How to sight-in a rifle with one shot

      Quite often we see new shooters come to the 100 yard range for the first time with little more than a rifle, one box of factory ammo and a prayer.   I always keep an eye on new shooters to ensure safe gun handling without being obvious about it.   Quite often you can spot a new shooter that can't see his hits on the paper.   Whenever possible, I try to make my spotting scope available to them; and I have often found that more often than not, their shots aren't even on the paper yet.   If you find a shooter in a jam like this, you will find that in most cases, he will be eager to accept an offer to help him out.   Especially if you can get him on target with one shot.

      First, "bore sight" the rifle.   To bore sight a rifle requires no special equipment, just a rifle that allows you to look directly through the barrel from the rear.   Secure the rifle on a sand bag rest.   Then remove the bolt, and sight through the barrel until you have your target centered in the bore.   Without moving the rifle, adjust the crosshairs (or iron sights) to your target.   Then fire a shot to confirm your sight setting.   That should get you within 3" to 5" of the target center.

      Don't stop there, because in the next 30 seconds you can easily fine tune the sights to within a half inch or less.   Just set the rifle back on the sand bag rest with the crosshairs (or iron sights) on the center of the same target.   Then without moving the rifle, adjust the sights so that they line up with the shot that you just fired.   After you make that adjustment, watch him fire the next shot.   There's a good chance that he'll put that shot right where it's supposed to be.   I've helped several new shooters get really hooked on this sport by showing them how to do this.   I've also found experienced shooters that just weren't aware of this shooting tip.   Of course the final step is to shoot a 5 shot group to locate the "exact" center of your group.

      Try to bring a few extra targets to the range and some extra hearing protection.   The idea here is to have them available for new shooters that might not be prepared.   Try to motivate new shooters and not loose them to the golf club crowd.   Remember, the more shooters we have, the more people we'll have to stand up for our Second Amendment.