Rifles are like people and have individual characteristics. Two identical rifles made by the same manufacturer, although alike may shoot differently. Every rifle will fire different ammunition brands and different ammunition grains with varying degrees of accuracy. The following procedure takes these factors into account as you should if you wish to be accurate in your shooting.
Tools You Will Need
• The rifle and scope you will be shooting
• No less than two different types of ammo from different manufacturers and with different loads. (We suggest you try at least three.)
• Several paper or cardboard targets.
• A bore sighter. (Available at gun shops and sporting goods stores, an inexpensive item.)
• A pair of good binoculars or viewing scope.
See Binoculars or Spotting Scopes.
• Tools for adjusting your scope. (See the instructions that came with your scope.)
• A felt marker to identify groupings on the target.
• Appropriate safety equipment such as ear plugs or other hearing protection, and shooting glasses or other eye protection
****PLEASE FOLLOW ALL SAFETY RULES WHILE HANDLING YOUR FIREARM. REMEMBER TO CARRY YOUR FIREARM UNLOADED, BREECH OPEN, AND NEVER POINTED IN THE DIRECTION OF ANOTHER INDIVIDUAL.
STEP 1
Having located an appropriate location to fire your rifle, you need to set up a target at a distance of 100 yards* from your shooting location . You should use a comfortable gun rest to eliminate as much human error as possible.
Making certain the rifle is empty with no cartridge in the chamber and the breech open , follow the instructions that came with your bore sighter and install the bore sighter in the muzzle of your rifle lining it up with the scope as close as possible.
Now, sighting through the scope as though you were going to shoot you should see two sets of cross hairs. One set is a plain cross hair (this is the one in the scope itself) and another set which is graduated or on a grid (this is the one in the bore sighter). These cross hairs should line up with each other vertically, horizontally and in complete alignment. If the vertical and horizontal cross hairs are not parallel with each other, adjust the bore sighter whatever direction it needs to turn in order to achieve this.
Next you need to get the cross hairs to cross or meet at precisely the same location. If they do not do that you will need to adjust your scope so they do. There are two adjustments on any scope. One for elevation (usually on top) and another for windage (usually on the side). Follow the directions that came with your scope for how to access these adjustments and what tool to use (i.e.. screwdriver, etc.) to make this adjustment. Proceed to adjust your scope right, left, up, or down until the cross hairs match. Remove the bore sighter from the muzzle! Make sure you have removed the bore sighter from the end of the muzzle!! Load one cartridge into the chamber and close the breech. Take aim at the target bulls eye and squeeze off one round. Open the breech and be certain the rifle is not loaded then go check your target close up. If the one round you fired hit anywhere on the target you have done well. Don’t be concerned that it was not on the bulls eye. That will come later. You have now completed the first step.
*If you are not hitting the paper target at all in step one, move the target closer in 25 yard increments until you do consistently hit somewhere on the target. You cannot make any scope adjustments if you do not know which direction to make it. Once you initially hit the target sheet you can make adjustments and then gradually move the target back out to the 100 yard mark.
STEP 2
The next step is to test ammunition . As was mentioned in the introduction, no two ammunitions will behave in the same manner when fired from the same rifle. This may be one of the most important steps in sighting in any firearm and is the one that is most frequently omitted. Do not bypass this step.
Select one type of ammo and fire three separate shots at the target with that ammo. Using your binoculars or spotting scope, locate the pattern for those three shots. (If you do not have field glasses or prefer to walk out to the target to check close up, always leave your rifle empty with the breech open and carry it with you to insure against accidental discharge.) Hopefully, there will be a tight pattern of bullet holes in one particular area of the target. Use the marker to label this grouping. Again, it is not terribly important if the pattern is in the bulls eye or not, but keep in mind the bulls eye is what you are aiming for.
Repeat this procedure with the other brands of ammo you are testing. Always fire three shots or more to get an accurate grouping. Two shots are simply not enough to determine anything. When you have finished with all the ammo you care to test, you will have marked and identified each grouping and its relationship to the center of the bulls eye.
Now you can select the type of ammunition which produced the tightest grouping closest to the center bulls eye. This is the ammunition you should use with this rifle. This does not indicate that the other brands and grains of ammunition are not any good, they simply are not the ammunition best suited for this particular rifle. You have now completed step two.
STEP 3
In step three you will use the ammunition you have selected as the best for that rifle and make adjustments in the elevation and windage of your scope based upon the pattern you are shooting. The elevation needs to be adjusted to provide the most accurate shot possible even though the distance from you to your target in the field can range any where from 50 to 500 yards, depending on your scope and rifle. To accomplish this set your elevation so the pattern hits the target about three inches above the bulls eye. This will not alter closer shots significantly and will compensate for the longer shots. The windage adjustment should remain dead on center. Continue to fire no less than three shots to locate your pattern then make the necessary adjustments to your scope to achieve the three inch high dead on center pattern. When you are confident you have accomplished this you have completed step three.
STEP 4
The final step in the procedure is to be sure the rifle is not loaded, no cartridge in the chamber, and the breech open. Reinsert the bore sighter lining it up by eye just like in the first step. Now, get in the shooting position and record on a piece of paper exactly where the scope’s cross hairs are in relation to the bore sight cross hairs. This is a little insurance in case you should bump or drop your rifle while in the field. This kind of jarring can throw off the accuracy of the scope. You can use the bore sighter to check the accuracy of the scope. By referring to this record you made when sighting in your rifle, you will be able to readjust the rifle scope and be reasonably comfortable that it is somewhat accurate. This completes step four and the complete procedure.
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What about the barrel getting hot? Does that factor in?
I’m sighting in my rifle at 200 yds and then at 100 yds, and hiting the target. But then at 75 yds & 50 yds I’m not hiting the target at all what am I doing wrong? My scope was sighted in at 100 yds when I bought the gun
To Ga.
Depending on caliber you should be sighting for 2-3 inches high at 100y (if this is used a hunting rifle especially, you will have a greater chance of hitting the kill zone at anywhere between 100-300y), it will then of course then be hitting somewhat higher at 50 and 75y. So, if your rifle is ZEROED at 200 and hitting on the cross-hairs it may very well be hitting as much as 6 inches higher at 50-75y. Learn about your rounds trajectory.
Check out … http://www.chuckhawks.com/rifle_trajectory_table.htm … There are also many more sites with trajectory tables, information on ballistic coefficient, twist rate to bullet weight etc. Check out Chuck hawks explanation on trajectory … http://www.chuckhawks.com/bullet_trajectory.htm …
Hope this helps.
Mr.E.
We were discussing sighting in a rifle today. My friend belived (although we never tried this) that you can sight in a rifle simply by. 1)Securing a rifle (say a 22LR) to a surface so it cannot move during a shot. 2)Look through the scope and have someone place a target say 50 yards away to where the cross hairs are about centered on the target. 3)Take a shot at the target. 4) Adjust the scope’s cross hairs to where the shot hits the target. No other shots need to be taken your gun is now sighted in with 1 shot. Is this possible?
Robert, It is somewhat true that the rifle has been ‘sighted-in’ or zeroed if you use this method. However it is basically bore sighted at that point and will not be very accurate at anything other than the 50 yards. A good place to start though. You can achieve the same result placing the firearm in a gun vice and removing the bolt and looking down the bore at a marked point and then looking through scope and dialing the cross-hairs to the same mark. Again though, the firearm is now ‘bore-sighted’ and not truly zeroed at the desired range. After either step move your target to 100 yards and re-fire and again re-zero. The best way to envision the trajectory is to remember your line of sight is laser straight and the projectile (the bullet in this case) arcs, dropping further and faster toward the ground as it flies. So you want the 2 lines (line of sight,straight, and line of fire, arced) to intersect at the desired range.. say 100 yards. I like to sight 2 inches high at 100 yards on my .308 and the.270wsm and a little more on my .223. All used for different purposes so each prepared for their designated use.
Hope this helps.
Mr.E
i tried this with my 22lr and it worked great but i did happin to shoot threw a few 2 inch boards and right in to my dads old truck haha he smiled but you could see it kind of buged him but i did clamp it after i had taken a shot to see where it was and then clamed it shot again and just lined up the crosshairs on the hole and till this day i dont miss an squirrels sitting the with ther head poking out up this was the first time i have ever tryed to site in a scope but i would not try that with my new custom 22-250 so its a good thing i know some one to reload cuz shells for that its like 28 bucks for 20 and i hate to just waste good ammo on just paper well good luck
If a rifle is sighted in by a right hand shooter, and a left hand shooter wants to use it, will it be sighted in for him?
How to sight in open or iron sights for deer hunting? Also if I sight in at 50 yds and am 2 in high is this good for 200 yards? When sighting in iron sights and I am shooting to right do I move rear sight to the left or right?
Thanks Jody
I need to know how to get the proper distance from my eye when mounting the CP1 Prismatic Scope on my 556 Sig Sauer AR15 with Picanny Rails. The scope is a fixed 3X.
Thanks Gene