SIGHTING IN

Hunting season is upon us.  Be sure to sight in!  The deer rifle that was spot on last year may not be so as of now.  Moisture getting into a wooden rifle stock, swelling the wood so that it applies pressure on the barrel…a bump to the scope or the iron sights between last season and now can throw shots of the course of aim…a change in ammo can alter elevation and even windage…there are lots of things which can mess up point of aim/point of impact coordinates.

I was reminded of this some ten days ago in Arkansas, when I was testing a new pistol and teaching a first-level class simultaneously.  Using the test gun to teach with seemed like a good idea.  I sneaked onto the line with the new 9mm Walther (the PPQ M2, a pretty cool little gun, actually) and put a few shots downrange offhand with 115 grain ammo.  It shot where it looked. I figured it would do to demonstrate the qualification course to the class on the last day.

When that day came, I loaded the Walther with 147 grain ammo I grabbed out of the back of my van.  All went well until we hit the 15 yard line, and after the first six shots I noticed the group was going way high.  I corrected with “Kentucky windage,” holding proportionally low, and finished with a 298 out of 300 possible points.  Four of the rising six had gone into the upper part of the eight-inch circle in the center of the IDPA (International Defensive Pistol Association) target, but two had gone just over, costing me one point down apiece.

The deal I make with my students is that I and the staff will demonstrate the course of fire they’re expected to perform, to “model” it so they have a fresh mental image of what is expected of them in the next few minutes, and to “set their internal clock” as to the time frames in which they’ll have to perform the sequences of fire.  If they tie my score, they get an autographed dollar bill that says “You tied me at my own game,” and if they beat me, an autographed five dollar bill inscribed, “You beat me at my own game.”

Out of 40 or so shooters, that 298 cost me four five dollar bills and change.  It’s more than worth the money to have graduates who can shoot like that.  Still, as much as it pleases me to give out the $1 bills, I confess to mixed feelings about the $5s.

In the advanced course that followed, on the first day when that crew of students was watching the mandatory safety film, I slipped out to the range and tested the Walther on a bench rest.  Interesting thing: that particular pistol put its shots center at 15 and 25 yards with 115 grain ammo, but sent them way high at both distances with the 147 grain rounds I used in the qual. I should have done that part of the test before the first qualification.

Nobody’s fault but mine: I had not tested that gun with that ammo at “predictable using distance” before shooting it for anything serious.

There’s a lesson there.

The price I paid was cheap compared to losing the winter supply of elk meat because I had sighted in with a different load than the one I took into the hunting field. And a whole lot cheaper than if I had been shooting for survival instead of a “fistful of dollars.”

Learn from my mistake.  Get sighted in.

And if you have any experiences in this vein, please post them here, so others may learn in time to prevent poor shot placement.

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