Question about sighting in a scope.

Now your talking right.... Your on the right path now for "boresighting"

The way the scope works, it moves the point of impact, not the crosshairs.

Bore sight the scope, fire a shot at 25yds aim for bullseye, adjust the point of impact to the bullseye.

Lets say your POI is 1" high and 1" right, you will need to adjust the scope 1" down and 1" left.

When every shot is on bullseye, move the target out to 50yds, repeat process.
 
I had this same problem with my younger brother with sight in. Bright guy, good programmer, I saw him do things surveying that others could not match. He thinks too much. There is nothing logical about this until you understand it, you just need to go shoot.

Print this out and take it to the range with you.

SO:

First you are still trying to think and I told you to stop that (grin)

You are not even on at 100 yards and you are worried about 300? Quit thinking. You need to just go out and do the following.

Rule 1: The further away your spot in the Rifle Bore is, the closer its going to be when you shoot the first time at 25.
note: We have lane numbers at the top of the berm, those are good, anyone else's target at 100 yds is good.
Get it spot on, check it on your target at 25

Rule 2: Shoot it at 25 yards. Close is fine at that point. 1 inch is great. Adjust but don't worry about it as long as you are 1 to 2 inches.

Rule 3. Shoot it at 50 yards. Adjust as needed Close is still good (1 inch is fine, you can make it closer it you want. If its 1 inch off at 50, its going to be 2 inches off at 100 and easier to see and adjust.
Note: You are easily on any paper target at 100!

note: To adjust at 25 takes a lot of dial movement. 50 yards half as much, 100 not much. Don't think about it. That's just so you don't question it.


Rule 3: Shoot at 100. Get it dead on.

Rule 4: Find out what kind of a shooter you are, if you can't do a under 1.5 MOA group at 100, you need to practice a lot. Reality is that a good shooter can shoot under 3/4 MOA

Rule 5: At 100 yds and a good group centered on the desired point, look at your dial, it has numbers on it.
I have pre-determined for you that you want it to shoot 4 inches high now.
Look at your top dial, it says UP with an Arrow (it may have down as well). Turn it 4 full numbers in the UP direction.
Did your Groups move UP 4 inches? You now know how to adjust (at 100).

Get rid of the fancy program, just look at a ballistic table with your bullet weight, caliber and speed.

4 inches high at 100 is very like to be on at 300 (that's not a given close)

It takes the best (expensive) scope to do exactly what you want when you adjust it.

Otherwise you just look at a table, adjust up to what should be good, then shoot at 300 (but only if you can shoot at 100) and fine tune it. If you did it right you are on the paper.

The further out you go the less dial movement there is. One CLICK not a full number at 300 moves it a LOT.

Standard Scopes come with no less than 1 CLICK at 100 Yards is 1/4 inch.

On those 1 FULL number is 1 inch.

More and more its 1 CLICK at 100 is 1/8 inch.

At 50 yds a scope that has 1/8 CLICK is going to move 1/16 of an inch (half of the 100 yard value)

That is why you have to move it even more at 25 yds.

That is why it moves Point of Impact at 300 a lot more.

What mfgs and model scope?
 
Koda94,rc20,
Good info
Vortex viper hs-t 4-16x44
Mrad reticle. 23 mil
20 moa rail very little down
Lots up.
Bore sighted 25 yds
But cold and snowing
So my range time is
Severely impacted
 
Now I dial in 300yds
With my strelok program
And it tells me to go up
3.6 mill. Do I follow scope
Which is not in a vise now.
My scope says up this way
Down the other way.
Didn't follow sighting the
Scope.
Click to expand...

Like the laser, a program is another impediment (currently. )

That is very advanced stuff.

Once you have the cross hairs and the bore on, then just go shoot.

Weather? You can still shoot. Gear up and go do it.

Once you have it at 100, just adjust the dial up 4 inches at 100.

Mils are great but they are tricky buggers.

Once you have a fair amount of experience, then you can work on the understating part. .

When you learned to ride a bicycle, did you study polar stability or did you just get on it and start peddling?
 
Koda94,rc20,
Good info
Vortex viper hs-t 4-16x44
Mrad reticle. 23 mil
20 moa rail very little down
Lots up.
Bore sighted 25 yds
But cold and snowing
So my range time is
Severely impacted
Click to expand...

thats a nice set up but have you checked if your scope has enough vertical adjustment to compensate for the 20moa rail at close range? You could be limited there.

what is your intent with this rifle? How far out do you plan to zero it?
 
Congrats on your first scope! The laser boresighter's ONLY purpose is to get you close(er) to the bullseye in your initial sight in or first shot(s). My boresighter never leaves the house.

After boresighting at the house i usually go to the range and start at 50 yards fire a few rounds adjusting windage & elevation on the scope as needed. At 50 yards, on most rifles/calibers, I am normally looking to be centered up left to right and maybe spot on vertically or a touch low.

Then I move out to 100 yards and, again tweak the windage and elevation on the scope again as needed. Depending on how far out you intend to shoot, you may want to be printing high at 100 yards. For example with my .308 once zeroed in I am a touch low at 50yds, about and inch high at 100yds and a little over an inch low at 200yds, so I feel confident I can make a lethal shot on game out to 200yds easy. You have to know your rifle, your ammo etc.... and where it will be printing at what ever range you intend to shoot.

On the subject of scope mounts I do not like "high" scope mounts that result in more of a chin weld than a cheek weld on the stock. To repeatably put round in tight little groups you must repeatably achieve exactly the same cheek weld (head position). High mounts and a chin weld means it is easier and you are more likely to tilt your head/eye just a touch out of that perfect alignment we are trying to repeatably achieve.

With scopes rings, bases etc.... there certainly are opportunities for equipment failure, but you also have to remember that human/operator error is just as if not more common.
 
People were sighting in scope sighted rifles long before lasers and softwares.
Hopefully,we are done with the laser.

Ballistic softwares are fine.I figured out you have a mil scope.Thats OK.Its even good!

Most scopes(and people) are calibrated in MOA. Its just a different unit of measure.

But imagine a forum of cooks discussing baking a loaf of bread.One is thinking in Celsius,one in farenheight.One is discussing introducing steam,and one is worried about the programmable digital controls on the oven.

Beautiful,wonderful bread is baked with wood in stone ovens.The cook feels heat with is hand,sees the color,smells the bread.

Can you tell me one of the definitions of a mil? I know of two.Either will do.
One is a 1 to 1000 ratio.1 meter at 1000 meters.(The other is 1/6400 of a circle)

The "R" and "L" and the "U" and "D" refer to moving the point of imact on the target.Rigt now,master moving the point of impact a known,predictable amount.Like "I'm 15 cm low and 5 cm left,so...clickclickclick and your next shot goes where you put it.

IF you stop thinking of 100 yds,and convert to 100 meters,then 1/10 mil wil be approx 1 centimeter on the target at 100 meters.or three centimeters at 300 meters.Its an angular measurement.Think trig.

One mil up from a 100 meter zero is what the software says? OK. At 100meters,put your group center 10 cm above the aimpoint.

Now,shoot at 300 m.It will be close.Write down ,in a notebook,the ammo,weather,etc,and then record any correction you had to make.Zero precisely at 300m. Now,if you choose,set your turrets at zero,and use your dials per your software,but each time log variations.
 
Last edited:
Great explanation

Mostly get out and shoot and get the feel for what happens and then the rest begins to make sense. Or to me.
 
Like most "techies" you're over-thinking this. You've had some very good advise, but I'll tell you an easy way to do it.

I recommend that you buy a Site-Vise, a padded vise that allows you to clamp your rifle and, on a bench, slide it from side to side, and turn the screw at the rear for vertical travel (travel islimited, so you may have to move the rifle in the vise, so it's close, then re-tighten the vise.

So, looking at a "centered" target through the bore (not a GD laser), look through the scope and turn the horizontal adjusting dial so the reticle aligns with the bore-sighted target. (If when you start turning, it's going farther away, TURN IT THE OTHER WAY.) Do the same with the vertical dial.

Check to assure that the bore is still centered, and make fine adjustments to the scope dials.

Now shoot the rifle at 50 yards from a good rest placed under the forend (NOT THE BARREL).

Put the rifle back in the Site-Vise, align THE SCOPE reticle with the bullseye. (FORGET the Bore at this point).

NOW THIS IS THE THING: Adjust the dial to move the crosshairs to the bullet hole (or where you want the bullet to strike in relation to the crosshairs at that distance. Fire the rifle to assure the system works.

Once the rifle is so sighted, move to 100 yards and fire a couple of shots to see where it hits at that range. If it's off by several inches, I often use the sight-vise to assure that the adjustments are correct and not beyond their adjustment range, or marked wrong, or not adjusting as advertised.

I've used the method when sighting in many rifles for customers because it saves ammo and lets me know if the scope is working as it should (or marked properly). You'd be surprised to know that some scope dials are marked in the wrong direction or adjustment value, to move subsequent bullet strikes to the intended point.

This may be confusing to you or others, but if you buy the Site-Vise, directions come with it.
 
Great info from everyone,
I just received a new rail
For my Mossberg 7.62 from
Mounting solutions plus
It was not expensive but
Just felt my rail is misaligned.
Well, put in on and bore sited
It at fifty yds and seems like
Issue with using so much
Windage adjustment has
Been resolved. The scope windage
Being so off was driving me nuts.

It was snowing yesterday
And it 12 degrees today.
Its going to be much warmer weather
Thursday.

Also I'm comfortable thinking
And using yds.
One mil at 100 yds is 3.6 inches
There are 6.283 radians I'm a circle
And 1000 millradians in a radian=
6,283 Milradians in a circle.
My scope is .1 mrad clicks which
Equals .36 inches at 100 yds.
10 .1 clicks per mrad
Which equals 3.6 inches at
100 yds. 7.2 inches at 200 yds
Etc.
 
Last edited:
I want to thank everyone
For all your patience dealing
With a scope newbie.
I just felt that something
Was misaligned with the
Scope rail.
So I replaced rail and noticed
Immediately I retained most of
My right windage.
Followed everyone's advice
And sighted in at 25 yds.
At the range to day
Hits where down and to the
Right a few inches.
Adjusted reticle to impacts
And good now.

The thing I had to think about
Mentioned in this thread,
Was POI, bullet coming out
Of the muzzle. Where it will impact
And your point of aim. What you see
Through your scope.
The down angle in your
Scope , is called up elevation
Seems so simple, but two weeks
Ago I didn't understand it.

Love learning new things.
 
Scopes help out really well. There are a ton of articles and reviews you can find on the internet or even try at the local range. Just by Googling I found this article on Aimpoint Comp M2 which I found well written
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top