Scope on a .22 magnum sight in... ??

[Conax]

I have had a budget Tru-glo 4X scope for about 5 years and finally sighted it in a few days ago. I have a laser bore-site bullet tool so it was on the paper when I began. Interestingly the actual impact (@25 yards) was 3" low and 1" left from where a laser beam said it should be, but the laser tool isn't perfect. It did get it on the paper, which is all it is good for.
Anyway I set it about 1/2" low and dead on in windage at 25 yards, then tried it at 50. It was shooting very high out there. Several inches as I recall. I dialed it in to dead on (as close as I can tell) then let a guy at the range try a few shots. He said it was dead on so I changed ammo to look for a favorite. I found the rifle shot its best with Fiocci HP 40 grn, next best was Armscore HPs, and drawing up last was Winchester Super-x 40 grn HPs.
(Of course, since I have about 400 rounds of the Winchesters at home.)
Even the Winchesters were doing ok with 1 3/8" groups at 50, the Fioccis stayed tight, several 5 shot groups below 1".
My shooting skills are creaking with rust but the scope saved the day.
Now here's the weird thing, I started shooting bits of clay birds left on the 25 yard range and had to hold about 1 1/2" low to bust them.
I wasn't expecting such a difference between 25 and 50 yards, I wonder what is going on here?

Oh, I had an absolute ball shooting the little lever rifle, so pleasant and soft spoken. I forgot my ears one time and heard the bullet crack out there without hurting my ears at all. I love the .22 magnum cartridge and this Henry rifle. Made for each other.

[JEBar]

outstanding .... delighted to hear you've found a keeper

[leverjc]

Sounds like you have a great shooting gun. I like shooting clays also they are a lot of fun.

[Conax]

Before I put the scope on I knew it was a pretty good little shooter. I only had a short range place to shoot, though.
My eyes aren't getting better, so the scope made sense. I'm pretty happy I finally got in a real club with a nice range. No more waiting for the state to open up the public range which has been closed for going on 3 years.
The people out there are cool, too.
I still can't figure out its ballistics, an inch and a half difference seems odd. I may need to remount the scope, square up the rings or something.?
It could be some sort of parallax thing, and the 25 yard clay pieces were downhill since I was shooting them offhand at the bottom of the backstop.
Those other groups were shot off a bench.

[Conax]

Sounds like you have a great shooting gun. I like shooting clays also they are a lot of fun.

I have big fun with any kind of "action" targets. Paper hole punching gets old pretty quick unless you're competing. The target swims before my eyes after an hour or so. I buy clay birds by the gross.

[North Country Gal]

Nice work, Conax. With a scope, the scope is sitting higher off the bore than with irons, so you're effectively tilting the barrel up more to shoot to the same point of impact at 25 yards than you would with iron sights. What height rings are you using? The higher the rings, the more difference you'll see between 25 yards and 50 yards. With scoped rimfire, I often see several inches difference when rough sighting in at 25 yards to get on paper, then moving out to 50 to sight dead on, there. Rimfire shooters who compete at 200 and even 300 yards use this same principle when they use higher than normal scope mounts so their scopes don't run out of elevation adjustment way out there. One possible explanation, anyway.

[Conax]

NCG, that makes a lot of sense. The rings are just standard .22 rings, moderate height. I haven't shot any hundred yard targets yet, that was just the first time out. I wanted to get it in the ballpark, so to speak. Thanks for the reply!

[North Country Gal]

You are welcome. As I said, that's one possible explanation, but there may be others. When in doubt, my solution is to go out and shoot some more. Never fails, even if it doesn't answer your questions.

[Conax]

If it weren't for high ammo prices I'd shoot a lot more often. .22 magnums are $12 to $15 a box at places that actually have some in stock.

[North Country Gal]

For sure, the 22 mag has always been pricey and sometimes hard to find. In our area, it's 17 HMR is cheaper and more available. Go figure.