Sighting in rifles

I had several problems sighting in my 17 as well. It eventually became sighted in. One thing that kept encouraging me was that I heard they shoot much better when the barrel is fouled up quite a bit. What type of scope do you have? I finally got it tuned in with cci 17 gr. tnt.
 
Never seen a Hummer that wouldn't shoot. Forget bore sighting, start a 25 yds and sight in aproximately an inch low. Go to 50 yards and fine tune it then finish at 100 yds. If a new rifle it may take 50 rounds or so to settle in. Same is true if you clean the bore, it will take a while to settle back. The 17gr Vmax seem to shoot the best in all the ones that I have shot. The higher your scope power the better groups you will get.
 
It took me 80 rounds to get my 22-250 sighted in, the hummer was about 25 or so.

I found this to be the best way to sight in a gun that is giving you trouble (aka not being able to keep it on paper)

Find a big dirt field, make sure all directions downrange are safe. Put a stake in the field and get a spotter, shoot at the base of the stake, from there you can tell high (behind the stake) low (in front of the stake) or left/right.

Get it so the dust flies pretty close to the stake, then shoot at some paper.

I went shooting 3 different times with my gun before I got it sighted in and that is what I finally had to do.
 
It is a new gun. Got it last friday. Put a 4-9 bushnell scope. The gun is a mossburg 817. I would be happy to get it on paper at 100 yards. It is mainly for my 12yr daughter... This is the first gun I have had this much problems..
 
mike thats the exact same 17 I had. It worked flawlessly, killed a lot of stuff with it, and could shoot 1-1/2" groups at 75 yards off of shooting sticks. I never did put it on a bench and test ammo, just ran with the federal 17grain pills.

Its a great little gun, deadly accurate. Start sighting it in at 25 yards, and move back in 25 yard increments. The first target at 25 will take the most shots, then its just little tweaks from there.
 
It really shouldn't take too many rounds to sight in a scope mounted rifle. I've been doing it since I bought my first scope when I was 12. Make sure all the mounts are tight. Most scopes require 4 clicks to move the POI one inch at 100 yds-16 clicks to move it one inch at 25 yds. If you have to set the target 10 ft in front of the gun to see where its going. Just remember at that range it will take a lot of clicks to move the POI one inch. Gradually move the target back and you will eventually get it. I just mounted a new scope on my 204 2 weeks ago and had it dialed in at 100 yds in 20 minutes. Good luck and have fun. Dave
 
ddj you are right, However, some new guns spray the bullets until they get "broken in"

I noticed this with my 22-250, and my friends .243, the 17 however did not have that problem

This just causes a lot of frustration. I dont even want to clean the gun now (after about 90 rounds through it) because its accurate as is.
 
I've also taken too many shots to sight in a rifle and I still have a bit of a flinch from doing so.

Assuming you've centered the reticle in your scope and bore sighted it so that it's at least close from left to right, most guns should be shot first no further out than from 20 to 25 yards to get a zero. Then move the target out to a 100 yards to verify the zero at that common distance. But you should sight in for a distance that you'll typically shoot. Don't be afraid to over adjust the scope verify that it's moving and not you moving the rifle.

I find that I can see the holes a lot easier in the target, if it's only a clean piece of white or vanilla paper with a small 1" orange dot in the middle. You can also mark the paper with a felt tip pen to give you referrence as to distance from the center. Some printed target as so busy and black that I can't easily see the holes.

Good Luck
 
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By "sighting in" you mean boresighting or zeroing? Boresighting and zeroing are two different things. Good boresighting makes zeroing easy.

Boresight on something at distance....at least 100yds and 150-200 is better. Further away means less angle of error. A light colored rock or something on a hillside, a mark on the side of a building, the corner of a window, anything that stands out well enough to see and can be visually placed - accurately - in the center of the bore. Be careful and it's not hard to get things pretty close.

Then zero the scope on paper, or a big piece of cardboard with an aiming point. Sometimes I'll use that same boresight rock on the side of a hill. Do a good job boresighting and you'd be surprised at how close it can be at 100yds.
 
I take the first shot at 10 yards (yeah, it looks silly, but I've always been on the paper).
Measure with a tape and put in 10 times the correction you would at 100 yards.
Go to 50 and check, double the correction marked on turret.
Go to 100 and finish up.

You should be sighted in under 10 rounds using that technique (assuming your scope's good and everything's tight).

Boresighting will work well, but most of my rifles are semi-auto, and other than the AR I can't get a sightline through the barrel.

So I do the "10 yard dork" thing.
 
Mike, First, before you mount the scope,...place the scope against a mirror and while looking through it, adjust the cross hairs to insure the reticle is centered...If you see two reticles, it is not centered...adjust until you only see one reticle..

Lock your rifle down in a cleaning cradle or some other method of holding the rifle very steady and center the bore on a distant object... I use a neighbor's basketball goal that happens to be 100 yards away from my kitchen window...

Set the scope in the mounted rings without tightening them and insure that your reticle is on the object you used for sighting through the bore.. That will give you your initial reading as to the alignment of your rings to the bore...If every thing appears to be aligned, then you need to lap your rings to insure that they are going to let the scope rest in a straight line with no tension in any direction..

If the scope and bore pictures do not match, then you have a problem with the mounting of the rings and that needs to be rectified before proceeding to mounting the scope any farther..

If the rings are out of alignment and you tighten down the scope, you run the risk of actually bending the scope, or at a minimum throwing off the reticle and it's adjustments..

An alternative is employing some rings made by Burris that have neoprene inserts that prevent damage to the scope and have adjustment of '0', '+/-5', and '+/-10' MoA adjustments to allow for more or less elevation if needed...

At any rate, by properly setting up your scope initially, you should be very close to "zero" on your initial trip to the range and require very little adjustment (5 shots), other than fine tuning the windage and elevation for the bullet weight you are shooting...

Some people simply slap on the rings and tighten down the scope and wind up spending a lot of frustrating time and never getting the rifle to "Shoot" the way they expect it to..simply because the scope has been torqued out of alignment due to haste...and lack of attention to the mounting detail...
 
Put the rifle in a gun vise.

Properly mount the scope.

Bore scope (if possible).

Fire one shot with spotter (any distance) with rifle in vise.

With rifle in still in vise, return to point of aim of 1st shot (adjusting vise).

Adjust scope to point of impact.

You are now sighted in at whatever your distance was.
 
Commercial shooting rests are a time saver also. A good one will hold your rifle steady and cut down on human error caused by a stiff trigger pull (common in off-the-rack new guns) or whatever. Rarely does it take more than a dozen rounds before your rifle is tuned to perfection.
 
Maybe your scope is the problem. After moving the settings on you scope, try tapping the butt of the rifle on the ground. Sometimes the scope crosshairs don't really move until after the next round is fired and it needs this little bump to move them.
 
I have a small laser bore sighter that I use in my basement (20 yrs long) and once I do that, I am usually pretty close to zero at 100 yds in about 5+/- shots.

Good luck.
 
Originally Posted By: nmleonPut the rifle in a gun vise.

Properly mount the scope.

Bore scope (if possible).

Fire one shot with spotter (any distance) with rifle in vise.

With rifle in still in vise, return to point of aim of 1st shot (adjusting vise).

Adjust scope to point of impact.

You are now sighted in at whatever your distance was.



I basically use the same method. I start at 25 YDS and using sand bags (don't have any fancy thing to hold my rifle ) Bags in front and a bag at the butt. Target is just butcher paper with an orange dot for aiming point. I take one shot, hold cross hairs on dot then have the wife adjust the cross hairs till they intersect the bullet hole. Then adjust scope for elivation to be aprox 1" above the bulls eye (orange dot)and fire a shot or two to be sure I am 1" high at 25 Yds. Then I finish it at 100 Yds.

I learned all this From an old man when I was just a young pup.

I have tried many a brand of 17 HMR ammo but found that Winchester Supreme 17 Gr V-MAX shoots the best in my two rifles.

DAB
 
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