Sight adjustment

[JJC]

My marlin is shooting two inches to the left at 120 yards with a reciever sight. At 200 I am six inches to the left. I already have some adjustment to the right used in the rear sight. Is three times the amount off in 80 yards sound normal, or do you think something is out of square on the gun? I plan to drift the front sight at the range and shoot at 100 yards see where I end up. Thanks, John

[fishnbob]

Sight down the receiver using the D&T screw heads and extend the line on down the bbl and see if your sights line up. Mine didn't and it was back to Remington this morning

[Omnivore]

Is three times the amount off in 80 yards sound normal, or do you think something is out of square on the gun?

If you didn't make any adjustments when you changed the distance, then it's more about how you hold the rifle. This "out of square" notion is way over played on the forums. The sides of the receiver, or other features on the rifle, in relation to the sights are arbitrary. Imagine an entirely round receiver and round stock-- no flat spots. Than what? You hole the rifle constently, that's what, and you'll get consisten results.

Now if you're changing adjustment, say, raising the elevation for a long shot, then you need to have that elevation adjustment vector plum-- NOT with any feature on the rifle however, but plumb AS YOU HOLD YOUR RIFLE. That way, an elevation adjustment doesn't also put in some wingage.

Long range match shooters will use a spirit level (bubble level) out near the muzzle, and for that to make sense, the elevation adjustment will have to be square with the bubble. See? It's not complicated. This or that feature elsewhere on the rifle means absolutely nothing unless that feature is always level or plumb AS YOU HOLD YOUR RIFLE. Give me a set of sights that's mounted at 45 degrees (or any angle) from the normal position and I'll make it work.

Then again, if you have a cross wind and you're shooting a slow round with a low BC bullet, you'll get a lot more windage offset as the distance increases, than you'd get without any wind.

[1Shirt]

I would not get excited until I had put a fairly large number of rounds down range, and then made adjustments accordingly. Judge adjustment by group accordinglhy.
1Shirt!

[Omnivore]

There are many other factors that go into this. Does your Marlin have a hooded front sight? If not, as lighting conditions change, so too can your shot placement. Worse case scenario; in direct sunlight, with the sun off to one side, your shots will tend to offset toward the sun. The sun washes out one side of the sight post, causing you to aim to that side.