{"id":190811,"date":"2023-07-03T14:17:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-03T18:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=181179"},"modified":"2025-12-22T05:36:28","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T11:36:28","slug":"never-miss-again-part-ii-battle-mount-your-scope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/never-miss-again-part-ii-battle-mount-your-scope\/","title":{"rendered":"Never Miss Again Part II: Battle Mount Your Scope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span>Estimated reading time: <\/span>8<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I planted a small orchard of hardy fruit trees that I hope will stand up to my short growing season and winter temps that reach -25 or colder. Among them is a pie cherry that is on track to produce enough cherries for one pie, and maybe less. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I walked past the orchard this week I saw a flock of starlings descend and land on the seven-foot-tall woven wire deer fence I built around the fruit trees. I hurried over to my gun safe and grabbed the first .22 I could reach, paused for a moment, checked the barrel for obstructions, and loaded four rounds into the magazine. I stepped around the corner of the shop, wrapped the leather sling around my elbow, and fired the rifle. The starling I aimed at fell dead to the ground where it was promptly mauled by my black lab. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

80-Year-Old Rifle – Stevens Model 416<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is the first time I’ve ever shot that gun. It’s a Stevens Model 416<\/a> made in 1940. My grandfather, who was twice wounded in WWII, used it to train troops and himself how to shoot. It had likely not been fired in at least 60 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rifle wore a zero power weaver scope with a 3\/4″ diameter tube. It was passed down to me when I graduated college and I had never shot it out of a combination of respect for a man who died before I was born, and fear that I might not shoot it accurately enough to make him proud from the grave. I had little faith when I pressed the trigger that the rifle would still be sighted in, but shot as if it were. At 50 yards the reticle was thicker than the starling but the middle of the reticle is exactly where the bullet struck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEE MORE: Stevens Shotguns Adds the 555 Sporting Model to the Over\/Under Lineup<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Notice the sling, elbow pad, and shooting glove. The precision small bore was a critical training tool for troops during the second world war.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Keeping Your Zero On A Hunt<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These days I travel often and usually bring a rifle so I can hunt once I get to where I’m going. Most of us live in fear that the scope has been “bumped” and the gun isn’t shooting true anymore. Once on the hunt, we don’t want to be continuing to check zero because rifle shots tend not to attract deer and elk. Rifles<\/a> can fall out of scabbards, hit rocks, get stepped on by horses, and meet all other possible forms of collision, sometimes without the owner knowing it has happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We finally draw down on the critter they’ve been hunting, press the trigger without disturbing the reticle, and miss. It has happened to almost all of us, and there is something easy we can do to prevent that failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Table of contents<\/h2>