How important is a first round hit? Unless you are saving lives, especially your own, then it may not be detrimental to your set up. If you're competing or hunting long range, it's important, but your life is not on the line. You will still likely want to know where your POI "shift" is compared to your group. In my experience, most weekend or average shooters will zero with the thought of "close is good enough". If you're reading this blog, then we both know we want precision. We want to know that the first round consistently hits .2 mils left, regardless if it's cold bore or cold shooter. Because while .2 mils is close and close is good enough, .2 mils at 1000 yards is 7.2 inches, and that's not close or good enough.
I break down zeroing your rifle in two different ways. First is by your first round or cold bore shot. Second is by centering your group by POI. (Point Of Impact)
Most shooters won't even put much thought into this, if any at all. Probably because they are just taught to center their group at 100 yards and call it good. And I suppose that's good enough for the average shooter. Let's take a look at both ways and put it into perspective so you can decide what is best for your needs.
Cold Bore
A cold bore zero is having your zero based off only the first shot. There's a lot of speculation on the cold bore shot topic. Some people whole heartedly believe that your first shot impact will slightly be out of your group because the barrel is "cold", because every time they shoot, the first round is just outside the first group. Well, this makes sense. As the barrel heats up, it will expand and flex on a macroscopic level, causing the first round's POI to be different than the following shots. But, I question this because if, after the first shot, the barrel is now warmed up, then your succesive shots would warm it up even further, causing multiple POI's, until you have reached the apex of the temperature for fire rate. This just isn't something that is being seen, or else we wouldn't be shooting .3 MOA sized groups.
Group Average Zero
The group average zero is pretty self explanatory and straight forward. Even with this, you should keep track of your cold bore shot. Use only one dot on your target for your first shot, then move to a new dot and shoot a group. It's up to you if you want to shoot a 3 or 5 round group. I use three and shoot multiple groups. After the first 3 shot group, I will adjust my scope to put the center of the group on the center of the dot. I then shoot a second group to confirm and make the necessary adjustments, if need be. Now for fun, and just to get the best zero I can, I will shoot one bullet per dot. The goal is to have each bullet as perfectly center to the dot as you can for the perfect zero. I use a specific target for this. It's call the
SNIDER'S HIDE PRACTICAL TARGET.
You can download the PDF and print it off. This is probably my favorite target to use.
Cold Shooter
There is another theory contradictory to the cold bore shot, and that's a cold shooter. This means you didn't have the gun pulled into your shoulder the same way, you anticipated recoil and jerked the trigger just a little, or maybe you muscled the gun on target. Possibly even some combination of all of the above. In my opinion, this theory seems more likely to have a significantly greater impact. Regardless of what you believe, if it shows up on paper, then you may want to adjust for it.
Next time you're at the range, be aware; make a mental note, and check every aspect of your shooting position before shooting. Check body position; are you pulling the gun into your sholder? Are you on target at rest, or are you muscling the the gun on target? Check your trigger pull and breathing. Are you calm and collected, or a little excited because you got to get out to the gun range? Are you flinching because the person by you has a 300 Winchester Magnum with a muzzle break? I bet you didn't take most of this into consideration, and you were just believing that your first round was a little off because of cold bore. Just relax; get used to the noises, and take a few deep breaths; get into position and check yourself. Take your time and dry fire about 10 times, checking yourself after every shot. After you do this, I bet you'll be surprised by the results.
The good news is, humans are creatures of habit. This means if you are pulling your first shot (Cold Bore), you are likely doing it the same way every time. You may see this on paper as a cold bore shot being .2 mils low or .2 mils left consistently. This means you are doing the wrong thing the same way every time. That, at least, is good, because it means you are consistent, and this consistency can be adjusted for with the scope. If you choose a cold bore zero, each time you go to the range, you will use only your first shot to either zero your rifle or confirm your zero. You should do this every time you go to the range. Either way keep track of it in your D.O.P.E book.
Regardless of which way you believe, or the method you choose to zero your rifle, the most important thing is to get out and shoot. Nothing will replace range time and real hands-on experience. As always, have fun, stay safe and keep shooting.
The Overwatch
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