Nice thread ! Now that the thaw is setting in here it's range time again. Took the new .22 to the range finally. The winter rust was evident but the rifle shot wonderfully. I want to get back out and test a few different types of ammo soon. After that stock up. These dot drill could be great practice. Some days I don't feel like dragging out the steel. Never been a group shooter outside of load development. This will be a nice way to get some quality practice. Off to print some targets.....

Okay, it's been a little while since I last shot. Here's my embarrassing picture. Obviously, I'm a little all over the place but still managed to keep few rounds in the black. This was the 10/22, 50 yards using SK Standard+. 2 mags of 10. Stand up between each shot.

I'm going to try the hollow dots next time. Cross hair was a little hard to see with these dots.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Stand up between each shot.
I'm going to try the hollow dots next time. Cross hair was a little hard to see with these dots.

Nice, especially with breaking position between shots.

I found the solid dots hard to deal with when I first shot dot drills. Similar issues occur with steel targets when they are gray or black against a dark background.

This is one more thing I’ve gotten from the forum. Dot drills are definitely a valuable way of practicing and testing myself because they are a stark demonstration of my ability to deliver shot after shot with no, “Oh, we won’t count that one” excuses.

Below is my most recent effort, but I see I should challenge myself more. The dots need to be smaller (these were 1 inch, so the second shot would have completely missed a 3/4" dot and a couple of others would have barely clipped the line). Because I was shooting my Tikka T3 with IMI 77 grain OT ammunition, I should increase the range from 50 yards with that rifle or switch back to using my Ruger 77/22. I normally fire five rounds before getting up and reloading, but the drills fritz describes sound good, especially the run, grab ammo, come back, get into position, shoot exercise.

Nice. And also thanks for the encouraging words.

I'm wondering: is it especially bad practice to use the first BDC dot (it's a hollow circle on my reticle) for my 50 yard zero. It might make seeing the dots easier. Is that less precise? I could use the cross hairs for faster loads like mini-mag or bulk Federal (whatever zero it ends up being).

Since it's mostly just vertical, I could index the turret for 50 for both the cross hairs and BDC dot. BDC for dots, hairs for other targets?

I believe circle on circle is the most precise method of minimizing aiming errors. When I shot smallbore competition with iron sights, the bull’s-eye target was a circle, the rear aperture was a circle, and the front sight was … a circle aperture on a plastic insert. That permitted an extremely precise sight picture even with no optical magnification.

Today when I’m zeroing red dot sights my targets are all like these in different sizes. I size the target so that the dot fills most of the circle, but leaves a thin white and then a black ring around the red dot when I’m aiming.



As I’ve mentioned before, I believe diamond-shaped targets are best for crosshair reticles, but if a reasonably-sized circle on the reticle is available, it can’t be beat for precise sight alignment with a circle target.

There are two disadvantages for using a reticle circle:

It makes adjusting one’s point of aim less precise than a fine crosshair; if you need to hold at the edge of a target or half way between the edge and the center, it may be harder to judge where those points are.

And because of that, the sight must be zeroed precisely to coincide the reticle circle with the target circle.

One method of partially dealing with that is to make a target with an aiming point and a hit point. If the circle is for shooting at longer ranges, shoot at a circle (without adjusting your normal crosshair zero setting), see where the hits groups, and then make a target with a “hit” dot at that spot on the paper in addition to the aiming circle.

All kinds of knowledge.....

So then, I wonder if a reticle with fine cross hairs and a small fine circle around the cross hair intersection would be good for me. Although largely academic for now since I'm not likely to buy another scope anytime soon unless something breaks.

But in any case, sounds like there might be some benefit. I'll try it out next time. I'll also print out small diamonds as well (solid and filled but maybe grey instead of black).

My dot targets for the shooting series above were made in Microsoft Paint, filled with the lightest gray color, and then transferred to Word to keep and print on card stock when needed. My latest version of the dots are 3/4" and are made to look somewhat like the Aimpoint targets above with a reticle with center crosshairs and dot to help both with aiming precision and to give me a better indication of exactly where my hits are in relation to the center of the circle.

If you’re interested, I can email you that latest target design for 3/4 and 1 inch dots.

konat88, not bad! Keep it up.

sigfreund, nice shooting! Guessing your holding center at 50yds? Depending on your reticle, randomly dial a wind value. For example dial .7 mils right, then hold on that for 5 shots, dial 1.3 left for 5 shots.... Great way to train our eye to focus on a spot on the reticle. Also can do elevation under/over holds....

Have fun!

Thanks OG. I'll never match the skills here but hope to be reasonable someday.

SF: absolutely would like to benefit from your targets. As always, thanks for the benefit of your experiences.

quote:

Originally posted by offgrid:
Guessing your holding center at 50yds? Depending on your reticle, randomly dial a wind value.

Yes, center hold, and that’s a great idea (but not surprising coming from you ).

I have also fired the drill using the support system you showed me and my buddy using a tripod at front and shooting sticks at rear*. Not surprisingly, I’m not as steady as prone like that. It nevertheless works remarkably well and made literally all the difference for my ability to shoot from an elevated position over obstacles when the prone is impossible. This was the last series I fired like that last August.
Again the Tikka at 50 yards, 1" dots, but with Federal AE223 (55 grain FMJ) ammunition.



* What I’m referring to about using the tripod and shooting sticks (a different Tikka, 308 Winchester):



Email en route, konata88.

You can do the dot drill on this new target and maybe win a 320RX or X5 while supporting a great cause.



http://www.tetreautraining.com...aiming-for-zero.html

quote:

Originally posted by rscalzo:
You can do the dot drill on this new target and maybe win a 320RX or X5 while supporting a great cause.



http://www.tetreautraining.com...aiming-for-zero.html

Umm, that's for pistols, not rifles.

We start off the training session with dot drills 3-5-7 yards for handgun from the one group I train with. Small dots. From that drill the instructors know who to watch/help and not. Chris

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Anchor:
We start off the training session with dot drills 3-5-7 yards for handgun from the one group I train with. Small dots. From that drill the instructors know who to watch/help and not. Chris

Not sure how watching me shoot a handgun is going to tell you what to watch when I shoot a rifle.

There was a sizable rain/sleet/snow/wind storm in my neck of the woods Friday. Since the storm went south more than forecasted, I figured the snow at our ranch would melt on Saturday, with Sunday the being a dot drill day. All looked good until 3 miles from the property, where suddenly every square inch of ground was buried in snow, and snow drifts lined the roads. Ruh-roh.

Punching a track the the snow on our land was interesting, even in 4WD. Then came the realization that a number of trees were blown over during the storm, with one 50-footer laying across our road. No shooting today.

Plan B -- the start


Plan B -- 4 hours later


So much for dot drills today. At least I didn't have to clean any rifles....

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:
At least I didn't have to clean any rifles....

You're supposed to clean rifles?

Dots-R-Us bump.