What distance to start with a scope

[Butch]

I was told that when you put a scope on a rifle you should sight in at at 25 yds before goig to 100 yds. Is this true.

[5shot]

Yes and use a big target so you won't have any wasted "mystery" shots. If your scope has 1/4" clicks at 100 yards that will be 16 clicks for an inch of adjustment at 25 yards. Depending on your scope height and caliber of the rifle get it either on or maybe a little low at 25 yards before going to 100.

[BigAl52]

If you dont have a bore sighter then 5shot is right on. Start at 25. You can get laser bore sighters on Amazon fairly cheap if you do much scope or red dot mounting.

[GunnyGene]

Acceptable and common to 'get on paper' at that range, but be aware of parallax. Typically centerfire scopes will be set at 100yds for 0 parallax, and rimfire scopes at 50yds, so you'll need to know how to account for that. High end scopes will be adjustable for parallax so you can dial it in for the range you're shooting.

See this short video about parallax:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VPGcq9IVxc

[DsGrouse]

What Gunnygene said. You need to know the parallax of your scope. Some start at 10 meters or yards; some start at 100 meters/yards. 50 meters/yards is a very common parallax.

Learn to bore sight, and make proper adjustments to scopes. Also, look at your load data provided by the ammo manufacturer. That will tell you if the bullet is rising or falling.

For instance, it makes no sense to zero on a +2" gain at 25yds for a 400 yd zero when most of your shooting is at 50 yds.

[Mags]

I started at 50 yds with a laser bore sight. Then 50yd live fire tweak adjustments to finalize.

[.45Steel]

I always start at 25 yds.

[GunnyGene]

Speaking of scopes, I ran across this article today. Anybody do this?

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/scope ... -easy-way/

[GFK]

Zeroing a scope:

https://www.americanhunter.org/content/ ... o-a-rifle/

[Sir Henry]

Speaking of scopes, I ran across this article today. Anybody do this?

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/scope ... -easy-way/

I always just eyeball it first with one eye and then the other. When they both agree it’s level enough for me. I can’t remember the exact dimensions but being off just one degree will throw the point of impact to the side about and inch at a 100 yards. So not only does the scope have to be level but the rifle too when shooting.

[Hatchdog]

Speaking of scopes, I ran across this article today. Anybody do this?

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/scope ... -easy-way/

I use this setup from Wheeler. Works great and simple to use.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/slredirect/pi ... %26psc%3D1

[GunnyGene]

Speaking of scopes, I ran across this article today. Anybody do this?

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/scope ... -easy-way/

I use this setup from Wheeler. Works great and simple to use.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/slredirect/pi ... %26psc%3D1

I only have 2 scoped rifles, and I mounted them the old fashioned way using the tools I have on hand: Plumb bob, bubble levels and lines on a piece of paper. The Wheeler would have been nice if I had a bunch of scopes to mount.

[markiver54]

Speaking of scopes, I ran across this article today. Anybody do this?

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/scope ... -easy-way/

I use this setup from Wheeler. Works great and simple to use.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/slredirect/pi ... %26psc%3D1

I only have 2 scoped rifles, and I mounted them the old fashioned way using the tools I have on hand: Plumb bob, bubble levels and lines on a piece of paper. The Wheeler would have been nice if I had a bunch of scopes to mount.

I agree with Hatch. Don't however make the mistake of buying a similar kit that looks almost identical to the Wheeler but costs less. It's junk. I know because I made the mistake and had to return it. The larger level that goes on the barrel was fine, but the smaller level was totally out of whack and could not be calibrated. Before I returned it, I used the barrel mount, but then used a small Johnson level on my scope mount. Worked great.

[rickhem]

I was told that when you put a scope on a rifle you should sight in at at 25 yds before goig to 100 yds. Is this true.

Generally speaking, I'd say yes, but the idea seems to be making sure that you are pretty close before you go to longer distances for the final, finer adjustments. It saves time and ammo.

As a rule of thumb, a typical "hunting rifle" centerfire rifle, shooting with typical hunting style bullets, will have the line of sight, and the line of trajectory, cross at roughly 50 yards and then again at roughly 200 yards. If you follow the maximum point blank range philosophy, that puts you inside a 4 inch circle the whole way using a single sight picture. For our handgun cartridge firing lever guns, and their less ballistically efficient bullets, those distances are roughly 25 and 75 yards. Of course, you should confirm those with actual rounds downrange.

[rickhem]

For some interesting and semi-related reading, look here:
http://www.fekete-moro.hu/bfta-setup-ma ... dex-en.php

It it directed towards airguns, and goes into extreme detail, but lots of good points and things to think about.

[GunnyGene]

I'll add that if the OP really wants to get down in the weeds with this, he should also do a chronometer test to know what the actual MV is (often very different from what the box says) and how much variation there is. Once that's known for a particular load, plug that and the BC and other info into a ballistic calculator.

Stat program for the Chrony test (if not included with the chrony): https://www.calculator.net/statistics-calculator.html

JBM Ballistic Calc: https://www.jbmballistics.com/ballistic ... tors.shtml

[220]

I always start at 25y, if your target is 12" you can be 24moa off and still be on paper at 100y 7moa off and you will not even be on the target.

[BrokenolMarine]

In the Corps, we called the short range, about 25 yards, the 1000 inch range. With the 556 M16s, sighted in there... They would be very close on the 200 yard line when we moved to the Main 500/600 yard qualification range to fully sight them in. With every new rifle, I've started at 25 yards, then only worked as far out as the terrain/game I expected to encounter. Anything encountered outside those parameters got a pass.

[Bill.68]

Whenever I scope any firearm I do the same thing I do with irons, I give any one of them is adjustabke, a mechanical zero. Personally I always start at 50 yds after mounting and I put a small square of bright orange posterboard, about 3" square, on a large piece of new cardboard and fire a shot. Make my first adjustment and fire again. If asecond correction is needed Ill make it and fire a 3rd shot and Im almost always done.
Ive been to the range and watched people fire multiple boxes of ammo and leave saying something like "It must be this scope" or Ill try again later or this ammo is crap and on and on. Its terrible to have to watch. I dont understand what is so hard about zeroing a rifle.
You dont need any fancy "zeroing" targets of any fancy do-dads, just an aiming point on a clean backstop. Thats it.