243 or ? follow up...

Okay,
After reading through all of your posts and pouring over online reviews of various hunting rifles/calibers etc, I ended up going rather inexpensively with the Marlin Xl-7 chambered in a 270. It came in last Thursday and California's 10 day waiting list has me chomping at the bit. Fortunately the gun club allows me to shoot it while it's in the 10 day wait period - as long as I don't take it off premises. Sweet!
So today I went to the range with the Leupold MKII 3-9 Variable scope and all my cleaning gear and went to work on the greasy beauty. Cleaned it inside and out and mounted the scope.
I read plenty about "getting it on paper" at 25 yards and then progressing down range until the 100 yard target was all dialed in. I read plenty about aligning with bore scopes etc. I read plenty about the "old fashioned way vice the new fangled way". Turns out I didn't have a bore scope or a lot of time today.
After said cleaning and marrying of said scope to said XL-7, I hauled a paper target down range to the 100 yards target line and taped it up - level of course. Then, with the gun in a bench rest, I pulled out the bolt from the receiver and eyeballed the target through the bore. Mounted the scope and put it on max magnification with a comfortable eye relief. Dialed in the up/down and windage for bull's-eye scope while bull's-eye through the bore - or so I thought.
I loaded a 150 grain Winchester cartridge and steadied the crosshairs on the bull. Squeeze and BLAM! Mind you I haven't hunted or shot a larger caliber gun for over 20 years. Good thing I had in my earplugs!

Well I saw the puff of dust come up behind the target and of course I don't have a spotting scope and now I know how handy they would be. I safed the gun and ejected the cartridge then walked down and saw I was off the paper by about 2 inches to the right and down 6 inches. I was scratching my head at that one. Are my eyes that bad? Is it that hard?
Feeling not so good about myself, I went back and pulled out the bolt and re-spotted everything. Apparently I wasn't so dead-eye between the eyeballed bore sighting and the scope sighting. It was plain to me that the bullet went right where it did - right where it was aimed. So I re-adjusted the scope - clicking until everything looked good again. And re-chambered and reshot. This time I was on the paper just one inch to the right but 3 inches low.
I was pressed for time - had to get back to work and lunch hour and ½ was over! Ha ha. So just to make sure it wasn't a fluke I chambered and fired round 3. And this one was 1 ¼ inches to the right of where the second shot landed - both on paper and both near each other! I was very happy with those results and have some additional dialing in to do - however I was pleased to have done that with just 3 rounds.
Cleaned it up and removed the scope and returned it to the club manager. it's mine Sunday, Father's day! I'll put several more rounds through it then and see if I can bring in tight groups exactly on target (which is about 2" above the bull at 100 yards from what I've read).
Thanks again for your guidance - I'm very satisfied.

Djay
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: Sniper
    ... A rasing to scope would always allow a person to be seen. ...  Do not look continually at the missing target. ... never high power the scope until a shot or set of targets close ...  So a unit attack would always be the outcome. ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • Sniper
    ... A rasing to scope would always allow a person to be seen. ... Do not look continually at the missing target. ... All targets would recieve a shot. ... So a unit attack would always be the outcome. ...
    (sci.military.naval)
  • Re: Terrestrial/Astronomical scope?
    ... plus - I have done a lot of target work myself, on a range (shot a possible ... holes as they close up... ... I make no effort to do both with the same scope... ... > use it for terrestrial viewing at night, that would be a bonus, too. ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Eyepiece focus adjustment on Bushnell Elite 4200
    ... Eyepiece focus adjustment on Bushnell Elite 4200 ... There is no adjustment for target focus. ... or wall) from the scope should, in theory at least, be without impact ...
    (rec.hunting)
  • Re: Hunting scopes in fighter jets?
    ... TISEO allowed the F–4 crew to see what the radar was locked to and identify targets from many miles away. ... The idea of TISEO was to give the crew enough time to identify the target visually in order to fire a Sparrow before the target could shoot at them. ... Blue Force pilots rigged a simple piece of equipment that made their problem much easier to solve. ... They purchased a standard telescope of the type used on hunting rifles and manufactured a bracket to attach the scope to the side of the HUD glass. ...
    (rec.aviation.military.naval)