[99dragon99]

if your scope has a total elevation range of 40 minutes and you zero in the middle, then you only have 20 minutes of elevation up..........see?

That is understandable... but when you bottom out the cross hairs, how do you adjust when shooting too low?

 

[oldjarhead]

I know this should be a basic task. I have never really had a lot of scopes on any of my firearms. The ones I did have were already sighted in. If you are shooting , lets say high and to the right. Do you turn the adjustment down and to the left? Sorry for the dumb question.
Bob T

Yes

The only 'dumb' question is the one you don't ask.

 

[sniper762]

That is understandable... but when you bottom out the cross hairs, how do you adjust when shooting too low?

shooting low requires UP adjustments.

as stated we zero at 25 yards.............with a graduated base there will be NO shooting high needing "down "adjustments"

 

[Rambo]

That is understandable... but when you bottom out the cross hairs, how do you adjust when shooting too low?

Use a shim on the mount so you never "bottom out" the adjustments, either up/down or left/right. Always have some slack for adjust.

 

[wharf]

Make sure your scope isnt canted or your click adjustments will confuse the hell out of you.I have seen a lot of mates set up scopes then try to zero and cant work out why their scopes clicks dont go where they want.Some of them had held the rifle in their off hand position to set the scope and the verticle cross hair wasnt lined up with the top of the barrel.So when you click for height it actually moves it slightly to one side also.

 

[MilkMan]

........with a graduated base

That's the key part when zeroing at 25 yds. Bases can be bought in different MOA increments. I think I've seen up to 30 MOA, used a lot in rimfire.

 

[deadzero]

That is understandable... but when you bottom out the cross hairs, how do you adjust when shooting too low?

then you must have the (offset) scope base on backwards somehow.

if you have "standard bases" ,with zero off set (scope centerline parallel with bore centerline), on the rifle and the scope can be zeroed, adding a 10 MOA, 20 MOA, or 30 MOA, offset base (if installed in the proper direction) will make the same scope (with no adjustments made yet) shoot excessively high (since the front of the scope is now lower than the rear of the scope)

I cant believe this has taken 2 pages so far.

if you lower the front of the scope, or raise the rear of the scope, the rifle underneath is now pointing further upward.

P.S. There is a possibility the base is defective and drilled wrong (backwards). Take a caliper and measure the thickness of the base (front versus rear). an offset base MUST be considerably thinner in the front to be correct.

 

[GSFixit]

The single shot method described above works well for me. My son and I adjust for each other.

I put one of my rifles on a rest and carefully line up on the target center. Then I squeeze off one round.
I reset back to my original aim point on the rest and hold the rifle steady.
I then have my son adjust the turrets until the crosshairs match the impact point.
That gets me pretty close, then we spot for each other and see how the groups go. You can then make fine adjustments yourself by looking at the grid on the target and turning the turrets the appropriate number of clicks to compensate, but usually the one shot method gets you really close.

 

[deadzero]

Pretty much what the first reply to the OP was.



I would have to say that I don't agree with you. Cyrano posted basically how to center the crosshairs. I don't see how you lose half of the adjustment capabilities... You just start in the middle instead of the bottom. Which might require a lot of clicks to get you on center.

Back in my days of dealing with the m16a2... you did exactly that.. center the sights and then count the clicks for your personal settings... You could pick up any m16a2 and "reset" the sights and add your personal adjustment and you are dead on without firing a shot.

If bases are perfectly drilled to centerline and rings are perfectly milled to centerline and exactly the same height, then scope centerline is perfectly parallel with bore centerline. scope adjustments being at midpoint means your pretty close to dead on zero. your only adjustment is vertical to overcome gravitys effect on bullet flight time, which will be minimal adjustment at a 100 yd zero.

starting off by cranking all your scopes adjustment one way just means you will have to back up on all of that adjustment when zeroing.

 

[billy]

One simple way (to me anyway), is to set your gun up on a steady rest, ie: sandbags, shooters rest, etc. and move everything around so your crosshairs are on target without any input from you. Carefully squeeze off one shot. Set the gun up exactly the same as before. Now use your adjustments to bring the crosshairs to bear on the bullet hole you just made and you should be extremely close, but you may have to make a few minor adjustments. I usually do this at 25 yds and then recheck at my intended zero range (usually 200 yds).

I call it chasing the bullet.
I have been known to bore sight first as well
look through the barrel at something and put the crosshairs on it.

that gets you in the ballpark without firing a shot.

 

[variolamajor]

While I have a laser boresighter somewhere around here - I never use it. I mount the scope and shoot from a rest at 25yds - sometimes 50yds - to see where it hits. I adjust the scope accordingly after each subsequent shot to where I want it. Then I move out to 50yds or 100yds depending upon the zero I want. I shoot one shot and adjust. After it's hitting where I want a shoot a few more rounds to verify and perhaps test POI with other loads depending on the rifle. Nine times out of ten I can zero in under 10 shots so no ammo is wasted.

 

[Jay]

Mechanical zero first, then this...

The single shot method described above works well for me. My son and I adjust for each other.

I put one of my rifles on a rest and carefully line up on the target center. Then I squeeze off one round.
I reset back to my original aim point on the rest and hold the rifle steady.
I then have my son adjust the turrets until the crosshairs match the impact point.
That gets me pretty close, then we spot for each other and see how the groups go. You can then make fine adjustments yourself by looking at the grid on the target and turning the turrets the appropriate number of clicks to compensate, but usually the one shot method gets you really close.

...I also print my own "sight-in" targets. They have a med gray bull on a white background, and includes a 1/4" grid printed on the target.

 

[texnmidwest]

If sighting in your standard deer rifle it is also important to let your barrel cool down between shots. Point of impact can vary, sometimes dramatically, as the barrel heats up.

 

[onthepaper]

The scope's windage and elevation knobs have arrows marked "right" and "up," turn the knob in the direction marked "right" to move the point of impact right. Do the same thing with the elevation. And if you want to move the point of impact down, turn the knob in the opposite direction.

Yes, the adjustments move the point of impact.