How does everyone zero their rifle?

[xkon]

Curious if most people zero their rifles with a cold barrel or after a few rounds and the barrel heats up a bit.

I typically send a few rounds downrange then zero after. On the first shot or two on a cold bore I can see up to a 1moa difference compared to after warmed up.

I don't hunt or do single shot benchrest shooting. In that application I assume most would zero with a cold bore.

Or do you all not notice a difference to where this matters at all?

 

[Renegade]

Curious if most people zero their rifles with a cold barrel or after a few rounds and the barrel heats up a bit.

I typically send a few rounds downrange then zero after. On the first shot or two on a cold bore I can see up to a 1moa difference compared to after warmed up.

I don't hunt or do single shot benchrest shooting. In that application I assume most would zero with a cold bore.

Or do you all not notice a difference to where this matters at all?

I zero with a warm barrel. Not sure how one would zero with a cold barrel since it is warm after 1/2/3 shots.

Then I take note of the cold bore differences on future range sessions.

 

[Vaquero]

Cold bore.
Seasoned bore.
It takes a few days.
First shot from various conditions is still "first shot".
Sometimes the window is narrow.

 

[Younggun]

I don’t notice much difference from cold bore, but don’t have many rifles left with light barrels.

I don’t sight in on a clean barrel though. I don’t scrub my barrels after every range trip so I sight them in with some copper in the bore, same way they’ll be shot.

 

[Younggun]

I’ll add that if you are trying to zero with a cold bore you’d really need give some time between shots when zeroing. Otherwise the shots you fire to confirm zero would be from a warm bore and defeat the purpose. I really never give it much thought.

 

[Vaquero]

I’ll add that if you are trying to zero with a cold bore you’d really need give some time between shots when zeroing. Otherwise the shots you fire to confirm zero would be from a warm bore and defeat the purpose. I really never give it much thought.

I give it too much thought.

 

[Lead Belly]

Depends on what the rifle is used for: is it a benchrest'er or a hunter? What conditions will it be used in- do you get a fouling shot?


good article here:

The Fouling Shot « Shooters Notes

We answer concerns over the need to shoot a fouling shot prior to hunting. While not needed for most hunting situations, one needs to verify over several range sessions.

shootersnotes.com

 

[Lonesome Dove]

I don't over think it.
Other than BR or other Comp it's a head game.

 

[TXAZ]

The first shot with my bolt rifle is ~ 1 MOA high and right. So I zero for a non-cold bore.
The remaining shots will all be very consistent on target.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I don’t notice much difference from cold bore, but don’t have many rifles left with light barrels.

I don’t sight in on a clean barrel though. I don’t scrub my barrels after every range trip so I sight them in with some copper in the bore, same way they’ll be shot.

I am in this camp. I oil my barrels once in a while and will run a patch or two down them a couple of times a year, but my rifles won't see a bore brush more than once every year or two, if that, unless accuracy noticeably falls off.

Of course, I am a hunter and not a benchrest shooter. As a hog hunter, I shoot a variety of cold, warm, and hot barrel shots. A dirty and heavy barrel helps keep them fairly precise, not benchrest precise, but MOA precise with the right ammo.

 

[Dawico]

Warm bore with notice of where the cold bore shot goes.

 

[studenygreg]

Depends on the rifle and purpose. For a hunting rifle where my shot will be cold bore I try to keep the barrel cool. For my ARs, I get them warmed up because if I have to use them they will probably be hot.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

 

[FireInTheWire]

Warm bore with notice of where the cold bore shot goes.

This^^^

 

[grumper]

My shots go everywhere so it doesnt make any difference to me

 

[toddnjoyce]

For my personal stuff, same as Dawico, FITW, and several others have said.

When I was active duty, I did it the way Uncle Sam wanted on his weapons. For the rifles, zero was done from cold bore in a 5-shot group from cold bore and confirmed with a three shot group that was nominally cold bore, but in reality wasn’t. Once a rifle was zero’d, on live fire days it was confirmed with a 3-shot group from cold bore before the course of fire started.

 

[TreyG-20]

My shots go everywhere so it doesnt make any difference to me

 

[zackmars]

I've never noticed an appreciable difference in POI between cold and warm bore shots, however my shooting is mostly with milsurps, or suppressed carbines. A 2 MOA group for me is acceptable.

I helped a buddy sight in a correct PU sniper once. Took forever because the barrel would string so badly after the first shot that 3 rounds in we'd be off paper. But as long as the barrel was cold, it'd print a nice 1.5" group at 100. I hated that gun

 

[RaySendero]

Curious if most people zero their rifles with a cold barrel or after a few rounds and the barrel heats up a bit.
.....
Or do you all not notice a difference to where this matters at all?

Depends...

If rifle is new to me, I'll clean bore and chamber real good, oil and then dry patch several times.
If not, then dry patch before shooting.

So, now, I want to know if the rifle shoots any flyers on 1st shots
And where they hit relative to warmed up barrel.

I've had to deal with both cold barrel flyers and clean barrel flyers