Kinney's Newsletter September 2009

Kinney's Newsletter - September 2009
(All information contained in this newsletter is intended for the use of Kinney's customers.
Feel free to take anything you find of interest here to share with your friends.)

The Second Amendment (Especially for our USA customers)

Every shooting enthusiast in this country talks about the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Many of us have never read it for ourselves, however. We at Kinney's would like to change that for our subscribers.
Here is the Second Amendment in it's entirety:

"A well regulated militia being necessary to a free state,
the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

That's the whole thing. It seems pretty simple to me. The second half of it is our guarantee. - pk

Spotting Scope Selection

Spotting Scope Selection Chart
Scope Diameter (in mm)	50	60	70	80	90	100	130
Minimum Hole Size (arc-secs)	3.7	3.1	2.6	2.3	2.1	1.9	1.4

If you want your new spotting scope to be powerful enough to see the bullet holes in your target, here is a method that will to help you to select the right scope.
In the following example, we will be selecting a scope to use when shooting our .308 rifle at a range of 500 yards.
Step #1
Multiply the caliber of your rifle bullet by 5,730
(Don't ask why, just do the math)
(.308 x 5,730 = 1,765)
Step #2
Divide the result by the distance to your target (in yards)
(1,765 / 500 yds = 3.53)
Step #3
Now refer to the chart above to find the scope with the minimum bullet hole size that's smaller than this. That would be the 60mm scope, in this case.
This tells us that a spotting scope with a 60mm objective lens will be able to see a bullet hole from your .308 at a range of 500 yards.
Please keep in mind that the bullet holes are not always perfect, the visibility will vary with the weather and your eyes may not be much better than mine. As a result, you may want to size your scope up a notch from what these calculations tell you.

New Reticle from Nikko Stirling

Nikko Stirling has a new reticle for their riflescopes that has recently become very popular. The LRX reticle, called a Christmas tree by some, is intended for the shooter who wants a simple method of determining not only the range of his shot but also the the correct amount of holdover and windage allowance required. You will have to know the ballistic characteristics of the ammunition that you are using and do a little homework, before putting it to use, but with this reticle, used correctly, an accurate shot can be taken without a range finder or the time consuming calculations and adjustments to the windage and elevation settings of the scope.
This reticle is designed with the hunter in mind and is particularly helpful when there is limited time for making adjustments to the scope.

For detailed instructions on this LRX reticle just follow the link below.

What on Earth is an MOA?

We hear about the MOA all the time. There are bound to be some of us who don't really know what it means, though. For those who don't, this will probably be helpful.

A circle consists of divisions of 360 degrees. 45 degrees is a pretty steep roof. When we look down range at a target we don't need to be concerned with most of these degrees, though. A degree or so of angle above true level should be plenty unless we are shooting mortars or artillery. And that makes measurement by degree just to coarse a measurement for our use. When we're shooting something with as flat a trajectory as a .223, or even a clunky .45, we need something finer... We need the MOA!

Each of the degrees that we just talked about is divided into 60 parts, or minutes. So, an MOA is really nothing more than 1/60th of a degree of angle, or one Minute of Angle. It's the perfect measurement for the amount we need to raise that rifle barrel so that we can properly compensate for the trajectory of our bullet. And if that is not fine enough we might want to use the "arc-sec" we saw in the article on spotting scope selection. (There are 60 arc-sec's in a minute of angle)
Too simple? Maybe. But at least we all know that it's nothing to be afraid of. At a later date we will see this term again and will see some some of the ways that we use it as a measurement in our shooting.

Your Input

If you have a short article that you would like to submit for this newsletter, just send us an email to the address below. We don't pay anything, but we will give credit for the submission, if it is accepted. If there is anything that you would like to see some information about, please let us know about that as well. We may not be able to answer your question here, but we will make the attempt. - pk