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blade02 · 02-06-2011, 09:19 PM

Story:
Took my new rifle to the range today. Squeezed the trigger for my first shot, and WHAM! the scope hit the bridge of my safety glasses hard enough to give me that "punched in the nose" feeling. Throughout the afternoon I tried changing the scope position and the way I was shouldering the rifle. The only results I came up with were either a bad sight picture (black ring in the scope) or the same distance between my face and the scope. So I had to resort to either 1. tensing up, flinching and missing the target or 2. relaxing and hitting the target but getting hit in the face. Needless to say, it was a very frustrating and embarrassing afternoon.

Rifle Specs:
30-06 Remington Model 700 ADL with a factory mounted scope (no branding on the scope). The scope has a 2 piece base (one forwards and one aft of the ejection port).

Questions:
1) Is the stated eye relief always the same for everyone? I've always had trouble with sight picture when I've borrowed other peoples' scoped rifles. I could never get comfortable with the rifle because it felt like I always had to move my head further forwards than I would on an open sights rifle to get a good sight picture. The scope hitting me hasn't been a problem with smaller caliber rifles (.243 or .270), but its happened before on a 7mm Mag.

2) If its not my eyes/scope not making for a good combination, what's the next most likely culprit? I've always been competent with rifles and shot guns before, so I find it hard to believe that I'm shouldering it so incorrect that its causing this. On the other hand, I've never had formal training, so I'm sure there's a lot about my marksmanship that could be improved.

02-06-2011, 09:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
blade02 Insane	Questions about optics and eye relief Story: Took my new rifle to the range today. Squeezed the trigger for my first shot, and WHAM! the scope hit the bridge of my safety glasses hard enough to give me that "punched in the nose" feeling. Throughout the afternoon I tried changing the scope position and the way I was shouldering the rifle. The only results I came up with were either a bad sight picture (black ring in the scope) or the same distance between my face and the scope. So I had to resort to either 1. tensing up, flinching and missing the target or 2. relaxing and hitting the target but getting hit in the face. Needless to say, it was a very frustrating and embarrassing afternoon. Rifle Specs: 30-06 Remington Model 700 ADL with a factory mounted scope (no branding on the scope). The scope has a 2 piece base (one forwards and one aft of the ejection port). Questions: 1) Is the stated eye relief always the same for everyone? I've always had trouble with sight picture when I've borrowed other peoples' scoped rifles. I could never get comfortable with the rifle because it felt like I always had to move my head further forwards than I would on an open sights rifle to get a good sight picture. The scope hitting me hasn't been a problem with smaller caliber rifles (.243 or .270), but its happened before on a 7mm Mag. 2) If its not my eyes/scope not making for a good combination, what's the next most likely culprit? I've always been competent with rifles and shot guns before, so I find it hard to believe that I'm shouldering it so incorrect that its causing this. On the other hand, I've never had formal training, so I'm sure there's a lot about my marksmanship that could be improved.