Getting started¶

Aiming¶

Whatever the sighting system, aiming consists of making the line through the centre of the sighting system point at a desired place on the target, which is called the point of aim.

With a laser sight you point the laser so that it shines on the point of aim; the line through the centre of the sighting system runs from the laser to the dot of light it produces.
With iron sights you line up the rear sight, the foresight and the point of aim; the line through the centre of the sighting system is that line (between the 3 things).
With a red dot or scope you put the red dot or crosshairs on the point of aim; the line through the centre of the sighting system is the line through the centre of the optics to the point of aim.

If you aim and shoot well, the shots should go in almost the same place (called a group), but this may not be where you want it. You can solve this problem by adjusting the sights. When shooting, the line through the centre of the sighting system is always pointing at the point of aim; in that sense it is constant. Because the sights are attached to the barrel, they determine the direction of the barrel. I find it less confusing to think of the sight adjustment causing a variation in the direction of the barrel and so moving the position of the group of shots.

Initial sight adjustment¶

Safety: it is important always to know (accurately enough to avoid danger) where your shots will go before you fire.

Initial adjustments should usually be made at short range: 25m - 100m.

Make the barrel point directly at the point of aim. Do this by looking down the barrel at the proposed point of aim (called bore sighting), or, if it is too difficult to remove the bolt or other part of the action that is in the way, by looking down the sides and top of the barrel (which I will call barrel sighting); then, supporting the barrel to keep it still, adjust the sights so they line up with the proposed point of aim. This should result in the group of shots being considerably less than 1m away from the point of aim when shooting at 100m (or 25cm when shooting at 25m).

Technique¶

You will need to arrange some adjustable method of supporting the gun such as resting it on a sandbag.

When looking down the barrel, you should move your eye and gun so that you see the point of aim in the centre of the hole at the end of the barrel and see the hole at the end of the barrel in the centre of the hole at the back of the barrel.

When looking along the left side of the barrel, you should move your eye and gun so that you see the leftmost part of the back of the barrel in front of the leftmost part of the front end of the barrel and both of those parts in front of something at the same height as the point of aim.

Repeat but with ‘left’ replaced with ‘right’.

Repeat but with ‘left’ replaced with ‘top’ and ‘at the same height as’ replaced with ‘above’.

This is fiddly. You will have to repeat the whole procedure several times until you no longer have to move the gun.

Calibrating the sights¶

Usually sights are adjusted by 2 knobs: a knob on the top of the sights moves the group of shots up and down, and a knob on the side of the sights moves the group of shots left and right.

If you already know how much and in which direction to turn the knobs in order to move the group a certain amount, then you can skip this section, except that you should be aware that the amount is best thought of as an angle or gradient as adjusting the sights varies the direction of the barrel. If you know all this, you know how much to turn the knobs to move the group to the point of aim.

Warning: if a knob has an ‘L’ on it and an arrow, turning that knob in the direction of the arrow will, with most German sights, move the group to the right.

After the initial sight adjustment your 1st shot will probably hit the target. If you do not know exactly where the shot went, try aiming at the centre of the top of the target, as you have not compensated for the drop of the bullet due to gravity. If necessary, try aiming at the top left, top right, middle left and middle right, and if you still do not know exactly where the shots are going, repeat the initial sight adjustment procedure.

When you know where your group of shots is, try moving a knob a small amount: about 1/12 of a turn or 4 clicks; check to see if you can detect any movement of the group. If not, keep doubling the amount you are turning the knob until you do notice movement. Keep turning until you have a movement that is large enough to be easy to measure accurately because it is much larger than the groups.

Suppose that 1 1/3 turns moves the group by 10cm (= 4”) when shooting at 25m. Then 1 turn would move the group 7.5cm (= 3”) at 25m range. Then 7.5cm (= 3”) at 25m is the gradient moved by 1 turn. That is the same gradient as 30cm (= 12”) at 100m (as 100/25 = 4 and 4 x 7.5 = 30) or 300cm (= 3m = 120” = 10’) at 1000m (as 1000/100 = 10 and 10 x 30 = 300); so, if you were shooting at 100m, 1 turn would move the group by 30cm (= 12”) and, if you were shooting at 1000m, 1 turn would move the group by 300cm (= 3m = 120” = 10’).

Now you know how much and in which direction to turn the knobs in order to move the group a certain amount, you can move the group to the point of aim.

It is common to express gradients as a number of inches at 100 yards. As there is not much difference between 100 yards and 100m, the above gradient could be called about 12” at 100 yards. It is also common to express gradients as a number of minutes of angle (abbreviated: MOA); conveniently 1 MOA is almost exactly 1” at 100 yards. (A minute of angle is defined as 1/60 of a degree.)

Adjusting for the 1st shot at a new distance¶

Information needed will usually be given by the manufacturer of the ammunition on the box of ammo or on a website. It will say what will happen if the sights are set for a certain distance, usually 100 yards. There are 2 styles:

It will say how low your shot will go (= the bullet drop) if you are shooting at another distance when your sights are set for 100 yards. Suppose that for 300 yards it says the bullet will go 16” low and that turning your sight knob by 1 click makes 1/48 of a turn and changes the gradient by 1/4” at 100 yards. A gradient change of 16” at 300 yards is 5 1/3” at 100 yards (as 5 1/3 = 16/3). A gradient change of 5 1/3” at 100 yards is made by 21 1/3 clicks (as 4 x 5 1/3 = 21 1/3), so make an adjustment of your sight setting for 100 yards by turning the top knob by 21 clicks in the correct direction.
It will say what gradient adjustment you need to make in MOA if you are shooting at another distance when your sights are set for 100 yards. Suppose that for 300 yards it says you need to adjust by 5.6 MOA and that turning your sight knob by 1 click makes 1/48 of a turn and changes the gradient by 1/4” at 100 yards. 1” at 100 yards is 1 MOA, so a gradient change of 5.6 MOA is a gradient change of 5.6” at 100 yards which is made by 22.4 clicks (as 4 x 5.6 = 22.4), so make an adjustment of your sight setting for 100 yards by turning the top knob by 22 clicks in the correct direction.

The difference between yards and metres can safely be ignored as all you need to do at this stage is to put the 1st shot on the target.

Adjusting in general¶

It is useful to know that the width of a ring on a standard ringed target in 1 MOA; the black includes down to the 7 ring and so has a width of 8 MOA. You can use this scale to judge the error in your shots when viewing the target from the firing point.

The adjustment in clicks or MOA for each additional 100m of distance is about the same, but slowly increases (due to the bullet slowing down).

Some guns have a folding rear sight which clicks into position when raised. If the click has worn out, it is important to raise these sights into a consistent position. If the aperture of the sight is 3” above its hinge and the fore and rear sights are 30” apart, a difference of a few degrees from vertical makes the following differences in MOA of the direction of shot.

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	degrees from vertical
0.1	0.2	0.5	0.9	1.4	2.0	2.7	3.5	4.4	MOA