american cadidiot UPDATE

so i'm leaving for fort Dix tomorrow afternoon for a weekend exercise with my ROTC Battalion where we'll be qualifying on M-16's. So today in lab they showed us how to mechanically zero a weapon when an E-7 walks in and says "don't worry about zeroing the weapon after you get your first few groupings, we'll do it for you".

this is the reason people don't like cadets...we get our hands held and then we get to a unit and don't know what to do...not that it's particularly difficult to zero a weapon, just an example. will post results monday. 

Edited by GI JOES SON - 20 April 2008 at 5:45pm

I was a cadet too. Thats where I learned to shoot. Its to bad about the " don't worry mommy will take care of everthing" attitide, your instructors seem to have. When I was in cadets it was very hands on, we were encouraged to learn how to do everything for ourselves. How in the hell are you going to learn to shoot if they don't let you adjust your sights yourself?

yeah, they told us not to worry about wind either.

guns are so overrated.

They will "zero it for you", Hmm. I find that hard to accept. Everyone is going to have different eye relief, cheek weld, trigger pull, etc.etc.etc. and then there is the fact that the more you shoot the weapon, the more gliding metal and fouling builds in the lands and grooves of the barrel. this will change the strike of the round. as well as temperature, humidity, light conditions. "Wind won't do much to a 5.56 out at 300"?? maybe at an indoor range. I have seen the bullet trajectory change at 200yds with a 3-4 mile an hour breeze. Do your self a favor, go an buy some Shooters Choice or Hoppe's 9, 2x's  .223 barrel brushes and scrub down the barrel if you get the chance to do so before they "zero" it for you.

Da Hui wrote: What is this, amateur hour?!

 

Nope.

GI JOES SON wrote: so i'm leaving for fort Dix

*snicker*

scotchyscotch wrote: Yeah if you guys are new to shooting they might not even zero at all. At the early stages its all about technique. the results are the same and make no difference to the coach. A good grouping is a good grouping regardless.

Zeroing the weapon between groups to allow the shooter to actually hit where they're aiming is a big confidence booster for the shooter. Plus, a new shooter may not have very good groups, and not having the weapon zeroed could have shots going off paper.

Battle sight zero. 0 to 200yds. Kentucky windage for all adjustments. Bri, what kind of qualification course do you use in Canada? What are the distances?

Ceesman762 wrote: Battle sight zero. 0 to 200yds. Kentucky windage for all adjustments. Bri, what kind of qualification course do you use in Canada? What are the distances?

For the combat arms, we shoot the Personal Weapons Test level 3. Various positions from 100m, 200m, and 300m. The culmination is the 'rundown'. We start at the 400m mark, target comes up, we have a certain amount of time to run to 300m, drop prone, engage with a given number of rounds. Then 200, then 100, with the position getting less steady as you advance downrange- prone, kneeling, standing. Once you hit 100, you continue to advance to the 75, 50, and 25 with quick snap-shoot double tap exposures, and then at 25 you use your last 6 rounds with two bursts of automatic. It's a fun range.

We have a newer PWT level 4, which is all close quarters instinctive shooting from 7 meters to 25 meters. This is where you do emergency stoppage drills, emergency reloads, turning and shooting, walking, turning, and shooting, shooting while walking forward, armour drills (2 in the chest 1 in the head) all that good stuff. The PWT4 is being shot by most deploying personnel and by members of units with qualified small arms instructors who can do the CQB package- something that's becoming more predominant, thankfully.

We use optics on our rifles, but many of us have eschewed them for irons or reflex sights.