Re: Rifle shooting five feet low!
okay sir
here is a pretty standard procedure - dont' take this as talking down to you , just throwing it out there so in case you forgot, didn't know , or skipped something it may help you
1. get the rifle you are going to use , ensure it is UNLOADED
2. take the base if its a one piece base , the thick end goes towards the back of the receiver ( safety /bolt knob end) and it should only mount this one way due to the receiver base holes spacing . mount the base, and using the recommended torque , torque the base to the receiver , with a torque wrench (FAT, SEEKONK etc.,)
3. now take your rings , only the rings no optic in them yet, remove the caps, and place the rings on the mount/rail . finger tighten the cross slot bolts so the rings will not move around , place the optic, ocular end ( this is end you look through , and may have a +/- diopter dial or the variable power ring on this end) towards the shooter, get on the gun and move the optic forward and backward to get a clear crisp picture inside the scope; once this is acheived ,
4. place the ring caps on the ring bodies, and lightly tighten the screws , allowing still for slight scope movement foward and backward ; get down behind the gun in prone, as if prepping for a shot, verify the scope is where you want it and that the reticle is level , once its right for you (if you are using a variable power scope , i would use the highest power setting for this) tighten with a torque wrench to the proper torque , recommended by the manufacturer, probably 20inlb's, going in a cross screw/bolt pattern ;
the optic should be mounted on the rifle/receiver now ( lowlight has written a great article on this, its on the front page at
www.snipershide.com , he mounts a nighforce optic , )
sit down with your rifle in front of you - take the elevation turret and go ALL the way up or down , it doesn't matter which way you go , until it tops out or bottoms out - then begin going back in the opposite direction , slowly, and count EACH click as you go all the way up/down, till the optic tops out or bottoms out again.
you will now have a 'number' of clicks , and depending on what your scope adjusts in , you can easily figure out what your internal MOA adjustment is for the elevation in that scope; if its one moa clicks and you had 100 total clicks from top to bottom, your optic has 100 moa internal ajustment
if you have a .25 moa clicks, and you had 300 clicks total , you would divide the 300 clicks by 4 (4 , .25's in one moa) , which would give you 75 moa internal adjustment
repeat this for the windage , as well
once you have the total number , you will now place half of the click count back on the elevation and back on the windage, which OPTICALLY centers the scope
so if you had a total of 300 .25 moa clicks, you would click on, 150 clicks to the elevation , repeat this for the winadage as well , adding back on half of the total click count
now your optic is mechanically zeroed or centered
at your house or at the range , remove the bolt from the gun , and choose an object approximately 50 yards away, like a mailbox or target etc., looking through the back of the receiver, where the bolt should be, find this object and line it up through the receiver/bolt hole and the barrel bore (use sandbags / sand socks if you have to) holding the rifle as steady as you can , hold the rifle in this position, the bore sighting pointed at the object, and raise your head to the optic, (with the optic set on the lowest setting if its variable ) now adjust the elevation and windage in whatever directions it takes to get the reticle onto your object; frequently check the boresighting , to verify the bore is still pointed at the object you used ;
it will seem odd, at first but ifyou move the elevation turret up, the reticle goes down ; no worries , this is correct, just move the reticle using the turrets, until the reticle and the bore are both sighted on the object .
once this is done , your rifle/optic is bore sighted
if you are at the range , and have a target up, fire a three shot group and you should be very close
adjust off that group until the point of aim and point of impact are the same.
move to 100 yards and finish sighting in at that range;
you can do the bore sighting at 100 yards , if you like ;
use a big piece of clean cardboard , as big as you can find ; go to a sears or lowes and ask for their trash boxes like for a refrigerator or stove , or tv
hope this helps sir
sometimes it is the simple , no brainer stuff that we skip or take for granted , that catches us up !! been there , done that
george
