Zeroing?

[Jonny S]

Hi, I have managed to get quite a tight group with my r10 at 25 yrds, but when i go out to 45 yards, instead of the shot just dropping vertically, it goes to the right about 1/4 to 1/2 a mil dot! What should i look out for? Could the barrel need a clean? Should i try different pellets? Do i need to remount the scope? Not really sure where to start? Cheers

[thisisdonald]

maybe your scope is canted?

[Half MOA]

Is your scope adjustable for parallax?

[si7777777]

Is the crosshair vertical with the rifle? Are you shooting in wind?

[ajs193]

if you shoot at 10m do the pellets go to the left?

[Jonny S]

Thanks for the replies. I am shooting indoors. My scope does have adjustable parallax. I thought the scope crosshair was parallel to the rifle. I need to check if it is going left close up, I think it may have been slightly left.

[bozzer]

Scope needs to be level with the planet and in line with the barrel. So you set the scope ret level with a plumb line and then the scope must still be level with the plumb line when you are holding the rifle and taking the shot.

Not ... it looks ok ... or my mate stood behind me and said it looked ok ... use gravity and a plumb line.

Take scope off ... loosen mounts ... push mounts up to each other and see if they line up tightly. If they are decent mounts they should do but some cheaper ones don't.

It's best to focus the scope at each distance to eliminate PA error ... but ...

What scope is it?

Some cheaper scopes, like Hawkes, can lose the zero when you adjust anything on the scope, like the focus. I've seen it loads of times.

So you check the mounts are square to each other. Check the ret is true level ... to the planet ( plumb line ). Leave the scope on 25 yard focus ( lowish mag ... 8x ish ) and take a few shots at 45 yards without touching the focus. It will be slightly blurred and you will have to carefully make sure your eye is central, every shot, by keep looking all around the edge of the picture. See if things stay with original zero ( lower poi but vertical at 45y ).

When you zeroed the scope for horizontal ( left/right ) did you have to wind the scope almost to the extreme of it's adjustment? ( Ideally they should be optically central-ish, which means the ret is pretty much in the middle of the tube and not way over to one side ).

Oh ... and what are the groups like at 45y? If they are tight ... but just not where they should be ... then the pellets are prob ok and the barrel ok ... it's likely to be a scope or mounts issue ( or dovetails not in line with the barrel ).

[RobF]

Scope needs to be level with the planet and in line with the barrel. So you set the scope ret level with a plumb line and then the scope must still be level with the plumb line when you are holding the rifle and taking the shot.

Take scope off ... loosen mounts ... push mounts up to each other and see if they line up tightly. If they are decent mounts they should do but some cheaper ones don't.

Remember to also set the gun level as well

[airgunnut]

What about other distances? Does the group wonder around the clock, eg, at 10 m bang on bull, at 40m tis to the right, at 20m low left, 30 m high right. Most forget that the pellet can spiral as it travels to target not just rise up through the zero then drop, some have said this spireling is an optical illusion, to those I say both me and a number of others have seen this and the targets with the groupings going aroung the clock, we narrowed it down to pellets been off center (roll a pellet on a flat surface and watch the center line of the pellet as it rolls, you might see it wobble (the batch of bis mags I was using were like this so they were out of balance and with the rifling it exaggerated the wobble)
http://www.airgunbbs.com/archive/ind.../t-466393.html

[ZaksGod]

well the above about scopes canted does not allways cause the pellets to hit to the left or right.my scopes are all on the piss and i hit the targets i aim at.scored a 57 or 58 at a local hft course.a friend then looked through my scope and said you need to set that up with a plumb line etc.my scores were never the same again so for myself at least i do not need to set them up as described above

[Jonny S]

Scope needs to be level with the planet and in line with the barrel. So you set the scope ret level with a plumb line and then the scope must still be level with the plumb line when you are holding the rifle and taking the shot.

Not ... it looks ok ... or my mate stood behind me and said it looked ok ... use gravity and a plumb line.

Take scope off ... loosen mounts ... push mounts up to each other and see if they line up tightly. If they are decent mounts they should do but some cheaper ones don't.

It's best to focus the scope at each distance to eliminate PA error ... but ...

What scope is it?

Some cheaper scopes, like Hawkes, can lose the zero when you adjust anything on the scope, like the focus. I've seen it loads of times.

So you check the mounts are square to each other. Check the ret is true level ... to the planet ( plumb line ). Leave the scope on 25 yard focus ( lowish mag ... 8x ish ) and take a few shots at 45 yards without touching the focus. It will be slightly blurred and you will have to carefully make sure your eye is central, every shot, by keep looking all around the edge of the picture. See if things stay with original zero ( lower poi but vertical at 45y ).

When you zeroed the scope for horizontal ( left/right ) did you have to wind the scope almost to the extreme of it's adjustment? ( Ideally they should be optically central-ish, which means the ret is pretty much in the middle of the tube and not way over to one side ).

Oh ... and what are the groups like at 45y? If they are tight ... but just not where they should be ... then the pellets are prob ok and the barrel ok ... it's likely to be a scope or mounts issue ( or dovetails not in line with the barrel ).

Thanks Bozzer, it is a hawke scope but I don't think there are any problems with it. I don't adjust the parallax when testing my holdovers as I do hft and you are not supposed to change anything once started on the course. I think I will recount the scope using a plumb line and level, and see how I get on. Many thanks for the help everyone.

[Kuberboef]

To optically center can also help
http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2005/...enter-a-scope/

Here is a neat trick:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/79537...+with+a+mirror!

I usually do this, then mount the scope with a plumb line.
Shoot it.
Now shim the scope to get as close as possible to the bull.
Only adjust the scope for the last little "fine tuning"

Scope ring alighnment and lapping could also help
http://www.shootingillustrated.com/a...-ring-lapping/

You get kits....
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-to...prod36022.aspx

But all of this is for anal perfectionists like me