Hunting, Cold bore, cold shooter, clean bore.

[Rebel_Rider1969]

How many of you have shot a deer, yote or other target and thought " I DID NOT aim there"
Sometimes it's just buck, critter fever but maybe it's not.
Daezee just posted about cooling the barrel while setting his sights and I remembered I wanted to talk about this.
I have experienced this on a few rifles. With variances as much as 4 inches @ 100.
We all adjust our scopes the same way, bang, adjust, bang, adjust, 6x or more times then get it right, and fire again to check. Then clean the rifle and throw back in the case for 3 months till critter season.
100% of the time at least deer hunting it's gonna be a clean, cold bore shot then hopefully done.
It's definitely worth checking your rifle before your target shows up.
As the weather cools off its gonna be an extra cold shot.
Also cold shooter is a thing to think about. Improper check weld, not pulling the rifle tight, resting the rifle on something etc. All these things will effect accuracy add to that fussy scope eye boxes.
Alot of times I've noticed, I'm taking a shot at a bad angle because the deer decided to walk out on my far right or left add that to the equation. Because your not shooting off a benchrest, bog pod straight ahead like you practiced.
Just some ramblings, YMMV.

 

[Bucklowery]

Inside 300 yards your cold bore should not matter with modern firearms. If it does you need a new barrel

Thanks

Buck

 

[Jester896]

often CCB (cold clean bore), CFB (cold fouled bore) and HFB (hot fouled bore) could all have different POI.

on most of my hunting rifles, once it is fouled it stays in the fouled state until season is over or some weather anomaly like getting caught in rain, a real wet condition of some type, fog or bringing the rifle from one extreme temp to another that moisture could collect in fouling. On some of my other rifles this is tracked in DOPE books. You can get pocket types too.

some things to prevent some of that extreme heat (which may erode the throat faster) is when you shoot the first shot when sighting it in...lock the rifle some how on your point of aim from your first shot...then move your crosshair to the impact hole (or use 2 people..1 to hold rifle and 1 to turn knobs).

Try to keep your hunting rifle in the condition you normally use it. If you are lucky your CFB will be very close or the same as HFB...but you should know.

 

[Norm]

How many of you have shot a deer, yote or other target and thought " I DID NOT aim there"
Sometimes it's just buck, critter fever but maybe it's not.
Daezee just posted about cooling the barrel while setting his sights and I remembered I wanted to talk about this.
I have experienced this on a few rifles. With variances as much as 4 inches @ 100.
We all adjust our scopes the same way, bang, adjust, bang, adjust, 6x or more times then get it right, and fire again to check. Then clean the rifle and throw back in the case for 3 months till critter season.
100% of the time at least deer hunting it's gonna be a clean, cold bore shot then hopefully done.
It's definitely worth checking your rifle before your target shows up.
As the weather cools off its gonna be an extra cold shot.
Also cold shooter is a thing to think about. Improper check weld, not pulling the rifle tight, resting the rifle on something etc. All these things will effect accuracy add to that fussy scope eye boxes.
Alot of times I've noticed, I'm taking a shot at a bad angle because the deer decided to walk out on my far right or left add that to the equation. Because your not shooting off a benchrest, bog pod straight ahead like you practiced.
Just some ramblings, YMMV.

How many of you have shot a deer, yote or other target and thought " I DID NOT aim there"
Sometimes it's just buck, critter fever but maybe it's not.
Daezee just posted about cooling the barrel while setting his sights and I remembered I wanted to talk about this.
I have experienced this on a few rifles. With variances as much as 4 inches @ 100.
We all adjust our scopes the same way, bang, adjust, bang, adjust, 6x or more times then get it right, and fire again to check. Then clean the rifle and throw back in the case for 3 months till critter season.
100% of the time at least deer hunting it's gonna be a clean, cold bore shot then hopefully done.
It's definitely worth checking your rifle before your target shows up.
As the weather cools off its gonna be an extra cold shot.
Also cold shooter is a thing to think about. Improper check weld, not pulling the rifle tight, resting the rifle on something etc. All these things will effect accuracy add to that fussy scope eye boxes.
Alot of times I've noticed, I'm taking a shot at a bad angle because the deer decided to walk out on my far right or left add that to the equation. Because your not shooting off a benchrest, bog pod straight ahead like you practiced.
Just some ramblings, YMMV.

I’ve seen variances, but never close to 4 inches. When setting a scope, I generally shoot twice, make my adjustments and set the rifle down and allow to completely cool. Shoot twice again and so on. The most important thing, to me, is to free float the barrel and don’t ever let it touch anything when shooting. Barrel vibration should be consistent unless the barrel is touching something. Any variance in vibration will affect accuracy.

 

[Bodhisattva]

You ought to consider the scope too. It can be prone to issues. While not a huge variable fan, I don't trust variables like I do fixed, for obvious reasons.

How many of you dial your scope around? I don't. If variable, pick a setting and leave it.
Most anything can be hit with 4x to 6x.

I don't get the high magnification tubes. That's what my binos are for. YMMV

 

[Jhunter]

Sighting in a rifle on a bench is one thing and taking a shot in the field is another. 4” groups at 100yds would be expected in most deer hunting situations. I wouldn’t blame that on cold bore.