How to mount and sight in a rifle scope

You can also see the instructions on how to sight in a rifle scope in our video.

1. Choice of mounting

Let's take it from the ground up. The choice of mounting system is often underestimated. Choosing a sufficiently strong and rigid scope mount is crucial to maintaining an accurate shot. This is the only way to prevent unwanted movement of the mount or the rifle scope itself, which can cause a significant offset of the shot, even if only by a few hundredths of a millimetre. It is therefore necessary to choose a really good quality steel or duralumin mount, especially for weapons with strong recoil and powerful spring air rifles.

The cheaper aluminium mounts are too soft and gradually loosen during shooting. However, for weaker calibers and PCP air rifles they are perfectly adequate. Their advantage is their low price and weight.

What you need to know when selecting a mount

• Dimensions of the mounting rail
• Diameter of the rifle scope tube
• Necessary mounting height

2. mounting of a rifle scope

The scope should be mounted as low as possible without touching the sights or the body of the weapon. It is important to estimate the correct mounting height to achieve the lowest possible distance between the rifle scope and the barrel axis. This is especially important if you intend to shoot at longer distances.

tips for mounting

It is best done in a shooting rest as the handling becomes much more comfortable. A spirit level and plumb bob are great helpers for proper reticle alignment. Make sure that the mounting rings do not touch the eyepiece, lens and turret. Over-tightening the screws in these locations would cause irreversible damage to the riflescope.

sighting in a riflescope

1. preparation

We have the rifle scope mounted and all that's left to do is adjust it. We perform the sighting in flat terrain, of course with a safe impact area. If we are shooting outside an indoor range, we have to be mindful of the weather. Do not shoot in strong wind or rain.

Set up a suitable target. It can be a special shooting target, or a sufficiently large white paper, where you can either mark a circle with a marker or use a black patch. It is easier to see the hits on a white background. Let's not pretend to be expert marksmen and first place the target at a shorter distance. For an air rifle, maybe 10 metres.

In the case of a rifle, we don't have to immediately shoot at the optimal sighting distance, but we can start at 50 meters. At shorter distances, the shooter's error will not be so obvious and the final optimal sighting distance will only be a matter of a few clicks.

Then we'll set up the shooting range. Ideally, we will use a shooting rest. We'll set it on a table and get a chair to sit comfortably. Shooting bags also work very well. In improvised conditions, we have to make do with soft objects to support the gun, e.g. a blanket, a rifle case, etc. The key is to achieve as much grip as possible as in a normal shooting situation. Due to the different grip, the shot may vary considerably.

2. shooting

Before the first shot, aim the weapon at the target and make the first adjustment of the rifle scope (if possible, according to the bore in line with the target). This saves effort and ammunition, and the first shot will hit the target immediately. Fire 1 to 3 shots at the target and make corrections. Clicking the rectifying turrets moves the shot toward the center of the target.

click correction

The adjustment of the rifle scope is done by clicking. This moves the point of impact so that it coincides with the centre of the crosshairs at a certain distance. In other words, we want to hit the target where we are aiming with the centre of the sight picture. With click correction, we are shifting the point of impact, not the crosshair. We click away from the impact behind the center of the target (the point we were aiming at).

SIMPLY PUT

• The gun shoots low – click UP
• The gun shoots high – click DOWN
• The gun shoots to the left – click RIGHT
• The gun shoots to the right – click LEFT

Example:

In the picture we can see that the hit went low right from the center of the target. So we need to get it to the left and up. So we click LEFT and UP.

Once we've got the gun sighted in, it's a good idea to check the grouping. We fire 3 to 5 shots, from which we then evaluate the hit and its position relative to the point of aim. Based on this, we make the final adjustment to the rifle scope. Remember that when shooting at a longer distance, it will be necessary to make the appropriate elevation correction due to bullet drop. The shot can also vary with different types of ammunition.

And we're done. Finally, I recommend resetting the turrets; in other words, setting the turrets back to zero (if the rifle scope allows it). You can easily return to the default values in case of accidental rotation of the correction dials.

1. clicking in MOA

The most common correction you will encounter is the Minute of Angle (MOA) correction. This is a unit of angle that allows us to move the point of impact by a known distance. There's a fixed relationship between it and distance. It is common to see a click of ¼ MOA, but for long range shooting a fine rectification click of ⅛ MOA is available. The MOA unit is often used to judge the accuracy of a weapon.

2. clicking in MRAD

Again an angular unit, this time it is milliradians. The click size is larger than MOA, but that is a major advantage. You don't have to rely on hundredths of a millimeter, but you always get a nice round number. The calculation is much easier for a continental European; let them count in inches across the pond. Particularly if you want to do tactical shooting and you're not the best at math, MRAD is the obvious choice. For precision long range shooting, MOA wins with finer correction on the other hand.