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Thread: Sighting, how far from a scope should your eye be?

  1. #1
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    Sighting, how far from a scope should your eye be?

    This might be a silly question, but I'm still getting used to shooting with a scope.

    Is there an accepted 'normal' distance for your eye to be from the scope? I ask because I find quite a difference when I'm say kneeling and aiming to when I'm prone on the ground.

    I move my eye around until I have the clearest full view through, but find moving left/right/up/down even a small amount will blur out that side of the scope. I found that moving back a bit gives a clearer view but with a bit less tolerance of lateral movement.

    Be grateful for any advice.

    J.

  2. #2
    Parabuteo is offline My Chrony has bought it a couple of times...
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    Quote Originally Posted by mr_magicfingers View Post
    This might be a silly question, but I'm still getting used to shooting with a scope.

    Is there an accepted 'normal' distance for your eye to be from the scope? I ask because I find quite a difference when I'm say kneeling and aiming to when I'm prone on the ground.

    I move my eye around until I have the clearest full view through, but find moving left/right/up/down even a small amount will blur out that side of the scope. I found that moving back a bit gives a clearer view but with a bit less tolerance of lateral movement.

    Be grateful for any advice.

    J.
    Basically, eye relief will change from scope to scope.

    You should be able to see a full image edge to edge. If you cannot, or if you have a dark blurred surround to the image, eye relief is not correct.

    You should find a point where you can move back and forth a little and the image remains correct, this is to allow for the fact that your head position will move slightly between positions.
    I'm a maggot in another life you know

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    That's great, thanks very much.

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    The correct way to position a scope is so that you have a full sight picture (no black round your picture) at your most natural or most favoured shooting position.

    The way to determin this is to close your eyes and mount your rifle, then open your eyes your scope should then be positioned at a distance from your eye so that you get a full sight picture.

    I think its safe to say generally the better scopes have greater eye relief.

  5. #5
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    Obviously when you change shooting positions you may have to make slight head alignment changes.

    Ive found some scopes to be quite fussy on eye relief my falcon 4-14x44ffp is a little fussy although the bonus is that a consistent head position gives less chance of parralax error.

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    I think it also depends on the magnification factor.
    The more magnified the image the more critical it is on certain scopes to get the correct eye relief, the wider the angle of view the easier it should be to maintain the correct eye relief.....

  7. #7
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    It sounds a bit long winded but before you fit the scope to the rifle, if you hold it freehand with a ruler touching your eyebrow & resting alongside the scope , you can very quickly find the correct eye relief. Because you consentrate on the sight picture alone, rather than how the rifle feels which can happen when its mounted, 75/85mm works for me.

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    Thanks again, I'll sit down this week and do some more experimenting with the position.

    Cheers.

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    Quote Originally Posted by angrybear View Post
    It sounds a bit long winded but before you fit the scope to the rifle, if you hold it freehand with a ruler touching your eyebrow & resting alongside the scope , you can very quickly find the correct eye relief. Because you consentrate on the sight picture alone, rather than how the rifle feels which can happen when its mounted, 75/85mm works for me.
    Wow you like to make things difficult dont you

    All you need do is put the clamps on the rail in nominal positions and then mount the scope. Do up the top halves so the scope can slide in the mounts with a little friction to hold it in place.

    Then you mount the rifle with your eyes shut and adjust the scope back and forth until the image is right repeating the closed eye mount proceedure.

    Tighten up the front or rear mount to hold the scope in place and loosen and move the opposite mount on the rail for its final position say to allow for a lamp mount to be fitted or to avoid saddle/mag clash.

    Tighten the adjusted mount then do the same with the last mount if requroed.

    The other important question you need to consider is what height mounts yo go for - low med or high. The front objective is a consideration here as big diameter scopes may need med or high rings to clear the action/barrel and the mag projection needs to be considered too along with saddle clash.

    If the scope is too high, you encounter the floating cheek problem so whilst the scope is on the right eye releif position, your eye is below or above (and in some cases) left or right of the perfect eye alignment.

    In reality, an adustable cheekpeice is the only way to correctly set up your rifle but most stocks do not include this as std. An adjustable butt plate to tweak height and angle of contact with the shoulder is also a big aid too otherwise your like a quaver - "floaty sight".......
    Last edited by Steyr; 04-10-2011 at 12:06 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steyr View Post
    you mount the rifle with your eyes shut
    Last time I did this I dropped the scope.

    I now tend to attach things to my guns with my eyes open.

    Opportunity is missed by most people, because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steyr View Post
    Wow you like to make things difficult dont you

    All you need do is put the clamps on the rail in nominal positions and then mount the scope. Do up the top halves so the scope can slide in the mounts with a little friction to hold it in place.

    Then you mount the rifle with your eyes shut and adjust the scope back and forth until the image is right repeating the closed eye mount proceedure.

    Tighten up the front or rear mount to hold the scope in place and loosen and move the opposite mount on the rail for its final position say to allow for a lamp mount to be fitted or to avoid saddle/mag clash.

    Tighten the adjusted mount then do the same with the last mount if requroed.

    The other important question you need to consider is what height mounts yo go for - low med or high. The front objective is a consideration here as big diameter scopes may need med or high rings to clear the action/barrel and the mag projection needs to be considered too along with saddle clash.

    If the scope is too high, you encounter the floating cheek problem so whilst the scope is on the right eye releif position, your eye is below or above (and in some cases) left or right of the perfect eye alignment.

    In reality, an adustable cheekpeice is the only way to correctly set up your rifle but most stocks do not include this as std. An adjustable butt plate to tweak height and angle of contact with the shoulder is also a big aid too otherwise your like a quaver - "floaty sight".......
    The whole length of your explanation & the number of issues covered is exactly the point I was trying to make about being able to consentrate on the correct sight picture alone & not being distracted by other aspects of rifle fit not connected to eye relief,
    seems you kind of missed the point.

  12. #12
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    Hi,

    It sounds like your stock may be a bit low, certainly it's worth eliminating this possibility. There are commercial products to address this:
    http://www.cabelas.com/product/Shoot...3Bcat104606280

    But before spending any money, try padding the stock up with whatever you've got to hand - foam rubber, folded cloth or whatever, held on with a couple of elastic bands - start thin & work up to see if there's any improvement?

    Also, you say "I found that moving back a bit gives a clearer view but with a bit less tolerance of lateral movement." I think that will be the correct eye relief for your rig.

    Regards

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    Approximently 2.5 tp 3 inch i would think !

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  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by angrybear View Post
    The whole length of your explanation & the number of issues covered is exactly the point I was trying to make about being able to consentrate on the correct sight picture alone & not being distracted by other aspects of rifle fit not connected to eye relief,
    seems you kind of missed the point.
    No I didnt

    But try holding a ruler with the rifle and the scope to get it right.

    You dont even need to know what the eye relief is. Yoou will find out what it is when the scope is on the rifle and you can get level.

    The method I described allows you to get it right to the millimeter without the risk to your eyeball

    I mentioned the other stuff because it may be factors others will come across when they come to do the same things so stuff like height of mount or the necessity for reach forwards might be predicted rather than buy the wrong kit and have to wait before you get the right solution.

    It is bourne from having already been in the position myself and getting frustrated when you have bought the wrong stuff or the mounts too low or....

    But each to their own
    In a battle of wits I refuse to engage with an unarmed person.
    To one shot one kill, you need to seek the S. Kill only comes from Skill

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