The mirror method - both of them.

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Scouty

Scouty

Member
Sep 6, 2019
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SD, United States
Finally found the right rings for a rifle scope combo I've had on the back burner & am trying to get it set up today. But my laptop & its bookmarks are not with me. Searching on this dinosaur phone is tough.

Let me know if I have this right.

Step one. Mechanical center of the reticle. Set parallax to infinity & hold objective flush with mirror with overhead light. Adjust windage & elevation so the reticle & its mirror image line up. [EDIT] Set power to minimum for this step.

Step two. Set parallax to minimum (about 6 yards with the scope in question) & look through scope at mirror about half(??) that distance away. I assume adjust power so you have a decent view? Then rotate scope so the vertical axis of the reticle lines up with the bore. Tighten rings & double check alignment. 

I can only do an initial sight in at 14 yards indoors. I'm not overly concerned if elevation is off. Dealing with that seems pretty straightforward as I tune the rifle & settle on what distances it will be used at. 

But what to do if windage is off significantly? Start flipping rings 180° one at a time & align reticle to bore each time?

The rifle is question is a Classic Leshiy with 250mm barrel so I doubt there will be any barrel bending. 

Let me know if I'm missing anything. 
 
Thanks. Yeah I would have started by flipping both rings if windage was way off. These are only $25 rings but they're the perfect height & only thing I could find in stock at three different stores. I'll avoid only flipping one. 

Unfortunately I have gotten to step two & can only get 6 to 7 feet from my bathroom mirror & it's hard to get a good view. I'll buy a mirror in the next day or two get back to it.

Does everything else look right? This is my first time doing this. I've mechanically centered the reticle on the mirror but never tried used a mirror for reticle/bore alignment. 


 
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Tell me if I am wrong, but I think the "mirror" method is for "optical" centering and "mechanical" centering is done by turning the turrets all the way in one direction and then turning them back the other direction half the total number of available clicks.

At least, that is how I understand it. I use mechanical centering before trying to sight-in/zero a scope so the erector is as centered as possible and only check the optical center just to see how close it is to true center.

Then, I get the scope as close to zero as I can without turning the turrets by using shims or adjustable rings.. Supposedly, this will make the scope more stable for maintaining zero and gives you the most available correction in any direction using the turrets.

I'm not sure how much adjusting for optical center actually helps.




 
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I try to center using v-blocks. Much more intuitive to me. Just set, spin the scope, adjust until the reticle moves a little bit. Close is good enough in this case as I'll be doing final adjustments at the range anyway.

Next step is going to the Range. The Range I use has a dirt berm right behind the 75 yard targets. I pick a dirt clod and shoot till I'm "on the paper". Once on the paper, then I move to real targets. Time consuming but it works. 
 
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Most scope mfgrs recomend NOT turning turrets all the way in any direction...this in itself can cause damage to the adjustment mechanism. Having talked to both Leupold and Burris custom shops, they recomend only using a V block to adjust for optical centering of the crosshairs. The V block can be made of wood or plastic so homeade units will work fine. Once made they will last a lifetime. I would not take the chance of voiding a warranty and be accused of over tightening a turret adjuster. 
 
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Interestingly I tried 2-3 mirrors in my house just to check the theory for centering the reticle (on a new scope) and I could not see what the theory describes. Now this could mean many things...either my mirrors are real mirrors (won't let the external light in from back or from sides) or bad mirrors, or I didn't turned the turrets far enough, or my eyes just cannot see the ghost second reticle.

I have removed the top plate/scope rail in my MK2 so many times, there is no shortcut I will have to center the rail/scope on 20 and 100 to align with the barrel anyway.
 
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Yes you need some light entering…a thick glass mirror with the reflective layer on the back works best.

I recall someone using 3 pennies in a triangular arrangement to space off the objective bell just a bit to allow more light in. That might work for you. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to check them with a caliper to ensure they are a uniform thickness, else it will skew the angle and throw off your results.
 
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Yes you need some light entering…a thick glass mirror with the reflective layer on the back works best.

I recall someone using 3 pennies in a triangular arrangement to space off the objective bell just a bit to allow more light in. That might work for you. Wouldn’t be a bad idea to check them with a caliper to ensure they are a uniform thickness, else it will skew the angle and throw off your results.
Click to expand...


I was not lazy, I went to couple stores shopping for smaller mirrors, got home with 3 different shapes and thicknesses. Guess what?

With my X50 Falcon and IO 14x50 (prime lens) I could not duplicate the ghost image. But dig out from my lockers one older cheep $50 scope I got it with a QB78 back in time, and ....voila...there it is a double crosshair.

So I guess this theory is not working with "modern" scopes $800 or 1000 and up (in my case), must have something to do with coatings on glass elements... won't let the reflection get back into glass.

Now I need to count the lines on turrets to put all back to perspective.

What was the third trick with some "V" blocks?
 
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