Sighting a rifle in with it's scope is a subject that I and a lot of other guys can use some help with. I'm told that the object is to adjust the scope to point at the bullet impact. Others have told me to move the bullet impact to the crosshairs.

All the scopes I have seen are marked with the words 'up' and 'left' along with tiny arrows to indicate those directions. I can only assume that 'Down' and 'Right' are accomplished by turning the adjustment screws in the oposite direction of the arrow.

My experience has been to aim the crosshairs at the center of the bullseye at a close (25 Yard) paper target. Then adjust the screws right or left and up or down so that the result is basically that I am moving the crosshairs to the impact point.

My method burns up a bunch of ammo (along with the other guys using the same shoot and adjust method). Is there a better way to sight in while I am at the range that will get me into the black and at the same time save some ammo?

Also. Does anyone know of a manufacturer or source for externally adjustable scope bases/mounts? What might be the advantages of these kinds of mounts/bases? Thanks for your responses

Are several ways to sight in. Guess most of us shoot three rounds, find the cneter of that group, measure the distance needed vertically and horizonatally to put the group to the point of aim, adjust the scope apropriately, and fire a second test group. Scope "clicks" are measured in fractions of MOA values...1/4" "clicks" are worth 1/4" per click at 100yards, 1/8" per click at 50yards, and 1/16" per click at 25yards.


Another way requires some form of bench vice or other way of completele immobilizing the rifle. Fire three rounds...walk out to the target, find center, and marke it with a bright color easily seen through the scope. With the rifle immoblized with the cross hair on the point of AIM, work the adjustments until the cross hairs now cover the marked center of your 3 round group. Realize, the rifle can't move even a tiny fraction of an inch while you adjust the scope...so a solid rifle vice, C-clapmed to the bench is required.

There was a scope (whose name escapes me) that had two crosshairs that over lapped to look like one. Idea was that you fired one shot to sight in. Could adjust the over lapping cross hairs independetly...so you could keep one centered on teh point of aim and move the other one to the point of impact. Once that was done, could pring the first crosshair over to over-lap the point of impact crass hair and be sighted in (more or less) with one shot.

The old extrenal target scope mounts won't work on modern scopes...at least not easily.

There were windage and elevation mounts made (In fact, many early scopes didn't have windage adjustments...the mount did that). Kind of rough adjusting, oten giving a "ping-pong" type effect of boing too far back and forth. Only advanatge was in getting the scope rough centered with all scope adjustments in the middle area; idea being that lens systems are at their best in using light when used closest to their centers.

Doesn't matter how you think about it, the result is the same. So - step one is to read the instructions that came with your scope, if you don't have them, the manufacturer will probably be glad to give you a copy.

It's not normally complicated - BUT - if you are chasing the bullet impact all over the place, odds are that you are not moving the scope adjustments the right amount. Need to get the instructions and then understand how much one 'click' moves the scope. If you don't have that information, yes you sure will burn up a lot of ammo making wild corrections until you figure it out. Been there, done that!

Example - scope clicks are 1/4 MOA (quarter minute of angle or basically very close to quarter-inch at 100 yards) but that will only move 1/16" (one-sixteenth) of an inch at 25 yards.

You are on the right track starting at 25 yards. At that range, I'd shoot just one round, the move the scope, and so on, until you are pretty well centered in the paper. The goal at 25 yards is to not miss the paper at 100.

Then - 3 shots at 100, adjust, 3 more shots, etc. Trying to hold the gun and look through the scope to adjust it is a pretty pointless endeavor, my opinion. If it's a hassle to walk back and forth to the target due to range rules or conditions, shoot at a target with 1" square grid and have a pair of binoculars or spotting scope so you can estimate how far off the group is.

One other thought, I almost never move the full distance that I calculate is necessary. That is, if I want to go up 3 inches at 100 yards on a scope with 1/4 MOA clicks, instead of going up 12 clicks I'll go up 9 or 10, then try it. Sometimes the scopes move a lot more, and sometimes a lot less.

By the way - at 100 yards, or any time after you make a 'big' adjustment to the scope, the first shot may not reflect the movement you dialed in. If necessary, fire a 4th shot and disregard the first shot. Sometimes it takes a bit of recoil to settle in the adjustment. Usually I thump my knuckles gently on the side of the scope after moving it.

All the above - !

If you have the capability to "bore sight" (looking through the bore at the centered target within the bore) at the 25 yard range, you'll be miles ahead.

Make the rifle as immobile as possible after bore sighting on the target. Adjust the scope to center on the target. Tap the turret (I use an empty cartridge casing - note I said "tap", not hammer!) to settle the crosshairs. Fire a round and observe impact on target. If the rifle can be immobilized not to move, adjust the scope to match the impact point. Tap turret and fire another round. Continue until shots impact the target center. If rifle cannot be solidly immobilized, figure adjustments needed, adjust, tap turret and fire again. Continue until shots hit center.

Move out to 100 yds and zero to desired POI (Point of Impact).

If using a variable power scope, most have to be turned down to the 4x-6x power range for clarity at 25 yds. Best to leave the same settings moving out to 100 yds (most parallax nonadjustable scopes are adjusted for 100 yds at the factory), as sometimes you will get a POI shift if you change power settings. This is something else you need to check for after getting sighted in, for personal information. If you notice a radical POI shift with the power settings, decide on the one you want to use most and do your sighting in and further shooting with that setting.

Another quick way to do this is to shoot a magazine (the kind that you get in the mail ;) sized target 10' away and basically a 1/2 to full turn for each inch or so it is off.
I'm assuming different scopes have a different number of clicks per rotation, but you can usually get it "more or less in the general area" in under 5 rounds.
Be very liberal in clicks. 1/16" is nothing, and that would be closer to 1/50" at 10 feet.
I sighted in a 10-22 today that was 6 full revolutions off in the vertical plane.

Windage adjustable scope mounts...
Yes, they are available - and common - kind-of. Most standard one-piece bases for bolt-action rifles are windage adjustable but you don't want to slap a scope onto them and use the windage adjustment to try to turn the front dovetail. You'll only bend the scope and, perhaps, break it.

I'll assume you have a common bolt action hunting rifle with a one-piece base. The windage should be adjusted as part of the installation and bore sighting process.
#1: Remove the bolt.
#2: Point the rifle at something that can be used as a distant target.
#3: Secure the rifle so it doesn't move easily; a gun vice works the best.
#4: Look thru the barrel from the breach and center the target in the barrel.
#5: If the scope is new and not yet messed with, the reticle should already be centered in the scope. Otherwise, adjust the reticle to the middle between the two extremes of right and left adjustment.
#6: Assemble the lower halves of the rings onto the bases.
#7: Drop the scope into the lower halves of the rings.
#8: Adjust the windage screws on the back of the base until the verical reticle centers on the target from #4, above.
#9: Use a ring wrench to turn the front ring in its dovetail until the ring lines up perfectly with the scope.
#10: Keep doing #4 thru #9 until it's as perfectly aligned as is humanly possible.

If you don't trust yourself to do a bang-up job or if you don't want to acquire the tools and skills, have a gunsmith do all this for you. However, doing this with borrowed tools, I set my VZ-24 up with a new Leupold base, rings, and scope. When I sighted it in at 300 yards, my windage was within one inch. Of course, I didn't touch off the first shot at 300 yards. However, it was so close at 25 yards, I immediately moved to 100 yards and adjusted to ~3.5" high, not touching the windage. At 300, I fine-tweeked the elevation and windage. It can be done...

Of course, that is a bolt-action rifle. Actions that don't allow you to look down the barrel from the breach are a whole lot more difficult.

Also, beware wandering scopes and loose mount screws. The Remington 700 I had back in high school and college would easily shoot MOA but every time I shot it, it shot to another point-of-impact. (Never did figure out what was wrong with it.) Any loose connection will be really frustrating as you try to follow a shifting impact point. Such is the reason I took the scope off my Remington Nylon 66. The Nylon 66 had a barrel that wandered around; it would shoot accurately enough but the point-of-impact would slowly wander and drift. It works a lot better with the iron front sight because that's securely attached to the barrel.

-91

Can't say how much I appreciate all the good guidance! The range I belong to will be able to set me up with a gun vise. I'm going to bore sight my bolt action-adjust the scope to zero in the center of that picture-fire for effect-move to the 50 yard line-adjust-move to the 100 and adjust for the final time so that the point of impact is about 3" above the crosshairs. The advice you have all kindly shared should make this an event to behold. Thanks again.

One more thing to add, Make sure to get the right scope hight mounts for the profile of the rifle and scope, some of the big 50mm need high mounts in order for the the scope to fit without touching the barrel, I prefer if possible to have the scope bell as close to the barrel as possible. if you buy the wrong mounts you my find problems sighting it as well, may bottom out the dials on the scope before getting zero. Aim small hit small. RAMbo.

It might be worth investing in on of the bore sighters made by the scope companies, I use a Bushnell and it is always good enough to get me on the paper straight off, saving money by not wasting ammo. Also if you record the settings on it you can remove your scope at a later date and when you remount it you can reset it back to the same point of impact without firing a shot.

Usually I thump my knuckles gently on the side of the scope after moving it.What exactly is the deal with thumping? For example, I saw a guy at a range actually tap on his scope with a plastic or rubber hammer after adjusting the crosshairs. When I inquired, he said it was to "move the reticle." I was too surprised to ask anymore. :confused:

It might be worth investing in on of the bore sighters made by the scope companies, I use a Bushnell and it is always good enough to get me on the paper straight off, saving money by not wasting ammo. Also if you record the settings on it you can remove your scope at a later date and when you remount it you can reset it back to the same point of impact without firing a shot.

Yeah, I sighted in my .22s via the "shoot untill you get it on the paper" way, ammo is cheap for that. Excellent point.

What exactly is the deal with thumping? For example, I saw a guy at a range actually tap on his scope with a plastic or rubber hammer after adjusting the crosshairs. When I inquired, he said it was to "move the reticle." I was too surprised to ask anymore. :confused:

Lot of old scopes (and some cheaper new ones) tend to be lazy about moving the reticle when your turn the knobs...on old scopes, supect it's gummy lubricant, but on new ones suspect it's just poor design. Idea of tapping the scope is to try to get it to give the value you clicked into it rahter than have recoil do the tapping and the shots form a line until the sytem catches up.

An alternate method for balky scopes is to move it more than you want, then back up...so if you wanted 8 clicks right, move it 12 and back up 4.

Best method is to use a good scope to start with and not wack on it.

Even new ones might not move the recticle exactly until there's a shot or two, especially if the scope has not been adjusted in a while.

Have a tendency to tap the turret of my scopes with an empty cartridge casing or butt end of a plastic handled screwdriver to "assist" the ajdustments to settle in. Now, notice I said Tap - not Beat!

Have a tendency to tap the turret of my scopes with an empty cartridge casing or butt end of a plastic handled screwdriver to "assist" the ajdustments to settle in. Now, notice I said Tap - not Beat!

Hunt with one guy twice a year...his scopes look like a wood pecker has been after them. So far, he hasn't managed to break one (although he did have a cleaning rod break and run the broekn end through the occular lens).