FR Gun Club: Sighting In A New Rifle

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[Neil E. Wright]

You can't be to careful when sighting in your expensive new deer rifle .........

1. Shiny new, high-powered deer rifle..............$ 1,200.00

2. Quality, high-powered scope........................$ 550.00

3. Bore sighting device.....................................$ 140.00

4. Hospital Visit......................$ 4,893.00

5. Forgetting to remove the bore sighting device prior to actually shooting? Disastrous

"Life's tough......It's even tougher if you're stupid."
-John Wayne

[Sender]

That is how I do it too. If the target is in the middle of the bore and also in the middle of the sight, you’re pretty darn close.

[CodeToad]

Only workie in cartoons.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Looks like another contender for a Darwin Award.

I would also say that this is no $1200 dollar rifle. It looks like a rather low-end Winchester, or some other mass produced model. The stock has been stamped out of Ash or cheaper hardwood.

The scope is not in the $550 dollar range either, it is a Nikon, usually around $200.

The medical costs are definitely accurate though, and so is the level of rank stupidity. This shooter has obviously had very little experience or training with guns.

Who in their right mind could not see that large object protruding from the end of the barrel, and what idiot would think that it was possible to shoot through such a device?

Besides, bore sighting is easily done in the gun shop or the home without firing a shot. The whole reason is to get the rifle on paper at 25 yards only and final zeroing is absolutely necessary at 100 and beyond.

[Still Thinking]

A little sheet metal and he’ll have a blunderbuss!

[Still Thinking]

I was involved in an incident of a 175mm round prematurely detonating in the tube of a gun (not a howitzer) in Vietnam. The crew survived, but with ear problems and minor cuts from shrapnel. The lot of fuses that had been put in the round had a manufacturing defect. I wish I had some pictures, it looked similar to this, just with a barrel that was 31 feet long. (I was a mechanic and had a new tube installed and the gun was firing again within 48 hours. Support maintenance flew out to inspect the cradle and recoil system, but there was nothing wrong with it)

That must have been something to see. At least once they had a shower and changed pants.

[Still Thinking]

Proximity fuze? Those things have like 10 different safeties. Geez, you wouldn’t think even with a manufacturing defect that could happen.

[hiredhand]

Gosh....just like a real life Elmer Fudd cartoon! I've got a slightly "happier" story. It's about one of my younger brothers.

My younger brother used to have an AMD-65 (Hungarian AK-47) and he kept it next to the bed as his PDW for the house. Him and my sis-in-law run a business and the office is at the house, so he's there about half the time. He was there by himself and he was sorting through some paperwork on the bed and the AMD was there on the bed next to him. He wasn't paying particular attention and had just returned from being outside with the rifle. The safety was off, and there was a round in the chamber (you see this coming don't you!).

Anyway...he was reading something he was holding in his left hand, and trying to get the magazine out of the AMD with his right hand, and not giving it his full attention. He said all of the sudden there was the most amazing *BANG* he had ever heard in his life. The cat (sitting next to him on the bed) instantly went into anti-gravity mode and stuck to the ceiling and ran from the room via the ceiling, blazing a path to the bedroom door!

He said that there was propellant smoke hanging in the air, along with feathers (from the comforter), wood chips from the headboard, and concrete and plaster dust from the wall. His ears were ringing and he had JUST figured out what had happened when he realized that there was a NEW vehicle JUST opposite of the new hole in the headboard and wall. He ran to the window and couldn't see a hole in the vehicle, so he went outside and FORTUNATELY the round did NOT penetrate the outside wall!

He went back to the bedroom to survey the scene and discovered that he pretty much cut the feather comforter in half. Feathers were still coming down when he came back in the house. One pillow also had a hole in it, as did the headboard, and the wall. Now that he was PAYING ATTENTION, he removed the magazine, and unloaded the thing! Then he called me and told me what had just happened! After finding out that there was minimal damage and no personal injury I called him a dipshit and prepared him for what his wife was going to do when she got home!

Sure enough.... his wife got home and I got another call. She said that the NEXT day she would be hauling all of his weapons to my house to keep for awhile! I tried to convince her that a man who does something as stupid as he had just done would probably never do something like it again. She said, "HAVE YOU SEEN MY NEW COMFORTER?!"... she was MAD...plus she's a classic red head and doesn't just simply "calm down" quickly.

My brother was in the DOG HOUSE for about three days and then his wife calmed down. She called us and I gave her our "house rules" for firearms....which for MONTHS was stuck on their fridge and was visible when you walked in the front door!

My brother was fortunate. The cat hasn't been the same since though. :-)

[Greystoke]

Yep, rough bore sighting is fairly easy to do, I never saw the need for one of these laser bore sighting devices. Of course if you are shooting a lever action or other semi-auto where you can’t remove the bolt, you will have to start out at the 10 to 30 yard range to get it on target.

[Greystoke]

Please keep it going.

[hiredhand]

Poor Eaker! As I remember, his *KB* with the M1 was no fault of his own. :-) ...still one hell of an experience!

[hiredhand]

I wonder what hit the guy in the head? It left a “mark”, whatever it was. :-)

[NVDave]

Yes, ‘tis. I just want American gun guys (and gals) to spend their money becoming the best shootists they can be... and that means shooting more.

Of course, I could take my own advice. With this stupid market melt-down and the attending panic and fear, I’ve been too occupied to go out to the range and simply enjoy a day here or there of shooting... and as of this weekend, winter has set in for real here in WY, so now it is time for the indoor pistol range...

BTW — while I’ve got your ear, what’s your thoughts on who makes the best lever gun aside from the BLR these days? I mean a levergun in the classic blunt-nosed rounds... it seems to me that Winchester’s quality on the W94’s was going downhill during the 80’s and 90’s and I’ve got to believe that there is better out there.

[going hot]

Looks like Wile E’s “used” rifle.

[NVDave]

If you don’t mind my pestering you with another question — why the tube changeout? I understand they were two completely different rounds; what did the 8” do that the 175 couldn’t and vice versa?

[longtermmemmory]

I hope the person pulling the trigger is ok.

This would be something to film in a high speed camera for a slow motion study.

This reminds me of the youtube video of the cop shooting himself in the gun safety training class. He shot himself just after he said “I am the only person ...”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxegEMWmNOA

[thackney]

Poor Eaker! As I remember, his *KB* with the M1 was no fault of his own.

Simple rule of thumb, if Eaker is involved, he is at blame.

Second rule of thumb, Eaker is almost always armed; if you are assigning blame out loud, first look to see if his weapon has blown up recently.

Third rule of thumb, backup weapons are not always recognizable or seen.

[hiredhand]

Simple rule of thumb, if Eaker is involved, he is at blame.

Second rule of thumb, Eaker is almost always armed; if you are assigning blame out loud, first look to see if his weapon has blown up recently.

Third rule of thumb, backup weapons are not always recognizable or seen.

Hey Eak... you been blowing up perfectly good hardware again?! :-)

[thefactor]

i have been looking for a picture to post on this thread since yesterday, but i cannot find it anywhere.

it's a pic of what happens when a cartoon character (bugs bunny or daffy duck) put his finger in elmer fudd's gun barrel.

the barrel explodes just like this one did and elmer's face is all black. that is immediately what i thought of when i read this, but i cannot find any pics.

[SLB]

why the tube changeout?

I have no idea. At the time I was a SPEC 4 mechanic and when my motor sergeant told me to change the tube I did it.

[ExpatGator]

“what’s your thoughts on who makes the best lever gun aside from the BLR these days?”

In a word: Marlin.

In a few words: Marlins are mechanically superior in every way. Just my opinion, based on the facts.