Sighting in: Hmm.. it took that many?

[deadeye]

I was at the range once and this young dude was trying to sight in a rifle and didnt know or at least remember that the clicks meant 1/4 at 100yrds. It was taking him forever to walk that hole over. I just kindly walked over and slapped him upside the head and said "hey dipstick want me to do that for ya so we Arnt here all day?" You know what that lil twerp said "No I'll get it eventually Dad, just leave me alone and go back in the house" , damn kids.

 

[solv3nt]

Almost, without fail, I dial in the wrong direction.

 

[Capn Jack]

Then there are those that, 2 shots at a beer can at 25 yards is good.

 

[Capn Jack]

Almost, without fail, I dial in the wrong direction.

Now they write it on the dial for people like us.

 

[solv3nt]

Now they write it on the dial for people like us.

Are you referring to the arrow? I always think the arrow is the direction of the cross hairs, then realize I'm going in the wrong direction.

It doesn't help that I haven't been shooting my rifle enough, and with a warm barrel, it does really funny things. That took me a while to figure out.

 

[ilikegunspdx]

I saw this and scratched my head. Maybe watch a youtube video and save some time and money. "only has 60 shots through it to sight in the scope".

That's nuts. It should never take more than 2 shots. Or 3 to double check. Hold rifle steady or use vice or straps or whatever to keep it stabilized. Shoot. Don't move rifle. Adjust crosshairs so it is over the hole you just shot. Done.

 

[PNguyen]

I probably should have been more specific, it only took 6 to dial it in. The other 54 shots were just me enjoying the sound of the steel gong at 200 yards

 

[kopcicle]

I'll only bore you with the important details.

Once I learned to properly affix an optic to a rifle*

Put a pin hole in the bottom of a coffee can and put a flashlight in it
Place the can a known distance from the muzzle* (2)
Wait for dark and remove the bolt or bolt carrier or ...
Sight down the tube and center the pin prick of light in the bore.
Bag or tie down the tube and verify center.
(hint: center will exhibit a bit of a concentric halo when centered.)
Gently approach the scope turrets and move them onto the pin prick of light.
Wash, rinse, repeat, verify.

Range day one.
Shoot one round. Shoot this one round as quietly and as sure as possible. Put it on the $, not the bull, on the $.
Even if it's a fouling round as well as a cold bore it doesn't matter, just get it right.
Bag or tie the rifle down with the crosshairs on the $ *(3)
Now carefully, gently, without disturbing the rifle, adjust the turrets so that they are centered on the impact.
If a fouling round, continue to shoot short groups. Have fun because it's the last "fun" you'll have shooting the rifle.

If everything went well, you have a somewhat zeroed rifle based on a sample size of one.

Over the course of the next 6 months to a year take the rifle out and fire one shot from a cold bore.
Fire just one shot in all kinds of conditions. Meticulously record the conditions.
Don't even adjust or hold for wind, record it.
Cleaning consists of patches through the bore until they come out clean.
Last two patches are a light oil and a dry patch.
Wash, rinse, repeat, record, do it again.

With any luck you'll have a significant database of cold bore shots in a wide variety of conditions. You will have seen rain, sleet, snow, wind, freezing and melting temperatures. You will know when you are on your game and when you're sick or hungover. You'll be able to accurately call fliers.

Now you know where to move the cross hairs.
If all you shot on the first day was the two rounds to get close, then you have 18, eighteen more trips to the range with a cold bore to collect data!
The whole point here is if ammunition is so expensive then quit your bubblegumin and make each round work for you.

This can easily devolve into a discussion about standard deviation and extreme spread but for this entry level procedure the small amount of vertical stringing observed within 300yds will be overwhelmed by the changing conditions and the proficiency of the shooter. At some point you will know if you jerked one and results for that day may be tainted by the less than consistent cold bore and significant cool down but not quite cold bore. If you want to begin with waterline and chasing nodes so, be it. It is my opinion that unless you intend to shoot "F" class or Palma for record it doesn't matter.

"Sighting in: Hmm.. it took that many"

Two, maybe three.
or
Close to a year and two boxes of 20 rounds.

Jus sayin









*Precision ground 1" cold rolled nickel steel alignment bar to get close, 1" 12L-14 (leadalloy 300 for you old farts) lapping mandrel to get closer, rub the dovetails in and protect with clear acrylic (nail polish), If sub mounts align with machined rail, torque all and then remove fasteners one by one and 242 (blue) Loc-Tite, Finish lap the rings, level the scope, torque all and remove fasteners one by one and 242 (blue) Loc-Tite...

*(2) This distance is best at near field zero. The first time line of bore intersects line of sight. If this is inconvenient, then there is some math involved. My "hunting" rifles are all 5" MPBR. So, nothing 2.5" over line of sight or below line of sight. Compute trajectory including distance of line of sight over bore and arrive at near field zero.
Seriously, 5" MPBR for my .270 is 280yds. I have no business taking a shot beyond 300yds with these old eyes anyway. If I want to do any serious long-range work, then MPBR becomes nothing more than a convenient reference and I'll roll the dice.

*(3) on the money. If you're lucky enough to be on a 100yd range, you will easily know from the ballistics computation how far above bull you need to be. If some other distance you have your ballistic data, get to it

 

[Mikej]

Almost, without fail, I dial in the wrong direction.

Righty tighty. Lefty Loosey.

 

[Holepuncher]

I have a brother-in-law who thinks his 30.06 deer rifle is "sighted in" with one or two shots off a bench at a paper plate at 100 yds. The two shot group spread would be about six inches. I've seen him miss several standing deer while hunting! A couple deer were missed with two-three shots! He just doesn't get it.

 

[Flopsweat]

I have a brother-in-law who thinks his 30.06 deer rifle is "sighted in" with one or two shots off a bench at a paper plate at 100 yds. The two shot group spread would be about six inches. I've seen him miss several standing deer while hunting! A couple deer were missed with two-three shots! He just doesn't get it.

Probably drives a minivan that he can't parallel park, too.

 

[WeaponizedMRE]

As a fan of some very big bores I have gotten zeroing in as few of rounds as possible down pretty good. It's mostly a survival mechanism for the really big ones, both physical and financial lol.

I have been wanting to put a much nicer scope on my grandfathers weatherby Mk 5 in 460 weatherby for a while now, but I get a chill from my shoulder to down my spine when I look at the rifle in the safe.

 

[jbett98]

I once watched a friend try to zero in a scope using the dust caps.

 

[Capn Jack]

Off a rest at 25 yards, once left and right are dialed in, it's just a matter of up, or down.

 

[156256Hunter]

Back in the 90s when Tasco scopes were a thing for a minute, I had a brand new one on a .308. Couldn't get the rifle even close to sighted in after about 10 shots, and I was going nuts. Finally did some dry firing and saw the crosshairs jiggle a lot. Broken scope -- internals turned to mush. Traded it to a guy who sent it in for replacement.

 

[Capn Jack]

My .458 SoCom shook the guts out of 3 scopes before I found a good one. They were expensive lessons when jacketed bullets were costing almost a $1.00 a piece.