Thread: Brand new to shooting

Finally got to the range today to break in my levtac-92 in .357 mag that I got end of last year ...
It has a Bushnell 3x42 red and green dot that my brother in law had laying around.
Fresh as to shooting, have shot the occasional gun years ago but am properly invested now. After 2.5 hours and 75 rounds later I finally got on the paper (where the actual grid is) and managed to dial it in close enough for a feed.

Any tips or tricks welcome. Bringing binos to the range would probably be the first one... Too many steps back and forwards to see I'm not hitting anything 😂.

Crosses are my last grouping cycling through pretty quickly. Circles were the one before taking my time.

Used PMC 158gr JSP to break it in and get closer to the paper then Hornady lever evolution FTX

Welcome aboard! I'm sure you'll get some advice, so I'll kick off with boresighting... 75 rounds is a lot of fun, but you should have been on the paper after a lot fewer rounds. Enjoy the rifle - .357 is a great and underrated calibre... Here are Mark and Sam After Work using a .357 lever action at 1km!
https://youtu.be/FcookmLvbII?si=iutPheczux_lKVwZ

Start closer to your target

25 yards is hell of a lot closer to walk too. And big cardboard box. If you have access to a black n decker workmate bench....go buy one if don't,under hundy bucks. Fire three controlled shots into target.slowly and carefully so know it's as good as can be....then clamp rifle into Bech so sights are lined up on your AIMING mark...can take a bit of fluffing around BUT you can also move target to line up with sights.....then when sights are lined up on target....and rifle clamped in place....adjust sights to YOUR BULLET HOLES..... No pissing around walking back n forward. No endless expending rounds.thats it. Now fire another three rounds to confirm it.dont forget to put scope turret caps back on. One big lesson hard learnt is this. When your sighting in rifle it's not about how good or bad you are. If you can eliminate the wobble factor,the trigger jerk factor,the close eyes and flinch factor,the mixed ammunition factor,the howling wind factor....well your making things easier on yourself.cranking out six rounds as fast as you can shuck the lever is fun,but has no place in zeroing sights.

Started at 25 then went back to 50 then finally up to the hundy when I was close enough on target

I have always stared with zeroing at 25 yards with an A4 sized piece of paper. Once you are at centre then move to your desired zero distance and it should only be minor adjustments that are required to impact centre of the target. Don’t forget that your MOA adjustment click value (if it is a MOA adjusted scope) will be set for 100 yards so if adjusting at 25 yards you will need to increase the number of clicks by a factor of four (e.g. if an adjustment of one and a quarter inches requires five clicks at 100 yards then it would require twenty clicks at 25 yards to move the point of impact the same measure).

That's a good shout mate! I did find that once I figured out the solid rest it was all coming together much easier. The sights had obviously been played with at some stage as they were all over the show! Ended up whipping them off, going back to basics with irons then starting again. Once I got my head around the adjustments she was smooth sailing. Definitely had some fun with all those rounds as well so I wasn't too guttered it was soaking them up ��

Save your cases as an easy round to load with cast bullets lee carbide dies lee press and the powder coated bullets and your away boom boom .

Originally Posted by m101a1

Save your cases as an easy round to load with cast bullets lee carbide dies lee press and the powder coated bullets and your away boom boom .

Oooooh yeah I saved all the brass. Pretty keen to get into reloading too aye

Ummm, don't take it the wrong way, but I hope you stopped any possibility of someone walking/driving down that path/road

Originally Posted by Oldbloke

Ummm, don't take it the wrong way, but I hope you stopped any possibility of someone walking/driving down that path/road

Yep warned everyone except the mother inlaw, she is the only person allowed in that area

Originally Posted by Oldbloke

Ummm, don't take it the wrong way, but I hope you stopped any possibility of someone walking/driving down that path/road

Yeah mate locked down either side. No one can access that part

Originally Posted by 7mm Rem Mag

Yep warned everyone except the mother inlaw, she is the only person allowed in that area

dont be in a hurry either take some tfime to get to know your rifle -what its idiosyncrasies are does it have good features or some shortcomings you may have to seek advice about.get a mate to observe you behind the gun -is your cheek in contact with the butt -at point of shot are you closing eyes and jerking trigger,are you shaking -yes it may sound silly but weve all been through it at some stages and its simply often a case of going back and refreshing what was done to sort it .
obviously as youre pretty new to the sport do you have a mate who has some experience with boresighting and who is happy to show you or walk ytou through the process so you get a good idea .hno harm in trying .
anyhow all the best and welcome to the fold!

What kotuku said

Experience looking over your shoulder is worth it’s weight in gold at your stage of the game.

Also what MD said, there are different ways of doing it, some are better and worse, it depends how you hold your tongue, but from the post you get the idea. If not watch the linked video.

https://youtu.be/ZUV40AetF5M?si=iFNmsjBV9-x5CFtW