I have a bushnell elite 4200 6x24 x40 with the mildot. I would like to see if my scope crosshairs are propery aligned with the bore. I am wondering if I shot a piece of graph paper at 25 yards using the bottom and the top mildot at 25 yards that if there was any horizontal spread that this could be attributed to a canted scope.
testing scope alignment
- Thread starter JBD
- Start date
mattyboylewis
Regular
- Location
- Oliver, BC
Hi Jason,
Yes this will work, but may be difficult to discern at 25 yards. and even more difficult to adjust accurately the first time. The scope levelness only seems to be an issue when target shooting out at far distances, because your windage and elevation start to veer of what appears to be vertical and horizontal runs in your reticle. The best advice I can give you, after blowing through 2 boxes of ammo with a very similar scope atop a .308 is to buy a Wheeler Engineering "Level Level Level" Kit. I have tried to duplicate it with other cheaper bubble levels from Princess Auto, but Wheelers does make a great product and it takes away ALL of the guessing. I think the kit is about 40-50 bucks. . . same cost as two boxes of shells, way better results. Some of the Sponsors on this website do have this product for sale.
I hope it all works out for you.
Matt
Yes this will work, but may be difficult to discern at 25 yards. and even more difficult to adjust accurately the first time. The scope levelness only seems to be an issue when target shooting out at far distances, because your windage and elevation start to veer of what appears to be vertical and horizontal runs in your reticle. The best advice I can give you, after blowing through 2 boxes of ammo with a very similar scope atop a .308 is to buy a Wheeler Engineering "Level Level Level" Kit. I have tried to duplicate it with other cheaper bubble levels from Princess Auto, but Wheelers does make a great product and it takes away ALL of the guessing. I think the kit is about 40-50 bucks. . . same cost as two boxes of shells, way better results. Some of the Sponsors on this website do have this product for sale.
I hope it all works out for you.
Matt
rnbra-shooter
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- New Brunswick
The scope does not need to be level.
If it helps the "looks" of the setup to be level, then level it.
Or if when you shoulder the rifle to shoot, the rifle comfortably fits you with a "cant", you can/should rotate the scope in its mounts so that the crosshairs are vertical/horizontal with the rifle in the "shouldered" position.
When you shoot, and this only *really* matters at long range, the crosshairs should be horizontal/vertical. It doesn't matter if the rifle is vertical, just the sight. If you are shooting on a rifle range, you have *lots* of really good visual cues that really help you keep things dead-level - for example, the targets to your left and your right, can give you a 50' "baseline" reference that a helpful surveyor has made level for you. If you are shooting in the field, or some rifle ranges where for local terrain reasons the target line is not on the level, you need some other form of reference to level your crosshairs while you are shooting. One way to do this is with a bubble level attached to the scope tube - when you install it, you adjust it so the bubble is centred when the crosshairs are veritcal/horizontal. Once again, it does not matter (other than looks and comfort) whether or not the rifle is level w.r.t. the scope.
There is one other factor. When you adjust your scope's elevation, it ought to move "up", without making any movement sideways. You can check this out on the bench with a collimator ("optical boresighter"), or you can test it by shooting at short range (25y or 100y would be fine). You need to set up a piece of paper and make sure that it is reasonably plumb (at least decently level by eye). Put a small mark at the bottom centre of the target and fire a small group. When you fire the group, it is important to keep your crosshairs exactly square to the target sheet - this is pretty easy though, you have very good horizontal reference to make sure your crosshairs are parallel.
Then raise the sight lots (as much as you can, and still be on paper), and fire another group, also making sure that you keep your crosshairs square while you shoot. Go measure the two groups, and verify that the second group moved straight up from the first. Within the size of the group, the distance from the right edge of the paper to the first group, should be the same as the distance from the right edge of the paper to the bottom group.
If it helps the "looks" of the setup to be level, then level it.
Or if when you shoulder the rifle to shoot, the rifle comfortably fits you with a "cant", you can/should rotate the scope in its mounts so that the crosshairs are vertical/horizontal with the rifle in the "shouldered" position.
When you shoot, and this only *really* matters at long range, the crosshairs should be horizontal/vertical. It doesn't matter if the rifle is vertical, just the sight. If you are shooting on a rifle range, you have *lots* of really good visual cues that really help you keep things dead-level - for example, the targets to your left and your right, can give you a 50' "baseline" reference that a helpful surveyor has made level for you. If you are shooting in the field, or some rifle ranges where for local terrain reasons the target line is not on the level, you need some other form of reference to level your crosshairs while you are shooting. One way to do this is with a bubble level attached to the scope tube - when you install it, you adjust it so the bubble is centred when the crosshairs are veritcal/horizontal. Once again, it does not matter (other than looks and comfort) whether or not the rifle is level w.r.t. the scope.
There is one other factor. When you adjust your scope's elevation, it ought to move "up", without making any movement sideways. You can check this out on the bench with a collimator ("optical boresighter"), or you can test it by shooting at short range (25y or 100y would be fine). You need to set up a piece of paper and make sure that it is reasonably plumb (at least decently level by eye). Put a small mark at the bottom centre of the target and fire a small group. When you fire the group, it is important to keep your crosshairs exactly square to the target sheet - this is pretty easy though, you have very good horizontal reference to make sure your crosshairs are parallel.
Then raise the sight lots (as much as you can, and still be on paper), and fire another group, also making sure that you keep your crosshairs square while you shoot. Go measure the two groups, and verify that the second group moved straight up from the first. Within the size of the group, the distance from the right edge of the paper to the first group, should be the same as the distance from the right edge of the paper to the bottom group.
