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Seeing where shots hit

BLAKSUNZ

Private
Minuteman
Jul 20, 2011
0
3
36
Oxford, MS
Ok so I have an entire semester to finish a one hour class (long story) so I plan to spend a vast majority of my free time at the range. I just bought a nice bolt action .22LR will use it to learn everything I can about precision shooting.

Anyway my concerns are the range does not allow the use of steel targets that are brought in by members so that means paper only for me. I don't like shooting paper because I can never tell if I'm doing well without stopping to look through binos. But since paper is my only option then I need to know what equipment do I need to know if my shots are hitting where I want them to?

Do I need a spotting scope, binoculars or will looking my scope (max power 9) do the job? Most of my shots will range from 50-100 yards. Maximum may extend to 250-300 yards practically.
 
Re: Seeing where shots hit

As long as you get the Shoot-N-See type targets you should be ok under 100 yards with a 9x scope. Just make sure to put up several targets because the shots will start to get pretty crowded on those targets. Shooting out to 200 or so yards you may want something stronger.
 
Re: Seeing where shots hit

What's wrong with spotting scopes: If set up right, you just turn your head from the rifle a tad and you're looking through the spotting scope.

I seldom have problems seeing 22 and 30 cal holes up to 300 yards at normal (High Power) paper targets using 20-24 power spotting scopes.

It doen't take long, and you don't have to come out of position when you turn you head and glance through the scope. Even in rapid fire you don't loose that much time checking scopes. I shoot 2 & 8, firing the first two rounds, and glance through the scope to see if I need any last second corrections. You can do that while changing magazines.

Steel is fun, but unless you repaint every few shots it doesn't tell you a lot. I like paper. Easier using actually bullet holes to transfer data to a score book then a bunch of spatters.
 
Re: Seeing where shots hit

I like using the Birchwood Casey spots http://sport.birchwoodcasey.com/Targets/...1c-4b14bdf56c04, they are easy to see and a bit cheaper than shoot-n-see. Start out with some 3"rs and then as you get better you can use smaller spots. Easy to see from 100Y and the bullet holes look black when they punch through. Also you can use anything as a backing, copy paper, used targets, painters paper.

The toughest to see are those NRA black targets.