# Good read on gathering cold bore shooting



## Texaspredatorhu (Sep 15, 2015)

thought some of you may enjoy this. I came across the link in another forum and thought it was a great read and a great way to do things if you have a lot of time. 

http://m14forum.com/#/topics/63019


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Was the link supposed to go to a specific thread or just the forum in general?


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## Texaspredatorhu (Sep 15, 2015)

It's supposed to go to a specific thread. It works for Me obviously not for you, I'll see if I can copy it over.


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## Texaspredatorhu (Sep 15, 2015)

This is the text written by Gus Fisher about how Carlos Hathcock had him sight in for deer hunting. Thought it was a very interesting way to find cold bore in just about every condition.

Index
Gun Professionals
Gus Fisher


Gus Fisher
Virginia
Dec 05, 2008 · #1
The Carlos Hathcock Method of Sighting in a Rifle.

As mentioned before, I was a very young Marine Sergeant when I came up to THE Marine Corps RifleTeam the first time as the junior Armorer. 

I didn't grow up using high power rifles. We used shotguns to hunt quail, rabbits, squirrels, pheasants, ducks and geese. I used a Mark I Ruger Target .22 pistol for racoon hunting and used a Model 74 Winchester .22 to really learn the basics of rifle marksmanship. My introduction to both high power shooting and long range shooting was in Marine Corps Boot Camp. On Qual Day in Boot Camp, I ran 7 consecutive bullseye's from the offhand position at 200 yards. The 8th round was a pinwheel bullseye, but it was on the target next to mine, so I got a maggie's drawers. Knee High wind got me after that and I fell apart and only shot Sharpshooter in boot camp. 

I bought a sporterized Mauser in .308 with a scope on it from a fellow Marine during the time I was going through the Armorer's OJT program on Camp Pendleton. I used that for ground squirrel hunting, but was never really satisfied with my zero on the rifle. So after I came up on "The Big Team," I asked the second senior Armorer - Ted Hollabaugh, if he could show me how to REALLY sight in a rifle with a scope. He said sure and he would do it, but since we had all the talent in the world at MTU, why didn't I ask one of the shooters? Well, I was a young kid and I didn't know any of the shooters that well - most of them were much older than I. That's when he suggested I ask Carlos Hathcock for some help. I didn't know Carlos then and did not know of his exploits in NM and Sniper shooting. Ted talked to Carlos about it and Carlos stopped by the shop later that afternoon.

Carlos looked at me and said, "So you want to sight in your rifle, eh? OK, thoroughly clean the bore and chamber. Dry the bore out with patches just before you come down to Range 4 tomorrow at noon on the 200 yard line. Have the sling on the rifle that you are going to use in hunting." Then he went on about his business.

When I got to Range 4 the next day, he had a target in the air ready for me. He told me to get down in the best prone position I had. He checked me and adjusted my position just a bit. Then he said, "Before you shoot. The MOST important thing I want you to do is take your time and make it the best shot possible. It doesn't matter how long you take, just make it a good shot. ALSO, and this is as important, make sure you give me an accurate call on where you think the bullet hit the target." After I broke the shot, I told him where I thought the bullet had hit. He checked it by using a spotting scopewhen the target came back up. He grinned just slightly and said, "not a bad call." He then took a screwdriver and adjusted my scopea bit. He had me record everything possible about the shot and weather, humidity, temperature, wind, how I felt when the shot went off, what kind of ammo I was using, the date, and virtually everything about the conditions on the rangethat day. I had never seen such a complete and precise recording of such things in a log book. He told me that if a fly had gone by the rifleand farted while I was shooting, to make sure I recorded that. Then he told me to thoroughly clean the bore and chamber, and have it dry when I came back at 12 noon the next day. I was kind of surprised he only had me shoot once, but when you are getting free lessons - you don't question or argue.

The next day, he told me the same thing. I called the shot and it was closer to the center of the bullseye. He made another slight adjustment and told me to clean the bore and chamber, dry the bore thoroughly and come back the next day at noon. Then we recorded everything possible about that day. The following day, the shot was darn near exactly centered on the bullseye. Then he told me to clean and dry the bore before coming back the next day. Then we recorded everything about that day. 

About a week into the process, Ted asked me how it was going. I said it was going really well, but we were only shooting one shot a day. Ted grinned and said, "How many shots do you think you are going to get at a deer? Don't you think you had better make the first one count?" There was a level of knowledge and wisdom there that I immediately appreciated, though I came to appreciate it even more as time went on.

We continued this process with the sitting position at 200 yards, then prone and sitting at 300 yards and 400 yards. Then we went down to 100 yards and included offhand in the mix. Each day and each shot we recorded everything possible in the book and that included the sightsettings for each positon at each yard line. We also marked the scopeadjustment settings with different color nail polish for each yard line. 

When that was over after a few weeks, I thought I had a super good zero on the rifle. But no, not according to Carlos. He started calling me up on mornings it was foggy, rainy, windy, high or low humidity, etc., etc. and we fired a single shot and recorded the sightsettings and everything else about the day. (I actually used four or five log books by the time we were through and put that info all into one ring binder.) I almost had an encyclopedia on that rifle. Grin.

Well, after a few months, we had shot a single round in most every kind of condition there was. Then about the 12th of December, it was REALLY cold and it seemed like an artic wind was blowing, there was about four inches of snow on the ground and freezing rain was falling. He called me up and told me to meet him at Range 4 at noon. I had gotten to know him well enough to joke, "Do you really want to watch me shoot in this kind of weather? He chuckled and said, "Well, are you ever going to hunt in this kind of weather?" I sighed and said, "See you at noon." 

By the next spring, I had records for sight settings for the first shot out of a "cold" barrel for almost any weather, position and range I would use and temperature/wind/humidity condition imagineable. He had informed me months before that was bascially how he wanted all Marine Snipers to sight in their riflesas only the first shot counts, though of course they would do it out to 700 yards on a walking target and further on a stationary target. They also practiced follow up shots, of course and we did some of that as well. It gave me great confidence that I could dial in my scope for anything I would come across.

Some years later in the late 90's or realy early this century, I was talking to a Police Sniper and he was really impressed I knew Carlos. I told him about the way Carlos had me sightin my rifle and suggested he do the same thing as he was a sniper for the Henrico Country SWAT team. He had never heard of that and took it to heart. About two and a half years later, he got called to a domestic situation where a husband had a handgun to his wife's head and was going to kill her. After the Sergeant in charge and the Pysch guy determined the husband was really going to do it, the Police Officer was asked if he could hit the guy at just over 200 yards and not hit the wife. He said he knew he could (because he had followed Carlo's method), so they told him to take the shot. One shot and the perp's head exploded. The wife was scared crapless, but unharmed. When he told me about it about when I saw him the first time a week after the incident, the first thing I asked him if he was OK about taking the shot. He understood I was talking about the pyschological aspects and he really appreciated it. He said, it had bothered him a little that night until he remembered that if he had not taken the shot, the wife would have died. I checked back with him and he really was OK with having taken the shot. I've checked back every gun show I see him at and I know he is doing fine about it.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Texaspredatorhu said:


> It works for Me obviously not for you


Yeah, I still just get the forum rather than the specific thread.
Thanks for the copy and paste.
It was an interesting article that makes a lot of sense.

Both Carlos and his son used to come into the gun shop where I worked. 
We're about 45 miles from the Cherry Point USMC base.


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

Never went to that extreme....I don't shoot people foe a living.
But do believe in the cold barrel sight in.

I would watch guys bang away, adjusting and "trying different loads:....Barrel was now hot.
The decide..."There all sighted in...."

So the question is...Is the deer, hog, elk, antelope, or prairie dog gonna sit and wait till you get the barrel warmed up?
No,.... the first one has gotta count....mostly the other shots are expensive noise...and 30 round mag are not the answer.


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## krackin (Nov 2, 2014)

I


Bearfootfarm said:


> Yeah, I still just get the forum rather than the specific thread.
> Thanks for the copy and paste.
> It was an interesting article that makes a lot of sense.
> 
> ...


Internet story.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

a few weeks ago when I did the Appleseed Known Distance we started the day off with a 300 yard cold bore shot on steel a 16"x16" plate.
I am learning that once you have the skills to hold on the target which you can develop on the 25 meter reduced AQT then it is all about the data and knowing your load and rifle and reading the wind.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

I do not go to that extreme but believe in the entire concept. There is only one first shot and that should be the only shot.

Today I took my nephews Weatherby Vanguard II`in 6.5 creedmoor to the range. I was shooting Federal premium ammunition with 130 gr Berger hybrid open tip match bullets. At 100 yds from the bench I had to walk to the target to see were my first shot hit. Absolute dead nuts center bullseye. the following two shots gave me a .3" group. I wait several minutes between shots but number 4 and 5 started to spread out as the barrel was heating up. My .243 does the same. Needless to say that first cold shot means everything.
I am very impressed with my nephews rifle. I can see myself owning one in the near future.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

krackin said:


> Internet story.


Feel free to ignore it if you like.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

Why?

It's a good story and spot on.


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## krackin (Nov 2, 2014)

Bearfootfarm said:


> Feel free to ignore it if you like.


Kind of like ignoring the proverbial train wreck.


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## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

Good read, makes a lot of sense


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