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How Zeroing Your Rifle Can Get Really Expensive Really Fast

Tom in Oregon - comments No comments

There I was, I had just finished some chores I had been putting off so I decided to make one last trip to the range to be sure my rifle was dialed in. After all, elk season is right around the corner. Sure, it worked well during deer season, but maybe I had bumped the scope. Maybe my loads are off. Plug in unforeseen variable here. I don’t need much of a reason to hit the range and get in some trigger time.

So I grabbed my rifle, muffs, targets, and a cup of coffee. I fired up big red, sitting there while it warmed up a little.

One last glance and…crap. I forgot the ammo. So I shut the truck off, bounced out and ran into the shop. I grabbed the ammo can, turned around and…oh F#CK.

My driveway has a slope to it. If one forgets to put the truck in gear, or set the parking break, it will roll down hill.

Having left the truck door open and in neutral (that’s stick-shift speak), my truck had rolled back and the open door caught my camper. I was in shock as I watched a 100-pound door connected to a 9,000 pound object impact a 3,500 pound stationary trailer at about 7.33 feet per second.

According to one chart I looked at, that’s the equivalent of 2.706 kilotons of TNT, or 7,518 foot-pounds of delivered energy. Huh. More than my .470 nitro, but less than the .50 BMG.

I dropped the box of ammo and ran to the truck before it could do any more damage. With its momentum it had backed uphill slightly and was just going to roll back forward into the arbor vitae. I let it go.
No sense in getting hurt trying to prevent, well, nothing.

Yeah, the door got pushed way past its usual stopping point. And it ripped the camper jacks away. Crash and burn.

I called the insurance company and started the claim. What else could I do? Kick my own butt? Laugh? Shake my head? At least it isn’t raining, because that door isn’t going to close any time soon.

After everything had settled down, I did the only sane thing I could do at that point I fired up the SUV, threw my stuff in and headed to the range.

Roughly 10,000 dollars later a few rounds down range, I had confirmed that the rifle is, in fact, dialed in. Still dead on, ready for those elk.

Aim small, miss small. And remember to put it in ‘park.’

0 thoughts on “How Zeroing Your Rifle Can Get Really Expensive Really Fast”

  1. I don’t live in NJ but if when they come for mine I don’t plan on surrendering it. They can return with a warrant if they don’t have one and do an (Unsuccessful)search.

    I hope these stocks are already in the 3D printing database somewhere. Not that it’s that hard to Frankenstein one together.

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  2. Damn, I guess Google was broken when most these comments were written. General McCrystal was an excellent commander. You don’t lead a Ranger Company, Battalion, and Regiment if you’re a pussy. He turned JSOC into a highly focused killing machine. In Afghanistan, I think he could have turned things around had he not taken the hits for shit his staff said to a Rolling Stone writer. So most of you need to shut your pieholes about his military record.

    Is he anti-gun? Hell Yes! I know several people that will tell you he was this way when he was a Ranger battalion commander in 1994. They also said he best commander they served with in over 20 years of service.

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    • Whatever – his military record and the second-hand opinions of a few who served with him doesn’t mean shit to me. Maybe he wasn’t a pussy then, but IMO he is a pussy now; he certainly fits the profile. ‘Anti-gun’ is all I need to know in order to classify him with other pathetic liberals who should shut their pieholes in public.

      Oh, and he’s a traitor, too. Yes, I said it. Anyone who has such little regard for his fellow citizens and the Constitution (including the Bill of Rights) and feels that we shouldn’t have the ability to arm ourselves (in direct opposition to the 2nd Amendment) is a traitor to the oath he took. End of story.

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  3. Since more than 95% of denials are false positives, does that mean that 95% of the doors the jack booted thugs kick in will be those of innocents? And if they steal the property of those innocents will they be prosecuted for the theft?

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  4. I had a parallel experience this weekend getting ready to go to a shooting range as well. Fortunately, my error was in my home and will only cost about $400 plus lost productivity.

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  5. Yea! Now I can have 6 rounds in a magazine instead of 7 rounds in the tube…..?……

    Box magazines iz bettur…….r’ sumpin’……

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  6. This was a perfect example of what it takes to stop a mass murderer before he can run up a body count. Because the armed manager and other employee belonged at the business, they immediately understood what was wrong and what needed to be done. No chance of innocent people getting shot due to misidentification. As usual, the second responders (police and paramedics) showed up in time to haul away the dead and wounded and begin an investigation.

    Whatever the problem, there is an almost irresistible temptation to implement some sort of magic bullet in the vain hope that will eliminate the problem once and forever. Gun control is not the only example. Reality is that these problems can only be handled one at a time as they occur. When the problem is violent crime, it takes someone already on the scene who has the necessary tools and skills to put down the criminal. I’m pleased that the police chief gave credit where it was due.

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  7. … no gas for the chainsaw… for firewood.
    Dagnabit. Nobody told me I could bring power tools. Sometimes the 21st century wants to tap me on the shoulder to remind me that the 70’s ended already.

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  8. It’s an interesting concept but I’m a bit concerned about the location of the magazine release. I foresee plenty of accidental mag drops when someone leans the shotgun on a hunting blind, a barricade, or bumps up against it while cycling the action.

    I guess it’s probably not as big a deal with a shotgun as it would be with a 3-gun rifle or a PRS build, but I’m not 100% sold on the design yet.

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  9. We elected a Republican President and Congress last November, right? I am genuinely confused at this point about who won last November.

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  10. For all you folks out there who can actually put a good edge on a blade, please consider doing a write-up for TTAG (and TTAK) and educate us edge heathens on how to do the job right.

    And like always, another nice hunt Tom is kind enough to let us tag along with.

    I hear ya on the cold, Thomas.

    My first Boy Scout overnight was in winter. The next morning, I awoke to find my boots I put neatly outside the night before filled with snow…

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  11. Well good, still won’t change the Cocks not Glocks crowd tho. Way more bad guys now then in the 1800’s, and anyone not incarcerated should be able to carry any kind of firearms they can afford, in any manner they desire to carry it. It would all work out if the government wasn’t in everyone’s business. Drug stores should be a place to purchase whatever anyone wants without a prescription, you wanna OD on oxy’s, help your self. It would all work itself out. A person should be able to walk into a gun shop lay their money down and walk out with whatever they had the cash to buy. I buy that gun, go rob a bank, get shot full of holes, done deal, problem solved. Crime will never stop,neither should crime fighters. Not to rag on the police officers on here, but when’s the last time you’ve actually stopped a crime, I’m not talking DUI’s and jaywalking, I’m talking in the shit before the shit started flying.,.,,,,, Excuses , can’t be everywhere, short staffed, donuts were on sale, whatever. ,( poor cops, they do catch hell don’t they) .

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  12. Ever since the Lauer thing broke I’ve been somewhat surprised at how widely accepted this shit must have been.

    If I walk into your office, you hit a button and the door closes and locks then you best remember a line the The Watchmen; “I’m not locked in here with you. You’re locked in here with me!” because I’m going to forcibly remove pieces of you, pieces which you ain’t getting back.

    Try that shit with my wife and when that karambit comes out you’ll think I’m just a daisy.

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    • Rorschach is the best. Him and the Punisher are my favorite comic book characters because they have no super powers, just the will and determination of a couple of citizens to deal with bad guys with extreme prejudice.

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  13. Call me when it is an 1100 semi-auto with a detachable magazine.

    That said, I dunno. Are the barrels interchangeable with standard 870 barrels? If so and they make a 20ga version as well I might get one SOME day. I’ve been wanting an 18.5″ 870 with ghost ring sights as an HD shotgun that my wife can use as well as me. I don’t like having guns I can’t use for sporting or hunting purposes, so if I can put on a 26″ ribbed barrel to break clays or to drop some squirrels once or twice a year, good.

    I’d need a 2 round magazine for my state for hunting though (max capacity, 3 shells, must be physically blocked). A 2, a 6 and a 10rnd would be nice (and, hey, an 18 or 20 round drum too, why not). With a 20ga, that would also make those magazines about 15% smaller.

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  14. Most gun owners i know are against gun control. Mainly on the basis that they making guns illegal, wont keep anyone bad from getting them, so therefore we should all have access to one for defense. But most gun owners i know think marijuanna is a terrible drug, and making it illegal is the only way to keep anyone from getting. You cant really have it both ways in my opinion.

    Are alcoholics required to give up gun rights when they get arrested for their 2nd, 3rd, 4th time for dui or public drunkenness

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  15. The medically valuable compounds that can be extracted from cannabis do not require the intoxicant compound to be effective medicines, and do not contain the intoxicant, but since the Feds do not distinguish between the two, moron Politicians perpetuate the Marijuana Boogeyman meme and deny Americans both effective medicines and firearms rights. Using the whole plant by various methods provides the user with medicinal benefits as well as intoxication. So, between idiot Politicians and idiot Pot Users you have this “confusion” in Ohio and, likely, elsewhere. Once again, ignorance of facts wins and people suffer.

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  16. I trust gun owners more than anyone else. I trust politicians(especially the D) the least.
    Career politicians like Pelosi, Schumer, and Fienstein(just for example) are the biggest problem. When the same idiots keep getting elected, and the keep pushing for the same crap over and over again, you end up where we are today. Gridlocked. Nothing will change because you have these morons throwing hissy fits and staging sit ins in congress.
    This is the very reason the second amendment was created, to prevent a tyrannical government.

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