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RE: strange slug issue

NEVER ZERO your gun LAST YEAR, and think it will shoot to the same POI this year without testing it to verify that nothing has gone wrong!

RE: strange slug issue

definately agree with eldeguello-usually do agree with what he sez. I alwyas blast a box or two to be sure and insist others hunting on the farm demonstrate their proficiency, too.

I would think sonic or sub-sonic doesn't really matter, or the range. "Zeroing" is dialing in your sight or scope to the point of actual projectile impact at any given range.

Right?

RE: strange slug issue

Absolutely right Matt.
It is just coordinating the line of sight with a point on the projectile's trajectory curve.A 'zero' should be verified before hunting, and the hunter should know where the projectile will be in relation to the line of sight at all points out to his maximum shooting distance. Guessing when a life is on the line is not acceptable.

RE: strange slug issue

Any luck getting this thing fixed RML ?
I'm very curoius to hear the solution when you find one.

RE: strange slug issue

I have not had an opportunity or time to do anything with it. It seems like summers are way to busy between work and home to do much of anything. I did sight in at 50 yards exactly like lightfield recommends. I remember reading on one of the websites somewhere that the reason they want you to sight in while the slug is supersonic is so that the wind won't come in to play. Supposedly when the slug is not supersonic the wind can blow the slug all over the place. I think this was all on Tar Hunts website somewhere. I'm not ruling out that the cause of this is all me, however the regular rifled slugs shoot exactly like they have in the past and they sure seem to have the same recoil.

RE: strange slug issue

With what a slug weighs I wouldn't worry about wind much, unless it was really blowing. Now a .22 hyper vel, or a .17HMR wind is a huge deal at any speed.

A better idea would be to not sight your gun in on a day that it was windy. Seems like common sense to me? Not a bad idea to shoot in the wind though so you can get a feel of what the bullet does.

I have never been a big propenent for sighting at a distance less that you are going to shoot at. Like sighting at 50 or 100 yards a bit high and assuming it will be dead on at a farther range. I think if you are going to hunt at that range you best be shooting at that range to varify you can hit what you aim at.

Not to mention your sope adjustments will be more accurate at longer ranges. Same way with a bow. The farther out you tune or adjust things the more accurate the they will be. I was shooting my .22's the other day. One is sighted in at 25 yards, the other at 50. I was shooting them at 100 yards and both were shooting to the right. I adjusted the scope to compensate. Then moved back to 50 and 25 yards and it was still on even though I moved it. At 100 yards I was making a more precise adjustment to my scope than I was at 50. My groups got better as a result to boot.

I zero my rifles in at the range I want them zeroed at. I don't guess. If I want a 130 or 110 yard zero, that is where I put the target and zero it at. Then I shoot at different ranges to verify the ballistics. Usually the ballistics calculator is pretty close, but not always dead on. My .17 actually shoots flatter than what it is plotted at.

Paul

RE: strange slug issue

Hey Paul, you got a favorite calculator you like to use?

RE: strange slug issue

This is the one I have been using. Seems to work ok for my needs. I'm not that technical though. I don't own a chrono or anything. I just go buy what the manufacturer lists or take an educated guess.

Big Game Info

Paul

RE: strange slug issue

Thanks.
That's better than me.

I usually wait for the ballistics tables to get printed in a magazine for a rough guess, and then go from there on my own measured data.

RE: strange slug issue

Paul.........Here is your Lightfield sighting in explanation.....though I am not sure he actual answers the question of why the slug must be subsonic directly...he only makes implications

Quote:

Lightfield/Tar hunt

Slug guns must be zeroed (sighted-in) at a distance where the slug will impact the target while still in the supersonic phase of its flight. Most slugs become subsonic, travelling less than 1220 feet per second, slightly beyond a muzzle distance of 50 yards, thus making 50 yards the ideal zeroing distance. Zeroing at 50 yards also cuts down, by approximately 60%, the chance of adjusting windage error into your scope setting.

A common shortcut taken by a majority of shooters is the attempt to zero their guns at 100 yards. This is a serious mistake as several significant factors come into play that will prevent an accurate zero at this distance in all cases. When zeroing a slug gun at 100 yards only, you never know how much windage is turned into your scope setting. Your gun becomes effectively sighted in for that day's wind only, and your point of zero will be as much as 6 inches off of where it should be.

Zero your gun at 50 yards, 2-3/4" high of absolute dead center on your target...no left, no right, simply 2-3/4" high. You will then be dead-on zeroed at 100 yards because gravity will see to it. Check trajectory data for the brand of ammunition you are shooting and adjust the height of your 2-3/4" 50 yard true zero as necessary so as to produce a dead-on gravity zero at 100 yards.

Once your gun has been zeroed at 50 yards, you should fire the weapon at a range of 100 and then again at 150 yards so that you can get a feel for how negative factors, such as wind drift, will effect your shot placement. A perfect hold at 100 yards may now produce a target impact as far as 6 to 8 inches off your point of aim, but since your gun has been precisely zeroed at 50 yards, you can be assured that this drift was caused by a windage effect. Wind has more effect than most shooters realize on the flight of a large, relatively slow moving projectile such as a slug. Learning how to compensate for differing wind velocities and angles, especially at extended distances, is a lesson that must be learned if you wish to be consistently successful hunter and shooter.