Zero in a scope

[SammieT]

SammieT,
I implore you to become a student of various rifle shooting disciplines. This takes time and a lot of reading. You bought a rifle chambered in a caliber that on a good day in very experienced hands might shoot MOA out to 900-1100 yards with MATCH ammo. At 2000yds, you will not be hitting anything you aim at with this rifle.
We all stand ready to help you, eagerly, but you have to do your due diligence in getting up to speed on some very basic information regarding rifle shooting first.
As you have already discovered, Achieving precision behind a rifle does not come cheap. Some folks himm n haw over a couple hundred for a quality rifle scope, not realizing you could easily spend that in ammunition over the course of 3 trips to the range. Over the life of a good scope, the expense is minimal compared to the ammo bill you will pay.
I don't mean to discourage you and I am not talking down to you, By doing more reading, you will gain there knowledge base you seek.

thanks for the advice. I don't take it as an offensive way. just a way to learn something new. sometimes you gotta learn the hard way honestly and I'm glad I came to the right place

[SammieT]

I hate to break it to you, but odds are those scopes are going to murder your wallet if you're putting together a rifle to shoot beyond 1000 yards and barska even enters your mind as being a possibility. No offense, but a lot of people fall into this trap of looking at scope specs and thinking that if the specs on the $100 scope are the same as the $1000 scope, that they must be the same. The reality is that those specs are the equivalent to:

4 wheels
brakes
steering wheel
horn
seatbelts
speedometer

And they would end up comparing a porsche 911 to a geo metro.

Also, a .308 at 2000 yards isn't gonna happen(well, I guess it could but you'd be using it like an artillery piece with no precision).

Take the redfield you already have and use it. It should be plenty to start with. In the meantime, lay off the $5 lattes or whatever for a while and save up a few hundred bucks, then after a few months ask yourself what you want an optic to actually do for you and go from there. If you take a look at rifles that actually get shot at long distances, you'll see some trends of scopes that are mounted to them, and how much they cost. While you're at the range, look around and see if someone has some high end glass and isn't too busy, and ask if you can take a look through it.

that's something I'm going to try and notice when I go to the range. thanks for the advice. I'll do some more research as time comes for me to be able to. for now I'll stick to the Redfield and see how that goes

[SammieT]

Having shot a 1000 yard match last weekend, I will say that I use NF optics on my 1000 yd guns. But, I have been known to carry a NIB 16x and/or 20x Super Sniper as a back up. The difference between shooting 600 yards and 1000 yards is incredible. Any moron can shoot to 600 but, you really need to know how to read conditions to shoot well at 1000. Going all the way out to 2000 is something that takes a lot of quality trigger time and usually custom equipment. Normally a gun set up to shoot 2000 won't have enough adjustment in it's optics to shoot much less than 1000. If you are serious about shooting past 600, you might as well just plan on buying a +$1500 optic now instead of buying a lesser one now and a better one later. Of course, a .308 isn't going to get you to 2000 or even 1000 unless you're really good and taylor your handloads to your gun for that distance. It will never get you to 2000 though.

alright. thanks good to know. at least I know what to expect now. don't get me wrong. I fell in love with the rifle itself and told myself I had to have it lol so it did.. now I just gotta pay attention to the details more on it and what I choose is best for it

[SammieT]

Thanks for the advice all, regardless if harmful. I do very much appreciate it all

[sjb269]

You chose a very capable rifle, Once you get a capable scope, and some well made ammo… You might just impress yourself with some accurate hits at distances well beyond what your used to.
This discipline doesn't come cheap with your time or money, however, when you reach out beyond your previously attainable distances, you might just get hooked.
Even the advice that might seem harmful, taken with an open mind and thick skin…it too has value and might save you a buck or two next time.

[Merc1138]

I'm not even seeing how anything in this thread is "harmful". Getting hit by a mack truck full of truth, sure. The care bear cuddle club trying to get someone's hopes up with some lies about fixing the problems with the barska scope, that would be harmful. Frankly, I think the OP learned a lesson fairly cheap since he had to sense to ask what might be wrong(a lot of people don't, and keep wasting money on garbage) and got himself steered in the right direction.

[Think4WD]

If you can't use the search function Im guessing you can't zero a rifle either!

[TKM]

Asking for help is the first step to shooting well.

(I was out at P2K one day and the guy next to me was stringing to the right badly. I checked his scope, it was mounted 90 degrees off and he was still following the directions on the caps.)

So far you are doing fine. You've realized you have a problem. Soon we will have you living in a Wire Winnebago with a really nice rifle.


I'm an East County guy too. Let me know if you want to go out and shoot some day. Maybe we can get this thing dialed in for you.

[Sleighter]

SammieT, welcome to calguns and welcome to the shooting club.

I'm not kidding when I say that I remember going to the range to zero a scope for the first time and honestly had no idea what I was doing. I was all over the place and I only wish that someone would have noticed and offered me some help. I'm glad I can't remember how much ammo I spent just trying to figure out if turning the scope turret "up" moved the scope reticle up, or the bullet impact up.

I decided to go online, found calguns and started reading. I honestly had NO IDEA what these guys were talking about half the time because I didn't even recognize, let alone know the terms that they used. MOA, leade (I thought they spelled it wrong), grains. The list went on and on. I honestly was so ignorant, I didn't even know what I didn't know.

I didn't even know what questions to ask, because I had no idea where to start. To be blunt, I see you going through the same process. Don't get embarrassed, and don't leave. Stick around and you'll realize there is sooooo much more to shooting than you probably even knew.

To give you a ray of hope, I honestly started out as one of the most ignorant shooters in the world. Now I'm considered the go-to "expert" in my circle of friends, family and co-workers.

Bottom line: if you come across something and don't understand it, either post up a question or private message me directly. I"ll be glad to answer any question you could have, no matter how simple or silly.

[SammieT]

SammieT, welcome to calguns and welcome to the shooting club.

I'm not kidding when I say that I remember going to the range to zero a scope for the first time and honestly had no idea what I was doing. I was all over the place and I only wish that someone would have noticed and offered me some help. I'm glad I can't remember how much ammo I spent just trying to figure out if turning the scope turret "up" moved the scope reticle up, or the bullet impact up.

I decided to go online, found calguns and started reading. I honestly had NO IDEA what these guys were talking about half the time because I didn't even recognize, let alone know the terms that they used. MOA, leade (I thought they spelled it wrong), grains. The list went on and on. I honestly was so ignorant, I didn't even know what I didn't know.

I didn't even know what questions to ask, because I had no idea where to start. To be blunt, I see you going through the same process. Don't get embarrassed, and don't leave. Stick around and you'll realize there is sooooo much more to shooting than you probably even knew.

To give you a ray of hope, I honestly started out as one of the most ignorant shooters in the world. Now I'm considered the go-to "expert" in my circle of friends, family and co-workers.

Bottom line: if you come across something and don't understand it, either post up a question or private message me directly. I"ll be glad to answer any question you could have, no matter how simple or silly.

thank you, I'll try my best not to annoy you haha

[SammieT]

Asking for help is the first step to shooting well.

(I was out at P2K one day and the guy next to me was stringing to the right badly. I checked his scope, it was mounted 90 degrees off and he was still following the directions on the caps.)

So far you are doing fine. You've realized you have a problem. Soon we will have you living in a Wire Winnebago with a really nice rifle.


I'm an East County guy too. Let me know if you want to go out and shoot some day. Maybe we can get this thing dialed in for you.

I'll keep In contact. once I get my LCR I might end up going to p2k since it's only a few blocks away from me. just not looking forward for that safety test again haha

I'm up for it though. I'll keep it in mind next time I go so I learn a little something.

[SammieT]

If you can't use the search function Im guessing you can't zero a rifle either!

why you think I'm posting here ;-)

[supermario]

Go on You tube and search mounting a scope and bore sighting, sometimes its easier to see what there doing than just reading. And Bore sighting (looking down the bore) is the best way. I trust that over my actual mechanical bore sighter.

[supermario]

Also, not sure if your can guestimate distances but 1k-2k yards ia fricken farrr!! Most ranges aren't even set up for 1k yards. You should got to a range and really look at the distances. Since your a beginner, you should probably learn to properly mount a scope and shoot out to 500yards or so. I've been shooting my whole life and I'm still learning on here everyday and asking questions. One thing I have learned, is mounting the scope properly and using quality rings makes allll the difference once your zero it in. Otherwise your going to be spinning your wheels.

[SammieT]

Also, not sure if your can guestimate distances but 1k-2k yards ia fricken farrr!! Most ranges aren't even set up for 1k yards. You should got to a range and really look at the distances. Since your a beginner, you should probably learn to properly mount a scope and shoot out to 500yards or so. I've been shooting my whole life and I'm still learning on here everyday and asking questions. One thing I have learned, is mounting the scope properly and using quality rings makes allll the difference once your zero it in. Otherwise your going to be spinning your wheels.

yeah I prolly can't guesstimate lol I figured it would he far but I think 300-500 yards and if lucky 1000 is fair enough for me. I would really like to try 1000 yards but I figured it would take time and learn a lot more than what I know now