You just bought a new rifle scope, adjusted it, and let me guess… for some reason your shots don’t land near the scope?
Sadly, there is more to precision shooting with the rifle scope than just dropping the scope on the rifle and shooting forever like an SAS sniper! You have to “zero it”.
Think about it. it’s like a bicycle wheel. If you tighten the screws badly, too much on one side for example, it turns badly and rubs the brake pads. It’s the same with a telescopic sight. If it is not set up correctly you will be offline and even at short BB, airsoft and paintball ranges this will affect your accuracy immediately. At longer ranges it will miss by a mile (well, figuratively anyway!)
What does “zeroing a scope” mean?
Zeroing a scope or scope means putting the scope in position so that when you fire. Ground zero if you want. The Point of Impact There is much discussion among shooters about the best way to zero a scope or scope. What I’ve written below is what I’ve been sending out to my eBay outreach buyers for the last year and I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback on it, so I know it’s ok!
How to zero a rifle scope
First, you need to establish a firm foundation by snugly adjusting the scope mounts.
- First put the scope mounts on the rifle with the top mounts removed.
- Tighten them in place using 1/2 turns at a time to get them as tight and level as possible, meaning the downward pressure is as even as possible. In this point don’t fully tighten them as you may want to slide them up and down a bit.
- Now take the scope and place it on top of the open mounts of the rifle.
- Make sure the windage and elevation turrets are one above and one to the right (these are the “turrets” in the crosshairs. You’ll use them later to make micro-adjustments and field adjustments for windage)
- Then fit the top mounting brackets and tighten them. Again, use partial twists to tighten them.
- Do not fully tighten at this stage, you may still need to tighten a bit.
zero the scope
- Lie down in your normal shooting position and check that you can see well through the scope…
- The distance between your eye and the rear sight lens is called Eye Relief.
- Unlike the cartoons, he doesn’t wear a viewer by pressing his eye against the viewer’s lens!
- Once you’re comfortable, complete the bolting of all the brackets so your setup is solid.
- be careful at this stage to keep the final turns partial and one by one to ensure even pressure.
Now is the time to zero out the range to fire:
- load the rifle
- Assume your standard prone/prone shooting position.
- Prone is the best way, because if you try shooting from standing or kneeling positions, you hesitate more and it’s more difficult to do a “real test”.
- Put some sort of target in place, say 20 yards, or whatever you think your “standard” range will be.
- Using a crosshair in the center of the target – Take 2 or 3 shots – Where do they land in relation to where you want them? Right, left, up, down – dead (lucky you!)
- 2-3 shots is best as it will average out the shooter’s inaccuracy and give you a more “meaningful” feel for how far or close you are to true zero.
Now is the time to use the windage and elevation turrets to reset it. These are the 2 turrets on the top right of the scope. See my website for photos.
- Models vary, you’ll likely unscrew a cap and expose a coin-twist or finger-knurled type of dial.
- The upper turret adjusts up and down. The right left and right.
- If you have the instructions for your scopes, they should have a table with figures telling you what each click setting means in terms of crosshair movement at “x” distance, say 1/8 inch at 100 meters.
Use one-click turns and each time take a new shot to gauge where the shot now lands – the dials basically adjust the position of the crosshair from top to bottom and left to right.
It’s basically trial and error, but with trial and error you’ll get to where you need to be and you can trust that your shots will go where it says they will. This can take some time and a lot of shots. Be patient!
