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Long Range Shooting – How to Zero Your Scope

How to zero a rifle scope

June 21, 2016 by Alessio Baldi 7 Comments

Ready to take your perfect long range shot? Let’s take the first step together: zeroing the rifle scope.

This step is essential, and must be carried out with extreme accuracy, since the results of your shooting will depend on your zero and the data you collect during the zeroing process.

Zeroing the rifle scope is the process of adjusting your sights to be able to hit dead center at where you are aiming at a given distance. The distance at which you zero depends on the kind of shooting activity that you are going to do, on the calibre that you are using, on the scope adjustment unit of measurement, and on personal preferences.

Personally, I always zero high power rifles at 100m or 100yds. Why would I zero at 100yds if I plan on shooting five to ten times that distance? The shorter the distance, the less the external variables will affect the POI. If you wanted to zero at a further distance, let’s say 300yds for example, the POI would be affected by all the external variables in such a way that the zero would not be true anymore when one or more of those variables change. That means that every time you shoot in different conditions, you have to calculate the zero shift, adding complexity to the already complex process of ballistic calculation.

In theory, zero ranges shorter than 100yds (or 100m) would be even better; however, at shorter ranges the bullet has not “gone to sleep” yet, because of the dynamic stability issues, so you’d have an excessive dispersion, which would make you unable to zero with the necessary degree of accuracy. Remember, the shorter the zero range, the higher the zero accuracy must be.

Prior to starting the zeroing process, you need to properly set up your scope. The first thing to do is to adjust the eyepiece. The eyepiece, that is the rear lens of the scope, can be rotated to focus your eye on the reticle. That is its only job and you can’t use it to focus on the target or to adjust parallax.

Focusing the reticle is essential because otherwise you may find yourself with the parallax perfectly tuned, the target image perfectly focused, but with the reticle out of focus. A crisp and sharp reticle is essential in long range shooting. You’ll also want to avoid to shifting your eye focus between the reticle and target because this causes unnecessary eyestrain.

You need to regulate the eyepiece the first time you use the scope, and every time you use someone else’s rifle/scope especially if you, or the rifle’s owner, wear glasses. If the eyepiece doesn’t have a regulation lock, it’s good practice to mark your setting with a permanent marker (only if the scope is yours, of course), or to control reticle focus every time you use it.

To focus the reticle: turn the eyepiece counter-clockwise until it stops, or until the stop mark. Then, point the scope (without looking through it) at the sky. At this point, you can look through the scope, and you’ll see the reticle appears fuzzy because it’s way out of focus. Now you can start to rotate the eyepiece clockwise, 1/2 or 1/4 turn at time, depending on how wide the regulation is, looking out of the scope and then in again every step to prevent your eye from adjusting the focus on its own. When the reticle appears fully sharp and crisp, you’re good to go.

Once you have properly set your eyepiece, if your scope allows you to do that you need to adjust parallax, as explained in this article, zeroing parallax.

Now you’re ready to start the zeroing process. On the next article I’ll talk about how to do that with a newly installed scope. Stay tuned!

Filed Under: How To Tagged With: eyepiece, f-class, how to, hunter, hunting, long range shooting, match, palma, parallax, precision shooting, reticle, rifle, riflscope, scope, sniper, sniping, varmint, weapon system, zero, zeroing

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Comments

  1. Avatar for Alessio Baldidogboy545 says

    April 24, 2014 at 7:47 pm

    What a good start on “regulating” a rifle.

    Reply
  2. Avatar for Alessio BaldiCliffWeston says

    April 27, 2014 at 7:07 pm

    Thanks much for this primer.  Up to now I’ve not read, or heard about, the significance of zeroing at 100 yards, that of eliminating the externals that come with farther distances.  Basic information, I assume, but still something new to me.

    Reply
  3. Avatar for Alessio BaldiTerrilSmoothboreHebert says

    April 29, 2014 at 7:38 pm

    Have you considered starting a YouTube channel?

    Reply
  4. Avatar for Alessio Baldidogboy545 says

    April 29, 2014 at 7:49 pm

    Yes I have but I am too lazy and would rather spend my money on guns, ammo, beer and dogfood. I will ignore the “get yer own #@! $ channel” implication.

    Reply
  5. Avatar for Alessio BaldiAlessioBaldi says

    April 29, 2014 at 7:59 pm

    TerrilSmoothboreHebert  Actually, I have a Youtube channel. I started it a couple years ago, but I have very few vids on it.

    Reply
  6. Avatar for Alessio BaldiRandy Knapp says

    June 24, 2016 at 1:18 am

    You might have to zero at 50 feet even. I installed a scope on my 1955 721 in 30-06 and the scope came from the factory so far off that at 50 feet the bullet was landing 10 feet to the left. It took a while to get my 1/8 turret cranked back to even hit at 50 feet.

    Reply
  7. Avatar for Alessio BaldiMartin Zex Zex says

    September 11, 2016 at 2:18 pm

    If you have your rifle roughly in zero,there can be three basic decisions to make before fine-tuning: distance, load and point of impact. Besides,Your best bet is to remove the possibility of human error as much as possible. This is most easily accomplished with a rest that requires very little personal contact with the rifle.

    bestriflescope

    Reply

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