Any firearm is equipped with sighting devices because it becomes complicated and sometimes impossible to hit the weapon without them. The scope is a somewhat arbitrary device. Its task is to help the shooter match the trajectory of the bullet fired from his gun with the target.
There are quite a few scopes. They continue to be improved: designers and shooters are experimenting with sights of various shapes and sighting grids. Therefore, it’s better to know how to sight in a rifle scope to get the best results during shooting.
Make Sure Your Scope Is Installed Properly
The scope is an important part when aiming. Therefore, it is essential to follow some rules:
- A straight front scope should always be in the middle of the sight slot, and the top of the front sight (its upper edge) should be flush with the upper edges of the slot.
- Shooting with an incorrectly placed front scope in the rear sight (to the left or the right of the center, above or below the edge) has not yet brought anyone satisfaction.
Therefore, there should always be a straight-front sight in the scope, period.
Bore-Sight Your Rifle First Off
Aiming along the bore is one of the aiming methods. It consists of combining the center of the alignment of the weapon with sights. It is worth remembering that hitting the target without aiming with a gun is unrealistic. Nevertheless, this process does not take long:
- First, you need to load your weapon.
- Remove the bolt and focus through the barrel to a target at a distance.
- In AR-type rifles, you need to disassemble the weapon and remove the bolt group. However, this is often difficult to do. In this case, the sight attachment will help.
Using the scope, you can save a lot of money displayed in all wasted bullets. Focus, then shoot — that is the rule.
Adjust Eye Distance, Get Level, Align the Reticle, Set Your Minute of Angle
After correctly aiming, you can proceed to the rest of the stages. It is essential to adjust the reticle, move the elevation and wind controls in the exact direction to focus on the target. In this case, the weapon cannot be removed.
If we analyze the process of aiming at the components, then this is, first, placing the head on the butt: with or without a cheek pad — it does not matter. The position of the head should be uniform from time to time — this way, the aiming will be more consistent, and therefore correct. Shooters should do it at the required distance from the rear sight and at such a height that allows the aiming eye to be on the aiming line of the weapon.
With the correct position of the head, the shooter should see the correct position of the reticle in the rear sight, aimed at the right place on the target. The most crucial thing in this is to control the correct setting of the front sight in the rear sight and the position of the front sight relative to the target.
A minute is a unit of measure for angle. This parameter denotes the accuracy when using a weapon or combination with a crosshair. It can display the size of the shot spread.
Use the Right Types of Targets
Using a telescopic scope for aiming requires particular targets. You should not choose the same target type for different examples of weapons. Popular targets for a telescopic scope include:
- made out of tennerite;
- steel targets;
- ringing targets.
All of these examples are pretty successful and effective in hunting. However, steel targets stand out from the rest. They can last longer and do not require a lot of hardware to install. Another advantage is easy maintenance, and they rarely need to be repaired and renewed. And also, hitting a target of this type, you can hear a characteristic sound that will announce a successful shot.
Start Shooting. Fire three-shot groups
You can use the optical scope only after the weapon has been tested for its performance. One of the zeroing stages:
- Taking a test shot. At the first stage, a test shot must be made at the closest possible distance, no more than 25 meters. At this stage, it will be possible to identify the existing malfunctions in the weapon’s operation and determine the degree of bullet expansion correction and determine the vector of its displacement correctly.
- Zeroing from a distance of 25 meters. Next, you need to carry out a series of shots from the weapon from a distance of 25 meters. In most cases, three shots are sufficient. Each of these shots will be a specific signal of the properties of the weapon. Much depends on the results of the hit. However, the radial spread of hits in some situations does not rely on the quality of the firearm or sight.
- Zeroing at a distance of 100 meters. To finally find the optimal targeting of the gun, you need to move back to a distance of 100 meters. And the results of such an exercise will give complete information about the characteristics, quality of the weapon, and its behavior in actual conditions.
Now you need to fire three shots at the center of the target. Why three? Three attempts to determine the midpoint of your rifle. Any carbine or rifle has its ballistic indicators laid down during production, which depend on the quality of the metal, the build quality, the behavior of special ammunition (bullet), trigger force, etc.
Conscientious manufacturers of weapons provide information to buyers about how the gun behaves, the accuracy and accuracy of the battle of this weapon, the less, the better. Three shots will give you a complete picture of your rifle’s accuracy. And so three shots are fired in the center of the target, and we see that the bullets lay next to each other, but not in the center of the target.
Adjust for Distance
Novice shooters need to learn how to use the reticle in a telescopic scope. To use it, it must be adjusted appropriately. And before you change the telescopic sight, which is mounted on a rifle, you need to choose the proper distance.
It is best to shoot from small distances; 25 meters will be enough. As soon as several shots have been fired, the length can be increased. It allows you to adjust the telescopic scope quickly.
It is necessary to increase the zeroing distance gradually. The final sighting of the gun must be done from a distance of up to 300 meters. In this case, at each interval, the sighting of the weapon must be made from three shots.
Reading the Targets When Sighting In
The target after shooting is a carat of wins and losses. It allows you to see what mistakes were made and what strengths the shooter has.
Reading your targets is essential. It allows you to see your progress. When a shooter analyzes his goals, he can move forward — from poor results to better ones. With the proper practice, you can get incredible results, and shooting will soon become very easy!
Final Words
The optical scope is an indispensable item when shooting at long distances. With it, you can aim the weapon at the target as accurately as possible, but this requires correct adjustment. There is nothing complicated in this procedure, and after spending a little time, anyone can correctly aim the optics.
Due to the lack of sufficient experience behind them, novice hunters ask professional hunters to teach them how to aim correctly with a telescopic sight. What do you need to do about this? It is imperative to zero in the weapon. This process is the most significant when learning how to shoot.
