When shooting your rifle do you ever do this?

[habersham hammer]

I was watching a video of a guy shooting 5 shot groups. He would fire 6 shots because the very first round he sent down range was off target or in the dirt on purpose. Then he would attempt to shoot the group with then a no longer cold barrel. Now whether a 3 or 5 shot group, does this idea make sense or do you do something similar?

 

[NCMTNHunter]

I have one rifle that shoots way different hot than cold but it’s a hunting rifle so I do the opposite. I’ll shoot it and let the barrel cool down before I shoot it again. With a hunting rifle it’s that first cold shot that counts.

 

[kmckinnie]

I want every shot to be the same. Cold or hot. The group is what is important!
I don’t shoot over 8 ten shots. Then put up to shoot another day. Every day the group will be a little different but I want a group. Adjust and do again later. Any way what do I know. 100 to 200 yards is not enough to mater if I’m failed in. 300 is a chip shot with most deer rifles.

 

[Jester896]

No Sir, not with a centerfire

 

[BriarPatch99]

If it is a hunting rifle ...I am most interested in the cold bore first shot ....I have been known to shoot the same target(one shot per day) for five separate days ... just to make sure my cold bore shot is in the same location.... my set up allows me to do that as I can walk out the back door to my 100 yard range in my yard ...

I really only own two guns that I consider target shooting guns ...one is a AR 15 Bull barrel 16" ... The other is a .22 RF High Standard The Victory... both of those will shoot constant groups including cold shots ... any problems with the groups lay with the shooter ...

 

[Railroader]

If you have any concerns about what your rifle will do on the first shot, then something along the lines of "the Briar Patch technique" described above is the only way to figure it out...

But what if you figure it out at 68° and opening morning it's 28°? Or 98° and your gun's been out in the sun and the barrel is already 108°??

In nearly all cases, there is some issue other than barrel temperature, if a gun won't shoot. And in nearly all of those cases the issue is the guy on the trigger.

 

[king killer delete]

Why would you want a rifle that wouldn’t be on target with the first round? We all know that if I am hunting I want to be on target with my first round because I may not get a second chance. Same thing on the battlefield. I spent 20 years in the army . If I got bad guys coming my way why would I not want to be on target on my first round? You know I have fired a rifle since I was a youngin . I was hunting with a Remington 742 3006 when I was 15 years old and killed my first deer when I was 16. When I was 17 I was at Fort Bragg in Basic Training with my m14 . I was in infantry and Armored cavalry. I fired a weapon allot . You know some people sit in a office or the fix stuff or build stuff. I was a soldier and I carried a rifle. Then I retired and still hunted . I have a savage model ten 308 that has killed so many deer I can not remember.
I ain’t never heard no stuff where you heat your rifle up to get it on target.

 

[bullgator]

Maybe it was just a fouling shot from a freshly cleaned barrel before shooting for groups.

 

[Robust Redhorse]

I sight in centerfire hunting rifles with cold barrel shots only.



With my target 22, it takes it takes a few shots down range for the rifle to "settle-in" and start grouping consistently, once it does, I start shooting for score (up to 200m).


I wouldn't do this with a hunting 22. I would just sight in at 50 yards. If the 1st bullet wouldn't hit a squirrel's head, but the rest would, I'd change something.

 

[transfixer]

as Briarpatch and others have said, on a hunting rifle I'd be concerned about the first shot, cold bore, although some rifles it doesn't seem to change very much after two or three shots, but some it does.

 

[mallardsx2]

For general purpose deer hunting, I always just let the gun cool for 5-10 minutes in between a 3 shot string group. Then I lock in my gun and center my crosshairs to the average of that group. Then I fire one more to check it a half hour later. Then I am done. I have not adjusted a scope in YEARS with this method. Sighted in my 300WSM when I was 18 years old and I have never touched the scope since.

Check it once a year. So basically, its always a cold bore check.

I'm not a guy who jumps around using different ammo all the time though.

 

[BeerThirty]

I guess I'm slightly different. I adjust my scope after every shot instead of adjusting based on the group. So the first shot is vitally important.

 

[bany]

Are you sure he wasn’t looking for a dirty barrel as opposed to a clean barrel?
I always start with a clean barrel, hunting or at the range. At the range I look at cold and warm, clean and dirty placement. I don’t shoot into a hot barrel scenario with a hunting rifle any more.

 

[HarryO45]

I doubt for the same reasons as the fella you saw at the range, but in the military…

Prior to insertion into hostile areas we would often test fire our weapons before getting on planes, helos or something else. We would fire all weapons usually at a makeshift ranges or berm, mostly to test for function, we would shoot at targets about 20 yards away, usually you could tell where you were hitting, but not really the prime objective, because in most cases you gotta lot of people in front or behind you and this is the last thing we would do. Two, three to five rounds kinda fast or burst. Machine guns and SAWs are always the priority. In most cases it is nothing more than a confidence boost. More about function than accuracy. Place on SAFE, fresh mag, then move out.

 

[king killer delete]

Maybe it was just a fouling shot from a freshly cleaned barrel before shooting for groups.

Even then you should have cold barrel accuracy

 

[Steven037]

I’m more of a cold shooter guy. I’ve been know to take a few dry fire pulls to make sure I’m feeling the trigger of that particular gun before I shoot a group. But, every shot that I fire is part of that group.

 

[king killer delete]

First question . How long does it take you to sight in a rifle? Some folks say 4 or 5 rounds maybe ten.
Second question. How often do you got to the range and test your rifle?
It takes me about 50 to a hundred rounds. I go and get my gun sighted in. Another couple of weeks I go again and retest my zero .
Then I go when it’s hot, cold rainy . I retest my rifle several times to insure I don’t have problems. I normally shoot my Savage model 10 tactical every year . Never have had to adjust my scope in 20 years. I am carful with it and I recheck my zero several times each year before deer season . Several years ago I traded a shotgun for a Howa 1500 3006. Nice rifle went through several cheap scopes and last year I finally invested in a good scope . Sighted it , hunted with it and killed a couple of does with my new scope. Several years ago I killed a good size 8 point with the same rifle but had a cheap 50 buck Tasso world lad 3/9 50 mm . So I have killed several deer with this gun. My savage has a bull barrel and does not heat up quickly. The Howa has a standard barrel and heats up quick. Anyway this past year I took the rifle to check the zero. Fired it several times and I found I was all over the target . I’m saying to myself what is wrong with this gun . Then I started adjusting the scope like a dummy. Still wandering all over the target . So I got frustrated and gave up. Went home got booth rifles out of the truck went into the house put my savage in the safe . Got the Howa out , just looking at it I discovered the barrel action was loose in the stock . You can do dumb stuff trying to sight in a rifle.

 

[bullgator]

Even then you should have cold barrel accuracy

Let’s go back to the original post. He stated the shooter would shoot the first shot off target “on purpose”. This isn’t about cold barrel accuracy, but why the guy did it. It’s not uncommon to fire a fouling shot from a clean barrel before shooting for group by target shooters. Now, hunters looking to sight in for that first shot on target will use a different approach.

 

[king killer delete]

Let’s go back to the original post. He stated the shooter would shoot the first shot off target “on purpose”. This isn’t about cold barrel accuracy, but why the guy did it. It’s not uncommon to fire a fouling shot from a clean barrel before shooting for group by target shooters. Now, hunters looking to sight in for that first shot on target will use a different approach.

Once I fire my rifle and have it sighted in or retested the zero no rod goes down my bore until the end of the season and I still have cold barrel accuracy. It’s the same approach .

 

[Batjack]

Let’s go back to the original post. He stated the shooter would shoot the first shot off target “on purpose”. This isn’t about cold barrel accuracy, but why the guy did it. It’s not uncommon to fire a fouling shot from a clean barrel before shooting for group by target shooters. Now, hunters looking to sight in for that first shot on target will use a different approach.

As a sniper trained in the mid 80's.. I'm all about a cold bore / first round kill. The new stuff they've got now where the spotter has a computer hooked to the shooter's scope and making adjustments might as well be U.F.O.s to me. So, that said, IF one is set'n for long periods of time (hours, days, weeks, months) between shots, a cold bore is where one wants his/her weapon to work. If one is on a team or a solo range shooter then kill the 1st one and look good on the card. Like H045 said.. if your mission is "spray and pray" doesn't really matter where you aim any ways.... just shoot and move before someone shoots back.