Help with Scope

[SoCal50Lover]

Hi Gang,

Would anyone be willing to help me sight in my scope(s) and give me the basics of it sometime? I do not know anything about sighting in a scope. I remember trying a decade ago. All I can remember is it didn't work out..

I plan on joining Corona outdoor next month.

Anyway let me know.

[85FourEyedGT]

Im no pro, Ive only sighted in my .22lr rifle

but as far as I know,

Your scope should have 2 knobs, the way i did it is I set my rifle at the distance I wanted it to be calibrated to, most people do 100 yards, I did 50 yards

I got a Shoot-n-see and sat on the bench, with the rifle sitting on a sandbag and pointed it directly in the middle of the target, then I shot

I had a friend with a 60x spotter scope tell me where the bullet hit, thats when you adjust your knobs on the scope, most scopes will move the impact of the bullet up 1/4 of an inch at 100 yards, so basically u shoot a bunch, and you adjust the windage and elevation knobs until the bullet is hitting exactly where your crosshair is

[1911su16b870]

Bolt guns: Make sure your scope rings and mounts are all tightened appropriately. No scope movement wrt rifle is allowed. Remove bolt. Sandbag rifle so that the bore is on the 10-ring. Now very carefully rotate your elevation and windage knobs so that the crosshairs are on the 10-ring. That will get you on paper. Now take the load that you will be shooting and fire 3-5 rounds. Measure that group compared to the center of the 10-ring and move the knobs the number of clicks to get you there. At 100-yards, 1 MOA is 1-inch. At 100-yards, a 1/4 MOA click moves you 0.25-inch. Good luck and allways have fun.

[AC Gould]

First a question....Is it a bolt action? If so, the process is pretty easy. Put the rifle in a solid rest position. Remove the bolt, look thru the barrel from the backend and find a target. Center up the image in the barrel and without moving the rifle, adjust the scope to center on the target. This should put you on the paper. Fire a shot holding on dead center of the target. This will tell you how far off you are. Move the scope accordingly.

If it's a semi, quickest way I know it to fire a shot at a large target down range and watch where it hits, or have a spotter do that for you. Adjust the scope to where you want to hit and take another shot. Repeat until you are on the paper. Fine tune from there.

[Timberwolf]

Nor really sure where in SoCal you are but if you want to stop by the range where I work on the weekends I'll help you out. I'm at A Place to Shoot in Santa Clarita - I normally charge to zero weapons ect for customers but mention who you are from this thread or PM me when your coming and its on me.

[damon1272]

Bolt gun or not, Fast and dirty way to get on paper. Set a target at 25 yards aim at the bulls eye and take a shot or two. From there begin by adjusting the scope to the bullet impacts. Adjustments at 25 will take gross adjustments to move to impact area. Keep adjusting and fireing at the bulls eye untill the scope is hitting where you have aimed. It should only take a few shots. This will put you on paper at 100 yards for finer adjustments. Sighting in this way to get on paper makes it easier than having someone spot for you or having to look for hits on a target that is 100 yards away.

[SoCal50Lover]

Thanks for input guys. I am not quite there with the info but I would rather see how it's done. I've always done better hands on.

Timber, I will take you up on the invite. I have 2 AR's ( one on the way ).

Here is the equip.

1 AR 6.8 w/NcStar 6 - 24 x 50 range finding scope

1 AR .50 Beowulf with 4x range finder. This one is on the way.

I am PMing you availablility. Thanks again everyone. I am sure it is not difficult but I learn better hands on then reading.

[NeoWeird]

I don't usually put on scopes but a few things I have picked up that are "good" things to do:

1. Adjust both knobs all the way to one end, then all the way back counting the clicks. Adjust back half. This will set your scope at it's theoretical zero. You never know if the factory set it at the middle, or if someone toyed with it at break in the processing plant, etc. This can also be used to 'offset' the scope, for example intentionally setting it off by X number of clicks if you are shooting at great distances to bring you closer to the paper - in your case, adjusting from the cener before shooting is not needed.

2. Make sure the scope is level. Eyeballing it isn't always enough. You want to make sure that you are DEAD nuts level. You may find that your first shots are high but the windage is dead nuts. If you scope is canted to one side, adjusting the height will also adjust it in the windage plain as well, which can be frustrating and confusing.

3. Fire a GROUP of shots and then adjust based on their center, not just one or two shots. You will find yourself running around in circles if you adjust after ever shot. You never will know if it was a flyer, a trigger jerk, etc that pulled it off paper. Or maybe you did get a bad shot, by your skill, but it put the bullet right where you were aiming, and you adjust thinking it was off. ALWAYS fire groups and adjust, never just one.

4. Most scopes are labeled L or R and Up or Down. On most scopes you do NOT adjust the scope Up to bring the groups Up. Recticle and muzzle play a sort of teeter-tooter game. Adjusting the scope right, will move the reticle right, which when you move the whole rifle so the reticle is back on target will move the muzzle more left. So if your group is to the right, and you adjust the scope to the right you will actually make your groups go FARTHER from the target. Adjust in the OPPOSITE direction you want your groups to go. Again, this applys to MOST scopes. Some are backwards, but the norm is that the markings on the turrets indicate which way they adjust the reticle, not the group, and the reticle moves in the opposite direction of the group.

ETA: I THINK I messed up number 4, but if you think about it the concept I am trying to explain should become clear.

[fairfaxjim]

+1 to the hands on. I will, however, pass on a method that I use to get "on paper" before I go to the range. Saves range time, and ammo. Besides, sometimes it is either a pain in the butt, or impossible, to start at 25 yards and work out at some ranges.

I use this target:

set at 25 FEET. Can be done almost anywhere you have 25' available.
Put the target so you can see it through the bore of the rifle. Adjust either the rifle or the target so that the bore sight picture is on the 1 1/2" round dot in the center (can be used with a bore sight laser too, put the red dot in the white center dot of the target.) Sight with the scope and adjust the cross hairs so the they line up on the center and UPPER cross hair lines. (The upper line is 1 1/4" above center) That will put you pretty close at 100 yards. Again, scope tilt or unlevel installation will cause you grief. This way you can be pretty close out of the bag when you get to the range. If you (or anyone) want a .pdf copy of this target in the proper size that you can print, PM with your email.

Another trick that I like - for use at the range - is to put a clean white sheet of paper up on the target stand. I use a page from an easal pad like is (was before dry erase boards) used for presentations and such - any plain white paper will do. I put a scope zero target (the ones with the black 1" squares and 1" grid) in the center of the white paper. That allows you to see hits outside of the target easily with a spotting scope. The grid scope zero target allows you to know exactly how many clicks to move to make your adjustments. MOST scopes are calibrated for a certain amount of bullet move/click (often 1/4" - check your scope - per click) AT 100 YARDS.

None of this will be of any value if you haven't properly mounted your scope. Either have someone who knows how help you with that, or do some searching and teach yourself. You can find yourself chasing your tail and never getting decent results if the basic scope mounting is not correct. Also, if you seem to get it, and then lose it, check your scope mounting. I have had rings that were not in spec. and not properly holding the scope, a scope that was no good out of the box, even a set of .22lr rings that did not properly tighten into the goove on the rifle foul me up.

[SoCal50Lover]

Seems easy and difficult at the same time. I guess easier said then done. This will be a learning experience for sure. Thanks a lot.

[CSACANNONEER]

Depending on weather, I'm planning to be at Angeles this sunday. If you want to meet me there, I can show you how to zero your scope at any distance you desire with only one shot. It's much easier to do than to explain.