Very Frustrated Sighting in Rifle Please Help **Updated with pic**

thanks everyone, I did mean 3 to 4" not 3/4.I have no problem with hearing the scope may be loose or broken, I just didn't want to hear that the scope was junk and I shouldn't bother even trying to sight it. I

What I'm gathering is that I should concentrate on 25 yards and I want to be slightly low at this range. Does everyone agree? Then I'll work my way out to 50, 75. I had already thought of using a bristle board or some other big target at 100 once I get groups at shorter ranges. I'm not looking for MOA accuracy, I just want something I can hunt with confidently.
 
Approx 1 inch low at 25yards will put you close at 100.After sighted in at 25 shoot 1 shot at 100 as steady as you can.Do not blast off all your ammo expecting for it to change your point of impact.If it is on the target then adjust your scope to wear you want it shoot 3 round groups and your done.If it is not on target try to determine high or low.You can aim at the top or bottom of the target then see where you are hitting.hope this helps i have been in your shoes and it can be frustrating.It turns into a positive when you sort it out!
 
Something is wrong.
3 to 4" high at 25 woud be something like 10" high at 50 and about 16" high at 100. This could account for missing the backstop at 100--maybe.
But you say it was only 2" aat 50, which does not jibe.
With most rifles and scope mounts, sight it for dead on at 25. This usually makes it maybe three inches high at 100, which is about where you want it. You should only have to tweak it at 100. This has been standard sight setting for many years.
Make sure your barrel is clean, I mean clean of copper, or other fouling. Look carefully at the barrel to see if it looks shiny and normal.
If all looks good, you are going to have to shoot some more. Sight it dead on at 25, then go to 100 with a large enough background the bullet will surely hit.
We don't have a clue as to your shooting ability. It would help if you had an experienced shooter to try it, also.
You have perked my interest in this and I will certainly look forward to seeing what happens next, or just what is at fault here.
 
I knew a guy who had a savage, and it took him a few boxes of ammo to realize that it wasnt the scope or the rifle it was the mounts. They were tapped crooked. had to take it to a gunsmith to have it centered.
 
H4831 said:
Something is wrong.
3 to 4" high at 25 woud be something like 10" high at 50 and about 16" high at 100. This could account for missing the backstop at 100--maybe.
But you say it was only 2" aat 50, which does not jibe.
With most rifles and scope mounts, sight it for dead on at 25. This usually makes it maybe three inches high at 100, which is about where you want it. You should only have to tweak it at 100. This has been standard sight setting for many years.
Make sure your barrel is clean, I mean clean of copper, or other fouling. Look carefully at the barrel to see if it looks shiny and normal.
If all looks good, you are going to have to shoot some more. Sight it dead on at 25, then go to 100 with a large enough background the bullet will surely hit.
We don't have a clue as to your shooting ability. It would help if you had an experienced shooter to try it, also.
You have perked my interest in this and I will certainly look forward to seeing what happens next, or just what is at fault here.
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I appreciate your input, I have seen your posts before and you know your stuff. I'll let you know what develops it'll likely be Monday before I have a chance to shoot it again, work depending.
 
When you sight a rifle in you really should be using a solid rest (sandbags/socks filled with sand/etc) if you can't afford even sandbags then use a coat/sweater bundled up. You want the rest so solid that you can see your heartbeat through the scope. Based on your description of your sighting in experience, it doesn't sound like your rest is really good because 3-4" at 25m won't drop to 2" at 50m. A 308 Win (I assume that is what you are shooting) drops only 2" at 200m (with a 100m zero) and is pretty flat shooting until about 250m. If you are still having issues with zeroing at 100m I would have to agree with the earlier assessment that your scope being pooched.
 
Ok, I went out again today and fired a few rounds at 25 yards (measured off exactly 75'). I was laying prone so I had to turn the target on its side, I labeled top for reference. The squares are 1" by 1". It seems I am shooting high which lends credence to those who said I may have been shooting right over the target at 100. The shots are numbered 1 was 2" right and 2" high, 2 was right at the top of the paper 3 and 4 were dead centre and touching but high. Shots 1 and 2 were laying prone and holding the rifle 3 and 4 were resting the stock on a piece of wood with my jacket rolled up underneath. Before I try again at a longer range and before I touch the scope adjustments I wanted advice from you guys, thanks in advance.

target.jpg
 
If it was me in your boots right now, I would dial down 3 inches on the elevation. Remember, we're not shooting at 100 meters, where it would be 4 clicks per inch for a total of 12 clicks. It should take 16 clicks to move your group down 1 inch at 25 meters.(assuming the scope is 1/4" clicks)

I'd dial it down about 45 clicks and shoot another group. You should see the same thing roughly 3 inches lower. Take your time between groups to let the rifle barrel cool.
 
Lesson learned. Use your good padded rest when shooting!!
Dial it down the cliks, as described to you, then a three shot group, best rest you can get, best trigger release you can get. When it is lined up, just keep squeezing the trigger until it goes off. You don't want to know when it is going to fire, just a steady squeeze until it s;urprises ylou and goes bang. Be sure and do every shot like that.
I am saying this, beause if nothing is wrong with your outfit, I would say you yanked the trigger while shooting prone.
One other thing. Why would you have to turn the target on its side, for shooting prone?
 
sighting in guns is pretty hard, you're not alone. All across the country today there is guys who have not shot their rifles in years, trying to get them on paper at 100 yards like you are, shortly before their big hunt of the year

Drop Point of impact to half inch low @ 25 yards. Assuming scope click is 1/4" @ 100y, then move it down 16 clicks for every inch you're high at 25 yards

Set big target up at 100, rest forend on a steady rest like sandbags and support rear of stock on bags too. Concentrate and slooowwwly squeeeze trigger. Shoot three shots between making any adjustment (and remember 1/4" of impact change per scope click at 100 yards)

good luck, you may need it! :)
 
Just a thought, but if the gun has an inexpensive scope it probably has inexpensive mounts, Weaver bases. It not hard to get the wrong number bases on the receiver. Or maybe they are reversed. This could account for being close at 50 and off the target at 100. Just a possibility.
 
About your resting technique. Don't put the soft material UNDER the hard, if you are having a difficult time getting the right height, put the wood under the jacket. You should always rest on a soft material (i.e. cloth, sandbags, etc) and not hard (i.e. wood, truck hood, etc). It looks like with a rest you are about 4 inches high (shot number 1 was prone but no rest right?) Dial it down A LOT - if your scope is 1/4" adjusment at 100 yards you need to dial it is only adjusting 1/16" at 25 yards so in your case you need to move your scope down 64 clicks to get it to the centre of the target. Once you are centred at 25 yds shoot another tgt at 100 yds and zero there likely you will be high but it is difficult to say how much as we don't know how high your scope is in relation to your bore. Hope this helps.
 
H4831 said:
Hey, you know what? I happen to have shot a few times in my life, also, and have tried such things.
Absolutely no way could poi be change 2 feet by resting the barrel on wood, or on the front stock.
So you missed a ground hog at fifty yards. This does not exactly give you proof that resting the barrel on wood was the cause!!!
Resting the barrel on wood, or not, might change the poi about 2", or under worst cases MAYBE as much as 4". But certainly not two feet.
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Well I hate to dispute your life time of shooting experience but I also have shot a few times my self. So lets say it is only 4" change in poi it is an unrepeatable rest and will be a different poi every shot. Like I said in my original post depending on the bbl dia the harmonics will be effected accordingly. If the wood was on the front stock it would not change the poi at all would it?
 
H4831: I turned the target onto its side because it was stapled a bit too high on the plywood to aim comfortably while prone,it was just a height thing.

Glock4ever: I had the soft jacket on top of the wooden rest, it was just my poor explanation.

Guntech: I hope you're kinder and more patient with your customers.

I'll dial the scope down and try again.
 
04rubicon said:
H4831: I turned the target onto its side because it was stapled a bit too high on the plywood to aim comfortably while prone,it was just a height thing.

Glock4ever: I had the soft jacket on top of the wooden rest, it was just my poor explanation.

Guntech: I hope you're kinder and more patient with your customers.

I'll dial the scope down and try again.
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I should have added a smilie to my post... :) It was made with the best intentions...

but seriously - quit relying on all this Internet babble and get out there and get it sighted in...
 
How about finding someone with a little knowledge and letting him look over the gun and boresight it for you. There are far too many variables here for someone with little experience. Such as:

1. Loose bolts holding down action and barrel to the stock
2. Loose screws on the base and scope mounts
3. Loose reticle in the scope
4. Badly adjusted scope
5. Ammo
6. Dirty copper fouled barrel
7. Damaged crown
8. Shot-out pitted bore
9. Bad trigger
10. Shooter

The first 4 are probably the cultprints.
 
We still have the 2" high at 50 yards physical impossibility.
And now a >2" group at 25 yards.
So you could still have a shifty scope mount, or some of the other things in Woodsman's post. See if you can get the scope to rattle.
 
04rubicon said:
Ok, I went out again today and fired a few rounds at 25 yards (measured off exactly 75').
target.jpg
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a 2" group at 25 yards.. there is something wrong.
is the scope canted? have you tried to take the scope and the mounts off and put them back on again? is there something underneath that is making them not sit flat?
are all your screws tight on the mounts and the scope? has the scope moved at all? do you notice your eye relief is changing?
And like someone else mentioned... if you shake your gun, do you hear the scope rattle? maybe the scope has been dropped?
 
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