Perfect way to align the scope.

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Emu

Emu

Member
Jan 15, 2020
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Queretaro, Mexico
Well, call me stupid for have not find this until now.

If the scope is not perfectly aligned if you zero it at 50 yards and then you shoot at 100 yards you will hit right or left and if you shoot at 20 yards you will hit at the opposite side you hit at 100.

What I always did before today was using two bubble levels, one over the weaver/dove tail rail and another one over the vertical Tourrent of the scope = absolute mess and waist of pellets.

Today I found and confirmed that the best way to assure the scope is aligned is to hang a cord with a plumb at above 70 yards, and use a bubble level over the rail of the rifle. Loose the scope rings, sight at the cord, confirm that the bubble is centered and the vertical axle of the reticle is perfectly aligned with the cord with the plumb. Then fasten the scope to the rings and confirm the thighten did not move the reticle and still are aligned the bubble and the vertical axle of the reticle.

And after that you will hit exactly in the same vertical axle at 100 yards and at 10 yards.

I share this just in case not every of you are smarter than myself and had not found before this way of confirming the dully align of the scope.
 
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A way to test your tracking is to set up a target, like a 3 foot tall piece of cardboard, grab a 3' level and draw a vertical line on it with a sharpie. Set the target 25 yards away and draw a small level horizontal line (crosshair) near the bottom. That cross will be poa through the whole excersize. Fire one round and you should be on the line, adjust scope up 10moa/mils and fire holding that same point. Impact should be on that line still, just higher. Repeat now at 20moa/mils. If at any point your round starts drifting off the line and not by user error, your crosshairs are not installed level. When you adjust back to your original zero point, you should be back to the same spot. If not, there are tracking issues with the scope.

I say crosshair because I have seen some scopes crosshairs slightly misaligned and untrue from the factory. I recall a gen 1 vortext viper pst that was off quite a bit. They all have tolerances, but generally speaking, "you get what you pay for."
 
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best method ever that ive ever to align a scope to the bore 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)

loosen the scope ring screws and 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
grin.gif


then use the plumb line to get a vertical line,
move the gun till the vertical crosshair lines up with the string adjust and and lock down your scope level,

now everything is lined up and if you miss its your own fault LOL
 
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Emu said:
Well, call me stupid for have not find this until now.

If the scope is not perfectly aligned if you zero it at 50 yards and then you shoot at 100 yards you will hit right or left and if you shoot at 20 yards you will hit at the opposite side you hit at 100.

What I always did before today was using two bubble levels, one over the weaver/dove tail rail and another one over the vertical Tourrent of the scope = absolute mess and waist of pellets.

Today I found and confirmed that the best way to assure the scope is aligned is to hang a cord with a plumb at above 70 yards, and use a bubble level over the rail of the rifle. Loose the scope rings, sight at the cord, confirm that the bubble is centered and the vertical axle of the reticle is perfectly aligned with the cord with the plumb. Then fasten the scope to the rings and confirm the thighten did not move the reticle and still are aligned the bubble and the vertical axle of the reticle.

And after that you will hit exactly in the same vertical axle at 100 yards and at 10 yards.

I share this just in case not every of you are smarter than myself and had not found before this way of confirming the dully align of the scope.
Click to expand...
My scope was installed by Utah Airguns when purchased. I double checked with bubble levels on both the scope turret and pic rail. I've not tried the plumb bob method yet. If a good cleaning doesn't resolve this, I'll be checking that out.
 
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starlingassn said:
best method ever that ive ever to align a scope to the bore 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)

loosen the scope ring screws and 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
grin.gif


then use the plumb line to get a vertical line,
move the gun till the vertical crosshair lines up with the string adjust and and lock down your scope level,

now everything is lined up and if you miss its your own fault LOL
Click to expand...
Thanks. Will check this out as well.
 
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7Green said:
A way to test your tracking is to set up a target, like a 3 foot tall piece of cardboard, grab a 3' level and draw a vertical line on it with a sharpie. Set the target 25 yards away and draw a small level horizontal line (crosshair) near the bottom. That cross will be poa through the whole excersize. Fire one round and you should be on the line, adjust scope up 10moa/mils and fire holding that same point. Impact should be on that line still, just higher. Repeat now at 20moa/mils. If at any point your round starts drifting off the line and not by user error, your crosshairs are not installed level. When you adjust back to your original zero point, you should be back to the same spot. If not, there are tracking issues with the scope.

I say crosshair because I have seen some scopes crosshairs slightly misaligned and untrue from the factory. I recall a gen 1 vortext viper pst that was off quite a bit. They all have tolerances, but generally speaking, "you get what you pay for."
Click to expand...
Sounds easy to try and should tell me something about my set up. Thanks.
 
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601 said:
Thanks. Will check this out as well.
Click to expand...
The mirror approach described by starlingassn is a great way to align a scope to the bore.

The usual methods that involve levels are susceptible to at least 8 different sources of error. The beauty of the mirror method is not only that it is impervious to these errors but it also requires no special tools.
 
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starlingassn said:
best method ever that ive ever to align a scope to the bore 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)

loosen the scope ring screws and 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
grin.gif


then use the plumb line to get a vertical line,
move the gun till the vertical crosshair lines up with the string adjust and and lock down your scope level,

now everything is lined up and if you miss its your own fault LOL
Click to expand...
make a video of you doing this
 
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Bobbybeef said:
I like your name i call my dream tac the sparrow killer hahah
Click to expand...
haha thanks much. it describes me well hahaha

and i wasnt being snarky or anything when i said you didnt read the replies.

i just meant that there is lots of good info posted here as to why the level on the rail and level on the scope turret doesnt align your crosshairs to the bore,
but the mirror method does this perfectly.
 
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I grew up seeing men using levels to mount scopes. Then when I needed to do it myself, I found article after article showing how to “properly mount a scope” with the careful use of levels.

Pretty disappointing to find later that the entirety of my knowledge of mounting a scope was wrong...vulnerable to a multitude of errors because flat areas of a receiver and a scope are only distantly connected to the single thing that matters which is the relationship between the bore and the reticle.
 
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Just go to HomeDepot and stack up 5-6 levels, you will not find two to show the same on bubble.
Going back to OP question: "Perfect way to align the scope"
For what you need it? that comes to mind first...
You want to hit a same vertical line from 10 meters/yards and 100 meter/yards?
You will have to shoot both distances , there and back, adjust the scope on the rail, shoot again there and back and adjust the scope again, and again and again.
As mentioned earlier from many posters, You start first setting up the reticle to a perfect vertical line, any weight hanging from a string will work.
Next is pre-set the reticle vertical line to the barrel/muzzle. Check if the reticle vertical line still there.
And finally you go shooting the two distances and adjust the L-R on the rail. Without this third step is not perfect. The FX Impact rail is floating L-R, many of adjustable scope rings have some minor L-R adjustments as well you can shim eventually.
But you need to shoot the closest and longest distances you feel comfortable hitting accurately.
 
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