Fired rifle and was hit with scope...?

Question

I fired my rifle for the first time, and afterwords i noticed a small bloody chunk of skin on the scope, and blood was dripping from my forhead. I realized what I had done wrong, I had my face too close to the scope, and didnt have my cheek firmly on the butt, so when i fired and the rifle recoiled, my head didnt move with the gun, and was hit with the scope. The cop I was shootign with said that the same thing happened to him his first time, and it is a common mistake with first tiem shooters. Has anyone else ever had this happen? And are there any other rookie mistakes i should know of so i do not make them?

BTW, there is nothing wrong with the scope size. It is perfect length. The reason for it hitting me was my own fault. I was way too close, and I would have been able to tell this when i could not get a full image, but I am inexperienced so i figure it was normal and fired. I also kept my head off of the stock, so when the rifle recoiled, rather than my head moving back, it remained still and the scope hit me. I have a nice gash above my right eye which will most likely scar, but oh well. It didnt hurt too much, I think firing the rifle got my adrenaline goin.

BTW, there is nothing wrong with the scope size. It is perfect length. The reason for it hitting me was my own fault. I was way too close, and I would have been able to tell this when i could not get a full image, but I am inexperienced so i figure it was normal and fired. I also kept my head off of the stock, so when the rifle recoiled, rather than my head moving back, it remained still and the scope hit me. I have a nice gash above my right eye which will most likely scar, but oh well. It didnt hurt too much, I think firing the rifle got my adrenaline goin.

Answer 1

Don't feel bad about this. It happens to a lot of shooters.

I have been shooting as long as I can remember, probably about 28 of my 32 years. Into my early 20's, I had long been shooting 12 ga shotguns and magnum rifles. I picked up my Dad's 30-06 one day. It had a recoil pad with a honeycomb pattern in it that made it kind of spongy. I fired off a round and never thought twice about it as I had shot a 30-06 many times before. Sure enough, I didn't account for the fact the recoil pad was "spongy", I didn't hold the rifle tight enough for that type of pad, and the scope hit me.

This taught me two things....

1. Wear shooting glasses...it would have hurt a lot less

2. Never take anything for granted when shooting. When you encounter a new variable in shooting, make sure that you are aware of it and address it (like the recoil pad in my case...if I had held the rifle tighter than I normally would, I wouldn't have had a problem).

It seems like you figured out what you done wrong already. Just try and keep your face as far away from the scope as possible with still keeping a full sight picture in the scope. Hold it tight. If you are shooting off a bench rest, experiment with holding the rifle a few different ways. My grip changes with the rifle. Some rifles I hold by the stock with my left hand. Other rifles where the muzzle tend to jump, I hold it by the scope and hold the rifle down (some people will say this will affect your accuracy and to a point, they are right. Holding the barrel, action, or scope can affect the way the barrel vibrates, thus changing your accuracy. Personally, I've shot out to 200 m this way with no problems...I am a hunter, not a shooter, so I usually don't shoot any farther than that)

Good Luck!

Answer 2

It did happen to me, but my scope has a pretty long eye relief, so it didnt hit hard at all, plus a .243 doesnt recoil that much anyway. Id say you answered your own question, you didnt have your head on the butt so it stayed and made a good traget for the recoiling scope. when i got hit, i even had the full image, but my cheek wasnt really on the butt, and my scope was a little far back on the gun. I changed the position it was sitting in, and quickly learned how to look through it properly compared to my 22 scopes and air rifle scopes.

Answer 3

Make sure the butt stock of the gun is firmly placed against the shoulder.When you look through a scope it should be far enough away from your face so you can see a full view but not so close as to hit you when firing the rifle.
Also remember if you should shoot a large caliber hand gun to hold the gun secure.Many people not familiar with this has had the gun flip up and back striking them in the head.A good friend of mine was teaching his wife to shoot a 44 magnum revolver and this happened.She had a nice little bump on the head.Her pride was what hurt the most.

Answer 4

I went shooting with a good friend of mine who is a very experienced hunter (with rifles, he has probably got more than 100 deer in his life). He had just moved to south Ga. and decided the with the heavy brush he would use a slug gun. I sold him an old 1300 I had and he mounted a 4x scope on it. We went to the local range, he sat at a table for a solid rest to sight it in. First shot, he didn't grip the forearm, just palmed it like you might a small caliber rifle. Of course the scope busted him just above the eye and cut him pretty good (because he is way more experienced at hunting, I had a hard time not laughing at him). We quit for the day because he was hurting so bad. About a month later, we went to the range again and he did the exact same thing again, this time I did laugh (most of my shooting has been at the skeet range). I don't think he ever shot that gun again.

Answer 5

Wrong scope for the rifle. You need a long eye relief scope. If you have to place your eye close enough to be hit by the recoiling scope, it is the wrong scope. Get one that you can place your eye at least 4 inches in back of the scope and get a full view in the reticule.

Answer 6

Have someone check your eye relief that you have with that particular scope. I know when I had a scope mounted on my shotgun the gunsmith had me hold up the gun and look through the scope to make sure the distance from my eye to the scope was enough that it wouldnt hit me in the face when I shot it.

Answer 7

Yes, ALWAYS ALWAYS check to see what CONDITION the firearm is in.

Condition 4 = No bullets in magazine, No bullet in chamber.
Condition 3 = Bullets in magazine, No bullet in chamber.
Condition 1 = Bullets in magazine, Bullet in chamber!!!

There is no condition 2 that I know of.

Anytime you pick up a weapon, check it, when someone hands yu a weapon, check it, even if they have done so themselves. If you are not familiar with the weapon have someone show you.

Do not point the weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot! Do not flag anyone! A lot of people do not practice this enough. Be professional, always point the gun in a direction that does not sweep across someone else. It is an uncomforting feeling and it shows a lack of adequate gun handling ability. Always think where is the muzzle pointing and how can I maneuver theweapon in a manner not to put anyone in danger. In time this becomes VERY EASY to do and is SECOND NATURE.

KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL THE SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET!!! When the sights come off the target, TAKE YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER!!!

Alright, rememebr the basics and keep having fun!

Answer 8

i am not a rookie by any means but i have 3 nice scars right between my eyes. all of them happened when shooting uphill for mountain goat and muledeer. it is kind of odd that you don't feel it happen or know that it's happened until you feel the warm blood running down your nose. i got 2 from my 300 weatherby mag and 1 from my 7mm mag. i have seen a lot of people during hunting season with the "scope bite" marks on them. really good for a laugh and my buddies sure got on my case.

Answer 9

I never made any rifle mistakes, but when I was a little kid, I had the equivalent happen with a SAA revolver that I let bonk me on top of the head. Knock on wood, I've had no such mistakes in over forty years now. I've made it through slam-fires, hang-fires, etc. without incident (unless you count my language at the time!).

Answer 10

Just a rooky mistake, sometimes I might get sloppy and will bop myself in the nose with recoil.