miles58
Banned yankee
Unless you have Bubba'ed mounting holes for the bases, mounting a scope properly, and getting a modern rifle on paper at 100 yards is simple.
Start with the scope. Get a hand mirror stand the scope on the mirror, objective end down. Look through the scope and you will likely see two sets of cross hairs a little bit offset. Adjust the scope by cranking the vertical and horizontal adjustments until there is but one cross hair visible. This centers you scope in the middle of it's adjustment range.
Your rifle will need bases for the rings. The bases must have the same contour as the receiver and you need to buy the bases in pairs. Some rifles have different contours on the front and back of the receiver, some have different heights, so buying bases in pairs for the rifle is critical. Placing the right base in the front and the right one in the rear is an often made mistake with some base/rifle combinations. The bases must align exactly parallel to the bore. With the bolt out of the gun, the bases in place and the rings sitting on the bases but open, you should be able to look through the bore and the scope and the cross hairs should be pointing in the same place as the bore. A Workmate bench to clamp the rifle or a bench mounted vise is very helpful for this step. If you have a "target" that allows you to look through the bore and see it centered in the bore, the cross hairs should be about 1.5 inches low with a 25 yard target to dead on with a 100 yard target. If the scope is not already aligned as described and it is sitting down in the ring bottoms, something is wrong. Some rings will require a little down pressure to set the scope down into the bottom. Dovetail based rings can be just a little twisted which can be corrected with a one inch dowel. The "standard" Leupold base/ring combination has a dovetail based front and a windage adjustable rear and may need a little fiddling with the windage to get them aligned.
If the scope and the bore do not agree at this point and you have centered the scope with the mirror you have things hosed and need to stop until you get it right. Very few rifle/base/ring/scope combinations need to be shimmed, and if that's what your situation seems to need assume you have a problem with the bases, the rings or the rifle (in that order). Proceeding with the installation without correcting the misalignment will result in not being able to get the scope adjust to where the rifle shoots, or it will leave insufficient adjustment after it is zeroed.
If it's centered, remove the scope from the rings, remove the rings from the bases and then remove one screw. from the Base(s). Put a tiny drop of BLUE loctite (DO NOT USE RED LOCTITE) on the screw, put the screw back in and snug it down. Do not try to twist the screw off! Snug is all you need. Repeat that for the remaining base screws. Mount the rings and verify that the bore is still in alignment with the cross hairs. Loctite the ring screws exactly like the base screws.
A properly mounted scope bore sighted like this will be on paper at 100 yards unless there is something drastic wrong with the load or the rifle. The scope will stay in position and not shoot loose. The scope will have the maximum amount of adjustment still left for you to use and it will serve you as well as it is capable of.
Start with the scope. Get a hand mirror stand the scope on the mirror, objective end down. Look through the scope and you will likely see two sets of cross hairs a little bit offset. Adjust the scope by cranking the vertical and horizontal adjustments until there is but one cross hair visible. This centers you scope in the middle of it's adjustment range.
Your rifle will need bases for the rings. The bases must have the same contour as the receiver and you need to buy the bases in pairs. Some rifles have different contours on the front and back of the receiver, some have different heights, so buying bases in pairs for the rifle is critical. Placing the right base in the front and the right one in the rear is an often made mistake with some base/rifle combinations. The bases must align exactly parallel to the bore. With the bolt out of the gun, the bases in place and the rings sitting on the bases but open, you should be able to look through the bore and the scope and the cross hairs should be pointing in the same place as the bore. A Workmate bench to clamp the rifle or a bench mounted vise is very helpful for this step. If you have a "target" that allows you to look through the bore and see it centered in the bore, the cross hairs should be about 1.5 inches low with a 25 yard target to dead on with a 100 yard target. If the scope is not already aligned as described and it is sitting down in the ring bottoms, something is wrong. Some rings will require a little down pressure to set the scope down into the bottom. Dovetail based rings can be just a little twisted which can be corrected with a one inch dowel. The "standard" Leupold base/ring combination has a dovetail based front and a windage adjustable rear and may need a little fiddling with the windage to get them aligned.
If the scope and the bore do not agree at this point and you have centered the scope with the mirror you have things hosed and need to stop until you get it right. Very few rifle/base/ring/scope combinations need to be shimmed, and if that's what your situation seems to need assume you have a problem with the bases, the rings or the rifle (in that order). Proceeding with the installation without correcting the misalignment will result in not being able to get the scope adjust to where the rifle shoots, or it will leave insufficient adjustment after it is zeroed.
If it's centered, remove the scope from the rings, remove the rings from the bases and then remove one screw. from the Base(s). Put a tiny drop of BLUE loctite (DO NOT USE RED LOCTITE) on the screw, put the screw back in and snug it down. Do not try to twist the screw off! Snug is all you need. Repeat that for the remaining base screws. Mount the rings and verify that the bore is still in alignment with the cross hairs. Loctite the ring screws exactly like the base screws.
A properly mounted scope bore sighted like this will be on paper at 100 yards unless there is something drastic wrong with the load or the rifle. The scope will stay in position and not shoot loose. The scope will have the maximum amount of adjustment still left for you to use and it will serve you as well as it is capable of.
