Equipment Tips for a successful hunting season.

Hunting Season Is Around The Corner!

Equipment Tips for a successful hunting season.

Don’t get caught unprepared this hunting season. Many hunters invest countless time and resources each year for a successful harvest. Whether it’s white-tailed deer, elk, dove, duck or quail, you need equipment you can count on. Here are a few pre-season tips to ensure a hassle-free season. 

Evaluating your firearm

Inspect your firearm for potential issues early enough to address them ahead of season. In some cases, parts may need to be ordered or it may need gunsmith work done. As we get closer to hunting season, gunsmiths get busier and may have extended lead times. Remember the gunsmith’s motto: “Piss Poor Planning on Your Part Does NOT constitute an emergency on MY part”. Before you proceed, make sure your firearms are unloaded both in the chamber and magazine. Keep the ammo separate until range day. Safety First!

Verify your firearm is unloaded and safe to handle before proceeding.

Visual Check 

• Inspect the stock for cracks and/or damage. Wood stocks are especially prone to cracking around the rear tang of the receiver. Caught early, a competent gunsmith may be able to repair a minor crack. Severe cracks may require replacement. Many times hairline cracks go unnoticed for a long time and can develop into larger cracks. Check the stock hardware for loose or missing screws. Tighten or replace as necessary.

Mechanical Check

•   Inspect the bore with a good bore light or remove the bolt and look through the bore toward a light source. Make sure there are no obstructions. The bore should be clean and shiny. If not, clean the bore with a good solvent and bore brush of your liking. The bore should be clean and dry. (In a pinch, on lever actions and semi autos where you can’t look all the way through, you can fold up a small piece of white paper into a small strip about 3/8” wide and 2-3” long. Open the bolt, insert the piece of paper flat against the bolt face and hold the ejection port toward a good light source or shine a light on it. It will illuminate the inside of the bore just as good as a bore light.)
•   The action should be clean and free of dirt, grime, carbon and dry oil. Work the action a few times and make sure it works freely. Clean and oil as necessary.
•   Check the function of the safety. Whether it’s a 2 or 3 position safety, it should move with some resistance and a detent at each position. Moving the safety into each position should give a positive feel and hold itself in the desired position. With the safety engaged, it should either disconnect or block the trigger. When disengaged, it should allow the trigger to function properly. If it doesn’t, have a gunsmith inspect and repair it if necessary.
•   Sight and optic inspection. Inspect your sight hardware for tightness and missing screws. If you find missing or loose scope mount or ring screws, we recommend removing and re-mounting your optic. Remember that scope hardware requires specific torque settings to avoid stripping/shearing screws or damaging optics and a medium thread locking compound such as Loktite should be used on base screws. Firearm specific inch pound torque wrenches are available such as the Wheeler Fat Wrench. Re-zeroing your rifle after removing sights is a must, so plan a range day upon completion. Finally, inspect sights and optics for damage and verify optic lenses are clean and clear. It’s always a good idea to clean your lenses before hunting season for optimal resolution.

Shotguns

If you're in the Midwest and hunt deer with a scoped shotgun, much of the rifle information will apply to you. For you wingshooters, here's a few tips.

• Remove & clean choke tubes including the threads in the barrel. A wire brush and bore solvent works well. I like to put a little bit of anti-seize thread compound on the threads for easier removal.

• On semi-auto shotguns, be sure to clean the carbon out of your gas ports and piston assemblies (where applicable).

• Check and replace "O-Rings" on semi-autos such as the Remington 1100/11-87. If they're dry, cracked or torn, replace them. Those guns won't cycle properly without them. It's a cheap maintenance item.

• Make sure your magazine restrictor "Plug" is installed. This should limit magazine capacity to two rounds (+1 in the chamber), regardless of shell length. Game Wardens give out a lot of tickets for this every season.

 

Range Day: Tips for the bench

It’s always a good idea to shoot your rifle to verify that your sights or optics are dialed in for your specific range. Especially if you’ve made a change in your ammunition or installed or re-installed an optic. It is not advisable to mix-match ammunition during your hunting season, unless you have verified both ammo loads and know where each impacts or re-zero your rifle when you switch ammo. Beware that different ammo could cause a shift in point of impact or a change in accuracy. This is especially important if you shoot at longer ranges. A minor shift at 100 yards could be drastic at 300-400 yards! Always verify your ammo. It’s possible that you may have to try 2 or more types of ammunition if you’re not satisfied with the grouping on range day.

• Establishing a good zero requires a few things. A properly functioning rifle, quality ammunition and properly installed sights. Magnified optics should be bore sighted prior to hitting the range. Some ranges offer bore sighting for a small fee. I always start bore sighted rifles at 25 yards and zero them roughly 1-2 inches low to account for the height of the scope. Then proceed to 100 yards, dial in and proceed. Repeat this process per each 100 yards.
• Use a good rest or sandbags with the front and rear supported. This will give you good stability during the sight-in process. Once your rifle is dialed in, it's not a bad idea to practice shooting in field conditions such as shooting sticks or your bipod. Avoid overheating your barrel during your range sessions. As barrels heat up, your point of impact may shift. 99.9% of the time in the field, you'll be shooting with a cold bore, so you want to make sure your scope is adjusted accordingly.
• Flinchers & Flyers: If you catch yourself flinching while shooting, take a step back and do some dry fire practice while at the range. It's quick, free and will not hurt modern centerfire rifles and shotguns. This should be done while following range rules, on the bench during a "hot" range. Basically, you do everything you would while shooting your rifle or shotgun, but with an empty chamber. Support your gun the same, align the sight to the target, slowly breath out and pull the trigger. Just like golf, you have to follow through on your trigger pull. Stay on target and see how steady you can keep the rifle during the dry fire. Do this 3 or 4 times before you live fire. Shoot 1 or 2 shots then dry fire a couple of times. Alternate until your flinch goes away. Muscle memory will eventually take over. Most successful competitive shooters consider dry fire practice a mandatory step in their training routine.

Shotguns

For you wingshooters, now's the time to visit the range and break some clays. Opening day is not the time to brush up on your skills. Our hunting seasons are short and limited time due to work, family etc. Don't waste valuable field time missing birds and shooting up your expensive field loads. Skeet and trap are great ways to brush up on your shotgun skills with inexpensive, low recoiling ammo. If you're lucky enough to have 5 stand or sporting clays near by, do a round or two to get your muscle memory and technique back into shape.

Don't let equipment failure ruin your hunt. Have a safe and fruitful hunting season and don't forget to get your hunting license and waterfowl stamps.