zeroing my irons

AR/M4 AR General Discussion
1

I’m new to firearms in general, and just shot my colt 6920 with magpul furniture for the second time today on a 50 yard range. I read the zen of the 100 meter zero sticky and liked it. He recommends a 50 yard/meter zero for irons and 100 for red dot. I like his logic behind each zero. I plan on a red dot soon, probably with an aimpoint, and may also add a magnifier. For now, I’m focusing on getting good with my irons.

You can see the group I shot. Aside from obviously practicing, what else did you do to get good with irons? I saw a thread that talked about getting the smallest front site possible, so it doesn’t obscure what you’re shooting. Is this, or anything else, something you would recommend to improve accuracy/consistency? And how much tighter of a group can someone really good shoot with just their irons? (Gives me a goal)

Thanks!

2

Good on you for focusing on the irons. A better target would help a lot. In my experience that type of target combined with my vision doesn’t allow me a consistent point of aim. Depending on the range, I really like the various NRA bullseye targets. It’s probably not a coincidence that they match the width of a standard front sight post… :wink:

How accurate can iron sights be? Well, the smallest groups I’ve ever shot in my life with the exception of highly magnified bolt actions were with iron sights. Again that has more to do with the way they line up on targets than any inherent accuracy advantages, but you can do better than you were doing.

A good goal is 4MOA with good ammunition. At 50 yards that means 2". Some folks can do better(and it should be your goal,) some very competent people will do worse for various reasons, but in my opinion that’s the zone where competence lies for most folks.

So tips…in no particular order.

1)Leave the front sight in the rifle. It’s the size it is for a reason.

2)Learn about natural point of aim, and then apply it to every shot.

3)Get prone if your range allows it, unless you’re heavily sandbagged on the bench in my experience prone is better and more consistent.

4)Learn about follow through, and apply it to ever shot. At your level, and when zeroing this means the rifle should have completed it’s recoil and have settled down before you allow the trigger to reset forward.

5)Remember to breathe between shots, and don’t get caught up in stopping halfway through…breathe in, breathe out, fire the shot.

6)Don’t try and make the gun fire NOW. Learn to build a good firing position and once you’re there, and the natural point of aim is good, focus hard on the front sight and roll the trigger back.

7)Dry fire all of these things over and over.

8)Get professional instruction…I’d also highly recommend getting a subscription to panteaoproductions.com, if only for a month. Tons of videos, from men at the tip top of the field who aren’t teaching anything that isn’t proven. Paul Howe’s videos on there are full of fundamental gold.

ETA:It wasn’t bad shooting, so just take my tips as things to think about as you progress.

3

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I can’t shoot in prone position at the range I go to. I didn’t even know what prone position was, until I ran a search. Gives you an idea of how green I am.

Found a good article on natural point of aim (NPOA). I like what I read.

http://the-rifleman.blogspot.com/2008/03/part-five-natural-point-of-aim-npoa.html

I’ll keep working at it. I’m far from the best, but definitely not the worst. Guy next to me today had a red dot and was struggling to hit the paper anywhere. Hard to fathom how someone can be that bad.

4

Not a bad article. I’d take #3 and throw it out the window though. Can you reliably exhale 2.4L? Or whatever arbitrary amount of breath is the “respiratory pause?” I can’t either, but I can breathe out and I know when I’ve exhaled to a comfortable level without consciously pushing air out of my lungs.

I really want to push you towards Panteao though. It’ll be the best $19.95 you spend on your shooting. I’m not associated with them in any way, but shy of classes costing hundreds of dollars in tuition and thousands of rounds, you’ll learn tons. I’ve been shooting heavily for a decade, and find even their basic videos incredibly valuable. Real proper hands on instruction from a reputable instructor is vital at some point, you don’t want to reinforce bad habits, which you might not know you’re doing and we can’t see to tell you.

And find a range with a modern view on firearms, and that caters to actual shooters as opposed to the once a year deer rifle/zeroing/gun collector crowd. :wink: