Scopes 101

[DemonOfTheFall]

feel free to direct me to any links/earlier posts on this subject if they're out there...

Bought an AR a few weeks ago (pics later) and have had a .22LR plinker for a while, and have pretty nice scopes on both of them, and for the life fo me I can't get them zeroed. A few random questions...

-when you zero at 100yds, does the power of the scope have to be all the way down? Ex, if I am trying to zero at 100 and have the scope turned to full power, will the zero be high?

-I hate going to the range and spending teh first 30 minutes effing around trying to get the scope right, and probably because I'm new and therefore suck at it, I'm never able to get the crosshairs right, so I spend the entire afternoon basically wasting ammo and not improving. If cost is no object, could I pay to get something of superior quality that I could attach, get zeroed once, and then forget about it? Or is that just not the way scopes work, do they have to be constantly adjusted and tuned?

Any basic knowledge for a newbie to scopes and boresighting would be greatly appreciated.

[arrrrgh15]

A quality scope should not experience a zero shift when changing power. What scope brands are you using? Years ago my dad had a tasco on a 22 magnum that wouldn't hold zero for shit.

I zero mine at 100 yard using the highest power on the scope.

Once properly zeroed, it should stay that way, provided it's a quality scope, solid mount, not taken off/reattached, etc.

Fire a shot group. If it's a good group, find the distance from the center of the group to the bulls eye. Adjust scope up/down, left right accordingly. Fire another shot group to verify. If done properly you could zero a rifle in 6 shots if it's already on paper.

As for bore sighting, there is an "eyeball" method you can use that involves looking down the bore with the bolt removed at an object, then adjusting the cross hairs until the two match up. I've done it with my Rem700 and one of my ARs and it works very well. Sort of a field expedient bore sight to get you on paper at close range (25 yards).

[schr8er2000]

No matter when I sight in a scope I start at 25 yds to make sure it on paper. Then gradually move out to whatever range you want..... All the while checking to make sure the rings are tight and not coming loose. Like arrrr said above.. use the center of the grouping to make your adjustments. Dont just fire at 100 yds with a new scope and wonder why your either kicking up dirt or shooting clouds. Work up to it....

Again, making sure you have a decent to good scope makes the job easier and it will remain "ON" for a long time unless you drop it or have some other major problem.

Good luck and enjoy.

[normanvin]

I don't know how to phrase this but. I have always adjusted one click more than I need then back off one. I picked this up somewhere, I don't remember why. I do it because it doesn't cost anything and may help.

[Tomcat088]

As others have said, the scope should hold zero. Realize that when you zero a scope, the next time that you come to the range, the conditions will be slightly different. At shorter distance (given that the distance is the same) the wind will shift on different days and have different speeds, and your zero will not be zeroed anymore. The height will be just about the same, but the windage will usually change. As others have said, don't fire just one shot and try to adjust. If you're on paper, fire 3-5 shots holding on the center of the target and then see where all the bullets group. If there is no group whatsoever, then there could be a problem with the scope, or you could have a problem with trigger control. Usually when there is no type of grouping and you've shot some before, it's a scope problem. What ranges are you trying to zero at? Normanvin is doing something that people used to do more often back in the day, or tap on the turrents lightly because older and cheaper scopes would sometimes have the crosshairs stick. So sometimes when you'd adjust them one way they wouldn't move even though they were clicking, and after you jarred or moved it another direction, the crosshair would go to the position it was supposed to be and then adjust somewhere else because you were dialing to correct again.

What kind of scopes are you using? What kind of wind conditions are you shooting in? At 100 yards with wind changing direction completely or speed, and you don't have a good hold, a .22 can move a fair amount from the last time that you zeroed it in a different wind condition. Try to pay attention to the wind when you get the rifle zeroed, write it down if you have to and then pay attention to it the next time that you go to the range, it could be part of the problem.