adjusting, measuring, and other assorted Voodoo

[catnthehat]

Gun nuts often get confused about measurements, standards, amd minium/maximums in general, so I startedd this thread to try and dispell some of the myths, etc involved in the stuff.
Just for the record, and the new guys reading this,it ain't Voodoo , and it doesn't matter how one arrivces at a particular measurement, but that it is the correct measurement!
For example, there are a zillion ways to measure COL - cartridge overall length.
however, it does not matter where you take your measurement from, as long as the distance is equal from one cartridge to another.
Some people smoke bullets , some use any number of measureing tools, some put a bullet in backwards and measure from there, it all ends up to the same thing - the distance of bullet jump ( or LACK of it) to the lands of the chamber.

One can argue that if a magazine will only accomadate a round of a certain length , then that is the length. So be it, but it still will have the same legnth as the next cartridge, hence the way the cartridge is measured is with the magazine in this instance.

Another type of measurement that gets a lot of discussion is group size abd how to arrive at it.
However the method, the end result is the same as far as the sanctioned matches are concerned - center to center.
It matters not if the distance is measured inside of the farthest bullet to the outside of the opposite bullet, or the outside to outside / subtract caliber system , or directly center to center, it all ends up the same .

How about turrets?
if one scope is 4X and 1/4 MOA and the other 10X 1/8MOA ( MOA being minute of angle), to get both scopes to zero at 200 yards will take a different number of clicks, but the hope is that when the clicking is done, they both hit zero at 200 yards.

Brace height on bows is another ( I'll just toss this in!)
There is no "standard " brace height for a bow, all are different because different shooters uses a different style to releales the arrow.
I have a friend who shoots the same bow I do, although he tunes his to about 1/2" loawer than I do mine. Niether of us shoot the other's bow well.

Sling tension on match rifles ? It just don't matter where you take the measurement from, as long as it is the same lentgh once it is adjusted.

Measureing powder by throwing it in a measure will drive some handloaders to insanity when they watch a friend throw charges " Ya gotta use the thumper!" " Don't thump only once!"
The end result we all look for is as uniform a charge as possible, no matter if
powder measure is thumped, bumped , rattled, or left alone!

Length of pull?
You can measure it from any distance you want on a gun from the top of the trigger, from the center, etc., and get three different measurements on the same gun, if it fits the shooter, it's all good.

I really think that we often put too much faith in measuring and adjusting, when in the end if nothing has moved, everything measures the same as it did last week, as long as it was mesured the SAME WAY, it is not the gear or how we arrived at the adjustment, it is us.
Shooting is generally discribed by the experts as 98% mental, and 2% equipment, because after the equipment is set up, and is the same every time, if you miss, it's not the equipment, it's all in your head!!

Cat