Effective November 18, 2009, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission changed their guidelines for distance learning. Students are now required to spend a minimum amount of time on each course page before proceeding to the certification exam.

Click here to go to the latest version of the Today's Hunter in North Carolina online course—the official hunter education course of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

The following course material is for reference only. Please go to the new course to complete your North Carolina certification.

Sighting-In Procedure

Fire your rifle from a solid bench rest with the forestock resting on a pad or a sandbag. Don’t rest the gun on its barrel—it will shoot higher than normal. Ideally, use an adjustable shooting tripod with sandbags. A spotting scope is also useful.

Sight-in instructions are printed on some targets available from retail outlets or manufacturers. The sighting-in process for most centerfire rifles begins at 25 yards and then should be repeated at 100 yards. The basic steps involve firing at least three shots carefully and consistently at a target. If the bullets form a relatively small group of holes on the target, but not where you were aiming, the sights will have to be adjusted.

When adjusting peep or telescopic sights, the rear sights or dials are adjusted by a certain number of minutes-of-angle or “clicks” in a certain direction. Read the sight’s instruction manual to see how much each click changes the sight at 100 yards.

minutes-of-angle: The standard measurement unit of shooting accuracy; one minute-of-angle (MOA) is 1/60 of one degree, or approximately one inch, at 100 yards

The rear sight is moved in the same direction you want your shot to move on the target. Moving shots from side to side is “adjusting for windage.” Moving shots up or down is “adjusting for elevation.”

Specific instructions about trajectory and what fractions or inches you should be above the bull’s-eye at 25, 50, or 100 yards are usually included on sight-in targets. You also might consult a ballistics chart or get help from an experienced shooter.

Sighting-In Procedure

Animation: Sighting-In a Rifle