Big rookie mistake with my scope

[ThomasT]

Hello everyone,

I am posting this topic to hopefully help a few other people, not that any one of you out there has ever made this mistake before. Man what a rookie mistake I made with mounting the Scope on my new Crown MK II. To be honest I truly thought that I had absolutely CENTERED the scope and had double checked it before securing all of the Cap Bolts. But look at the photo that I took this morning and you will see I really messed up. 

For almost one month I have been making adjustments to everything on the rifle along with trying a bunch of various pellets to get it truly zeroed in. This past week I have been really close and comfortable with the best of all the pellets which is the JSB Exact Monster .177 cal 13.43gr and while shooting at paper targets getting a fair share of “one hole” groups with 5-shot rounds. But then there seems to be that “flyer” that is not consistent with any other shots??? It was really confusing and about to get frustrating. Then this morning I had moved the rifle and the stand onto my kitchen counter to make room on my work bench and I happened to notice the butt view of the rifle and the scope, see the photo. As you can see, the scope is rotated at a pretty bad off from true vertical center. I took the time to set up a 36-inch long level out at 30 yards vertically and secure it in place. Then I used the level to correct the position of the scope on the rifle and re-tighten all of the cap bolts on the rings.

I now have the Crown truly zeroed in with the scope and I hope sharing my mistake will help someone.

Be safe and have a great day,
ThomasT

 

[dizzums]

hmm, rotation shouldnt be too much of a problem but rings out of kilter can cause big issues .. its a GOOD idea when installing a scope to 'sight the rings to the barrel' before laying the scope in them .. if by eye anything is leaning or the barrel doesnt line up dead center you can bet your but your gonna have problems .. usually its the rings when that happens, i try a different model ring thats more agreeable to the rail or receiver im on ..

 

[Airgunmann]

Ive had it before if rings are on facing with screw heads opposite to each other on the mounting rail scope wouldn't line up with the barrel I believe they were weaver rings flipped the one around and it lined up perfectly 

 

[ThomasT]

hmm, rotation shouldnt be too much of a problem but rings out of kilter can cause big issues .. its a GOOD idea when installing a scope to 'sight the rings to the barrel' before laying the scope in them .. if by eye anything is leaning or the barrel doesnt line up dead center you can bet your but your gonna have problems .. usually its the rings when that happens, i try a different model ring thats more agreeable to the rail or receiver im on ..

Hello dizzums,

I did check alignment of the Rings before mounting the Scope and I did torque to 35ip. I guess I got carried away after mounting the Scope and aligning but did not secure the cap screws. I probably hit the Scope before I came back to torque down the cap screws. I will be more mindful from now own.

Be safe and have a great day,

ThomasT

 

[Aimright]

Thomas, take a look at Nervoustrig’s scope leveling process here: https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/best-way-to-level-a-scope-2/  A step he has you do first is to assure your scope is aligned with your bore which I believe is different than your method.

 

[ThomasT]

Ive had it before if rings are on facing with screw heads opposite to each other on the mounting rail scope wouldn't line up with the barrel I believe they were weaver rings flipped the one around and it lined up perfectly

Hello airgunmann,

As you know it takes very little of misalignment at the Scope to be way off target at 30 yards.

Be safe and have a great day,

ThomasT

 

[Aimright]

My link didn’t post correctly above and for some reason I cannot edit it, so try this:

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/best-way-to-level-a-scope-2/

 

[starlingassn]

you have to align the crosshairs with the bore before you can level anything...


best method ever that ive found is the mirror method,it perfectly aligns the crosshairs with the bore.

get a mirror ,set it up at say 5yds,set your scope to 10 yds (or when its focused in the mirror)

look through the scope at your reflection in the mirror (a steady gun rest helps)

rotate the scope till the vertical crosshair intersects the barrel when the crosshairs are centered on the scope objective.

"bam" your crosshairs are now aligned with the bore

then i use a big fishing sinker hanging on a bright colored string to get a vertical line,
move the gun till the vertical crosshair lines up with the string and lock down the scope level,

now everything is lined up and if you miss its your own fault LOL

 

[ThomasT]

My link didn’t post correctly above and for some reason I cannot edit it, so try this:

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/best-way-to-level-a-scope-2/

Hello Aimright,

OK this link worked and I have never tried this before. If weather permits I will double-check my Scope again tomorrow with this method.

Thank you and have a great day,

ThomasT