Shooting More Accurately – How to Mount and
Sight-In Scopes
How to Sight-In Your Scope
 Editor’s
Note: The secrets to shooting accurately include choosing
the best rifle for your hunt, the correct ammunition
and the right bases and rings, mounting your scope properly
and then sighting-in your scope correctly. To gather
the best information on how to make rifles shoot more
accurately, I talked with Russ Sockwell of Mark’s
Outdoors in Birmingham, Alabama, a gunsmith with 10
years of experience who mounts scopes and sights-in
thousands of rifles each year.
Russ Sockwell charges $25 to sight-in a rifle, and
the customer provides the ammunition. Since the hunter
picks the ammo, he can select the style of bullet he
wants and the grain weight of powder and the manufacturer
he prefers. According to Sockwell, “Always remember
to shoot the same brand of ammunition, style of bullet
and grain weight of powder for accuracy once you’ve
sighted-in the gun. I have shot a 150-grain bullet from
one manufacturer and shot a 4-inch group. Then using
that same bullet and grain weight from a different manufacturer,
I’ve put all four bullets in the same hole at
100 yards. There’s a tremendous amount of difference
in accuracy between manufacturers with the same type
bullet and the same grain weight.”
After the hunter selects the ammunition that he wants
Sockwell to shoot, Sockwell
bore-sights the rifle in his shop. “Bore-sighting
ensures that the bullet will be somewhere on the target
at 50 yards,” Sockwell explains. “If you
don’t bore-sight your rifle, your bullet may not
even hit on the paper target at 50 yards.”
Three Shot Sight-In:
Next Sockwell takes the rifle to the range. Once you
make your first shot at 50 yards, set your gun back
up in the sand bag or vise you’re shooting off
of so that it’s sitting at the original point
of aim. Using a gun vise makes sure you maintain your
point of aim after the first shot. Then adjust the crosshairs
in your scope so that the crosshairs meet in the center
of the hole the bullet has made on the target. Set your
target out at 100 yards, aim dead center, and  fire.
“Your bullet should hit within 1 or 2 inches of
the target’s dead center,” Sockwell emphasizes.
“If it doesn’t, adjust your crosshairs.”
Sockwell recommends you fire another shot to make sure
you’re accurate. Various scopes move the reticles
different distances with each click. American-made scopes
will adjust the reticle 1/4-inch at 100 yards. European
scopes move the reticle 1/3-inch at 100 yards with every
click.
Sockwell says, “If you’re shooting large-caliber
rifles, don’t shoot more than three rounds through
the gun before you open the action, and let the gun
cool for 10 to 15 minutes before firing again to adjust
your scope. Most guns and scopes are far more accurate
than the hunters who shoot them.”
Most hunters will consider a 1-1/2- to 2-inch group
acceptable at 100 yards. If you set your gun up to shoot
1- to 1-1/2-inches high at 100 yards, you’ll be
dead-on at 200 yards with almost any caliber, the best
average setup for most deer hunters. If you plan to
shoot no more than 100 yards, set your scope dead-on
at 100
yards. Also, if you’re hunting in the West, making
long shots at elk or mule deer, consider sighting-in
your rifle at 3-inches high at 100 yards, since you
may have a 300- to 400-yard shot, depending on the caliber
of rifle you shoot.
Calibers and Bullets:
The bullets Sockwell likes for certain calibers of rifles
are:
.243 – Hornady 100-grain Boattail Spire Point
7mm08 – 140-grain Remington Core Lokt bullets
.270 – Hornady 140-grain, either Boattail Spire
Point or SST
.30-06 – 165-grain either Remington Core Lokt
or the Hornady Boattail Spire Point
.30-30 – Federal Classic 150-grain
.300 Weatherby – 165-grain Weatherby Spire Point
or the Nosler Ballistic Tip bullet
7mm magnum – 139-grain Hornady bullet
The two most-popular calibers that I see in our store
in Alabama are the .270 and the
.30-06.
To learn more, go to www.marksoutdoors.com,
email Sockwell at mark@marksoutdoors.com
or call (205) 822-2010.
Tomorrow: How to Pick a Riflescope
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