Written By - Phil W - 05/13/2007
Link to Original Article here

Shooting Perfection - Exceeding Your Expectations\'
Things to do before hunting season or a hunt.
   1. Wipe gun down and inspect. Check and retighten all screws (action screws and scope screws).
   2. If gun barrel was floated in stock, check and make sure barrel is still floated and not touching anywhere.
   3. Clean the barrel properly or inspect barrel and make sure clean and unobstructed.
   4. Go to gun range and check your sight in.
         1. Always fire a 3 shot group. A gun with no major problems will always shoot some form of a triangle. Now you can take the center of the group and move it to your sight in point. By using this method, if the gun shoots a 1\" triangle for example after final sight in is done, no one bullet will strike more than 1/2\" from your sight in point.
         2. If after shooting 2 three shot groups, the gun shows no signs of shooting well or shooting a triangle group, then the gun may have a problem such as bedding or floating barrel or recrowning.
         3. If the gun shoots triangle groups, but the groups are too large, I would suggest trying different ammo. You should select and try a different brand and bullet weight to see what shoots the best.
   5. One last thing to check while at the range is if your scope has excessive parallax. A big word but easy to check for. To check for parallax;
         1. Set gun on bags and pick out a bullet hole or small dot on target.
         2. Without touching gun, move your head up and down and side to side and see if crosshair moves off the dot or bullet hole.
         3. A scope that is parallax free will not move, but if the crosshair moves when you move your head then parallax is present. A small movement of 1/4\" or so is no problem, but if movement of 1\" or so is present, the scope needs to be sent back to manufacturer and corrected.