need tips for sighting in a new .22lr

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Frankd1

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I'm hoping to get some tips and recommendations for sighting in a new Savage MKII - FVSR, .22lr (short threaded barrel). It has a bushnell scope - 3-9x32 and I am using CCI Blazer ammo.
I don't have much experience sighting in a scoped rifle so any advise is appreciated.....

- I was thinking it would be best to sight in for zero at 50 yards as that is the distance I would most likely shoot at with shots out to 100 yards sometimes as well.

- What size targets are appropriate for 50 yards? I found some birchwood casey reactive targets that are 6" round as well as 8" round...does it matter on the size?

- I read elsewhere that you can support the rifle on sand bags, remove the bolt and sight down the bore to line up the bore with a 1" round circle drawn in with marker on a sheet of white bristol board. Then shift your view through the scope and without moving the rifle adjust the cross hairs to be centred on the same 1" circle at 50 yards.....Any thoughts on this? For this type of homemade target, i'm guessing that once you have drawn in the 1" circle on centre you can draw vertical and horizontal lines at 1" spacing from centre to see how far off you are? It seems inexpensive (maybe a little time consuming) and the bristol board is big enough that rounds should land somewhere on paper until its sighted in.

Thanks for the help!

Frank
 
Stick a target out 25 yards and start from there.
If you can't hit it, move it in closer or use a bigger target.
You can use the old school method and look down the barrel and
sight the bore on the bulls eye and click the scope over to it.
I bought a bore sight years ago and haven't regretted the purchase.
 
Once you hit the paper at 25 yards and with the rifle secured on your aiming point, move the cross hairs to the impact of the bullet.
You will now be on target.
 
I would choose one of the targets designed specifically for zeroing scopes instead of a plain bullseye. They have a convenient grid that tells you how much of an adjustment you have to make and are designed to make it easy to consistently align the crosshairs. You could also make something similar with graph paper.

Bore sighting will get you close so that you usually don't have to do much more than fine-tuning.
 
horseman2 said:
Once you hit the paper at 25 yards and with the rifle secured on your aiming point, move the cross hairs to the impact of the bullet.
You will now be on target.
Click to expand...

^agreed. To refine it, once you're close to finding your "zero", move it out to 50 yards or so and repeat with the rifle as steady as possible. Fewer "clicks" will be required the further the target is. @ 100 yards on most scopes, each click will move the crosshairs 1/4" but I usually zero around 50 yards myself. An 18" x 24" pc. of white bristol board isn't a bad choice. I use something similar...shoot a hole in it, then make 3 attempts to hit the hole. You'll see 2 things that way. How far you're off, and how tight the bullets are grouping. I adjust the scope, then repeat. You don't need actual targets of any kind to zero a scope. In fact, I find them distracting.

It should also be said...22s are almost always a little fussy on what ammo they'll shoot well. I think there are some FV-SR shooters on here, so search around a little. I have an FV-SR on order BTW..but need to clear-out some fly fishing stuff to be able to pay for it! :)
 
have a look at the Rimfire Ballistic charts that is a sticky here.
most .22 rounds lift approx. 2" @ 50 yds. and drop more then 2" at 100 yds.
I have read somewhere, and I do sight my .22 rifles at 75 yds. and remember to raise and lower my point of aim as needed.
A mil dot scope helps a lot.
 
rslowe said:
have a look at the Rimfire Ballistic charts that is a sticky here.
most .22 rounds lift approx. 2" @ 50 yds. and drop more then 2" at 100 yds.
I have read somewhere, and I do sight my .22 rifles at 75 yds. and remember to raise and lower my point of aim as needed.
A mil dot scope helps a lot.
Click to expand...

I'll have to look them up..thanks
 
I bought a new Savage MkII with a Bushnell 3-9 fitted as part of a package deal. While the scope itself is fine, it's intended for center fire rifles & ranges of 100 yards or more. I couldn't focus it at 50 yards, much less 25 yards. I ended up getting a specialized AO (adjustable objective) rimfire scope for it, which focuses clearly down to 15 yards and out to 200 yards. Just in case you find this to be a problem, it's not just you...
 
stubblejumper said:
The bullet starts dropping, as soon as it leaves the barrel, just like with any other cartridge.
Click to expand...

While this is true it's not that helpful (must be an engineer?) ;) . Once the bullet leaves the barrel, it has only gravity and air resistance acting on it, so it falls and slows down. Assuming that the scope is aligned vertically above the bore, the line of sight of the scope is straight, and the ballistic path of the bullet is (ALMOST always) projected upwards relative to the line of sight. The barrel points above the target, and the bullet is projected on an arc (nearly parabolic - affected by drag) that intersects with the line of sight, usually at two points. One point of intersection, early in the flight, is when the bullet goes "up" through the line of sight, and the second point of intersection is farther downrange as the bullet drops back through the line of sight.
With .22s, the first point of intersection can be 25 m. Before 25 m the bullet will hit below the point of aim. After 25 m the bullet will hit above the point of aim until it drops back through the point of aim. (frequently the second intersection point is at 100 m but it's going to vary a lot, depending on whether you do your initial zero at 25 or 50 or some other range). After passing through the second intersection, the bullet will hit below the point of aim.
(for example, if you're trying to hit a bulls-eye at 1000 yards with a .308, the barrel actually points about 32 feet (nearly 10 m) above the target, even though the sights are aligned with the bulls-eye. It takes a bit more than a second for the bullet to travel the 3000 feet (if you shoot at about 2800 f/s) and you have to account for how far the bullet will fall during that time. Gravity acceleration is 9.8m/s/s, so at 1000 yards the bullet is going to drop a bit more than 9.8 m. So it's "lobbed" to the target. Like a howitzer..)
 
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When I install a new scope I usually just pick out a rock or some other piece of garbage on the backstop and shoot at it.You can usually see where the bullet impacts the dirt pretty easy.You can quickly make the sometimes large adjustments needed without going through a pile of ammo_Once I'm hitting close then I may switch to a paper target if I'm looking for precision.If its a plinker I just make adjustments as I go.
 
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