarsdaily.com
Neptunecigar.com
Smallbatchcigar.com
Bobalu Cigar Company
Cigarbid.com
Nicks Cigar World New!

A note about sources. The brick & mortar/online divide exists with cigars, as with guns, and most consumer products, with respect to price. As with guns - since both are "persecuted industries", basically - I make a conscious effort to source at least some of my cigars from my local store(s). It's a small thing, but the brick & mortar segment for both guns and tobacco are precious, and worth supporting where you can. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cigar store/lounge available, they're often a good social event with many dangerous people of the sort who own scary gunz, or read smart military blogs like this one. -rhomboid

Anyone have others to include? Perhaps a small local roller who makes a cigar you like? Send me your recommendation and a link to the site!

Ammo Link-O-Rama
I'm really very seriously not kidding around anymore. Buy Ammo
AmmoSeek - online ammo search tool
GunBot - online ammo search tool
SG Ammo
Palmetto State Armory
Georgia Arms
AmmoMan
Target Sports USA
Bud's Gun Shop
American Elite Ammo
Lucky Gunner Ammo NEW!

Please note the new and improved protonmail account gunthread at protonmail dot com. An informal Gun Thread archive can be found HERE. Future expansion plans are in the works for the site Weasel Gun Thread. If you have a question you would like to ask Gun Thread Staff offline, just send us a note and we'll do our best to answer. If you care to share the story of your favorite firearm, send a picture with your nic and tell us what you sadly lost in the tragic canoe accident. If you would like to remain completely anonymous, just say so. Lurkers are always welcome!

That's it for this week - have you been to the range?

posted by Weasel at 07:00 PM

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