The Easy Way to Zero Your Rifle on Paper - 2 Rounds Only!

FISMA

Just thought I might be able to save someone a few extra rounds with this post. I was shooting years before this easy procedure was brought to my attention. Giving credit where credit is due, I believe the source was Night Force.

Note: a good sturdy setup is preferred, like a vice. However, a rest or a second pair of hands will work too. The sturdier, the better.

You only need two rounds and the procedure is simple.

#1
Get the scope reticle centered on the bulls' eye, or whatever your target. Pull the trigger.

More than likely, the firearm has moved a bit and the reticle is no longer exactly where it was originally centered.

Before doing anything else, by moving the rifle (not clicking), get the reticle centered back on the bulls' eye. From here on you do not want any motion of the firearm.

Find the bullet hole.

#2
Click your scope to the hole made by the first round.

You're done! Two shots, that's it! No fussing with MOA's and how many squares you can see on the paper.

Hope this saves you a few rounds!

Sparks

It would work but:

Find the bullet hole

If that hole isn't on the target, what do you do? Is your .308 round now four miles downrange somewhere? What's your danger area?

Honestly, there's a good reason people boresight to start with. It might take a round or two more (because you're starting at close range and working out to your preferred zeroing range), but at least you'll know where all those rounds are going.

(And yes, that applies more in the case where you're zeroing in for the first time with a new rifle, but I've managed to shoot myself in the arse doing your procedure, so it's one of the more pointed lessons I've learnt over the years )

Here's how to boresight, because it seems not everyone knows how:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgB9J9Bt_Rs

And once that's done, then do the two-shot routine (for pete's sakes, start at close range first ). Hell, if you do it right, you might not even need more than two shots anyway, just an extra five minutes setup time (but if your zero is far out, you may need to fire another round or two).


(and of course, if you really want to be sure, you need to shoot groups and that's even more rounds)

Cass

There are loads of those videos going back years. It was also discussed many times before. We actually discussed this 2 years ago lad.

Particularly the highlighted section:

If installing the scope the quick way would be to place the rifle in a gun clamp or very steady front rest and back bag. ................................... Have the bolt removed and with the rifle unclamped adjust the rifle until you can see the target down the barrel. The muzzle of the gun will appear as a circle and must sit perfectly "central" in the circle created by the breach. Once this is done make sure the target is central in the circles created by the muzzle and breach. Have the rifle reclamped making sure the target is still central in the bore/barrel. Now without moving the rifle look through the scope and see where the crosshairs are in relation to the target. Adjust the crosshairs up to and left/right until they meet the target. Now once more check the bore/barrel sight and scope sight. If you are happy both are pointing at the same target time to replace the bolt and fire a shot (this is why i recommend doing this at a range). Find where the shot impacted. Measure the distance from your point of impact to the target bull and adjust your scope as necessary. Again fire another shot. You should be either in or very close to the bull. Make one more adjustment if you are not in the bull and fire one more round. You should be zeroed at this point

Another thread here that predates the one above and is nearly 3 years old.

Cass wrote: »

Any rifle can be zeroed with 2 shots, 3 max.

Simply put on the mounts, rings and scope. Ensure all are levelled and squared. Have the bolt out and looking through the barrel you get the target central in the bore of the rifle. Once there clamp it and then look at the target through the scope. Adjust the scope so that the crosshairs match up to the point of aim of the barrel. Check the two are relatively close and that the rifle has not moved in the rest/clamp.

Replace bolt an fire a shot. Here is where 1/2" or 1" grid targets come into their own. Measure the distance from the point of aim to the actually point of impact. Adjust your scope as necessary. If you don't have grid paper simply click the turrets until the crosshairs come to the point of impact. Fire another shot with the rifle still clamped. You should now be in or very close to the "bull". Make any last/final adjustments of the scope and fire one last shot if needed. You will now definitely be in the bull.

Unclamp the rifle and fire about 2-5 shots to make sure the results are consistant. Give all the screws of the scope, rings, etc a quick check to make sure they are tight, and you're good to go.

I have used this method many, many times and it has yet to let me down. No need for laser pointers, shot savers, and any other expensive equipment. Takes a few minutes longer without the fancy gadgets, but works.

However Sparks makes a very valid point and i cover it in all my posts about zeroing. You need to do some sort of bore sighting before firing a single shot. This is common sense and vital to safety.

FISMA

Lads,
Of course there's more than that, have a look at what we set up the other day!



If we were off with this, ye'd have probably known about it in Eire!

Cass, thanks again for that link, I still use some of the techniques you quoted.

The purpose of the post was to address the issue that I still see many at the range doing. Bringing the holes to the centered reticle and not the centered reticle to the holes. The later saves rounds and I am still surprised at how many people walk their shots to the center.

It takes my friend an entire day, about 10hours of work to get the March scope, rings, and rail setup.

The rifle shoots in heavy gun competitions and his attention to detail is paying off with the amount of wins he has in heavy and light gun competitions.

When you feed this thing, you'll want every trick in the book. 800gr's do not come cheap.

rsole1

Sparks wrote: »

It would work but:

If that hole isn't on the target, what do you do? Is your .308 round now four miles downrange somewhere? What's your danger area?

Honestly, there's a good reason people boresight to start with. It might take a round or two more (because you're starting at close range and working out to your preferred zeroing range), but at least you'll know where all those rounds are going.

(And yes, that applies more in the case where you're zeroing in for the first time with a new rifle, but I've managed to shoot myself in the arse doing your procedure, so it's one of the more pointed lessons I've learnt over the years )

Here's how to boresight, because it seems not everyone knows how:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgB9J9Bt_Rs

And once that's done, then do the two-shot routine (for pete's sakes, start at close range first ). Hell, if you do it right, you might not even need more than two shots anyway, just an extra five minutes setup time (but if your zero is far out, you may need to fire another round or two).


(and of course, if you really want to be sure, you need to shoot groups and that's even more rounds)

You shouldn't use the words "arse" and "procedure" in the same sentence. lol.

EWQuinn

FISMA wrote: »

Lads,
Of course there's more than that, have a look at what we set up the other day!



If we were off with this, ye'd have probably known about it in Eire!

Cass, thanks again for that link, I still use some of the techniques you quoted.

The purpose of the post was to address the issue that I still see many at the range doing. Bringing the holes to the centered reticle and not the centered reticle to the holes. The later saves rounds and I am still surprised at how many people walk their shots to the center.

It takes my friend an entire day, about 10hours of work to get the March scope, rings, and rail setup.

The rifle shoots in heavy gun competitions and his attention to detail is paying off with the amount of wins he has in heavy and light gun competitions.

When you feed this thing, you'll want every trick in the book. 800gr's do not come cheap.

No, that is not in Ireland.

Vegeta

You can never have too much gun.....:eek:

Dian Cecht

Great thread lads it's gonna be a big help when I get my scope sorted

FISMA

Dian Cecht wrote: »

Great thread lads it's gonna be a big help when I get my scope sorted

There's a lot too it Dian, to do it right that is. But everything is relative. What is absolutely necessary for someone shooting FTR at 1000ya is not the same as someone else's bunny bashing kit.

Most kit I have setup had no problem just eye-balling. That is, put the base on, mount rings, and scope. Eye-ball the whole lot, no levels. Zero on paper and I had no problems out to 300.

But then when you shoot out past 400yards. Things get progressively worse, and you realize that the scope must be leveled. However, the receiver needs to be first leveled. What good is a level scope if it sits on an unleveled rifle?

The farther out you shoot, the more precision and care needs to be taken. The kit I showed above, not mine, belongs to a friend. Outisde of competition, they head out to have a shot at "the" rock, something like 2500yards away, if memory serves me correct.

His case is the extreme, I doubt many of us would need/warrant ten hours of time to level our kit.

Have a look at this applet, it gives a nice visual as to the problems when the rifle-scope are not properly level.

Give Sparks' Midway clip a view - an excellent free and effective way to get on paper.

Then give Cass' two posts a thorough read as there isn't much more that needs be said.

Cass' first post was in response to a thread in which we discussed the same topic. I don't believe I read the second post, a bit before my time, which is where the confusion comes in.

If you are like me, you head to the range with a shooting bag, not a vice. Thus, I center on the bullseye, find the bullet, determine the number of inches off, convert inches to minutes of angle at distance, click appropriately, and "walk" my shots over. Windage first, then elevation. That's just my usual way of doing things and when you shoot cheap ammo, no bother.

That was my understanding of the below
"Find where the shot impacted. Measure the distance from your point of impact to the target bull and adjust your scope as necessary. Again fire another shot. You should be either in or very close to the bull."

Now if you are shooting expensive rounds, which I am beginning to, you become concerned when every round is costing say €5, €6, €7 or a pop - and that's the cheap stuff.

When the cost of every round is a consideration, you then need to do as Cass says here, in the previous post
"If you don't have grid paper simply click the turrets until the crosshairs come to the point of impact. Fire another shot with the rifle still clamped."

It is such a simple statement, but escaped me for years, and still escapes many that I thought it was worth a post.

Again, don't bring your bullet-hole to the center, bring the center to your bullet-hole.

Also, don't get too obsessive about this stuff, you could develop OCD trying to get the rifle "perfect!" Just have a look at that applet to visualize what could happen with the scope-ring-base-receiver is not perfectly leveled.

For example, have you considered that the factory may not have drilled the holes in the receiver perfect? Or that the scope reticle may not be centered correctly from the factory?

That's just the beginning. Shooters should to replicate the conditions under which the zeroing took place in order to maxmize precision. Shots taken in colder temperatures will normally have a lower zero due to the decreased rate of burn. There is also considerations for zeroing: a cold barrel, a clean barrel, cold fouled, warm fouled, all have different zeros. I myself missed many before I realized that my warm barrel zero differed from the cold.

Again, take all of the above in to consideration, but get out there and shoot too! There's only so much you can do with factory ammo.

Kryten

Now. Lets try that with an open sight No4 Enfield. Eyes not as good as they used to be. Will probably end up with a scope some day soon.

Dian Cecht

Kryten wrote: »

Now. Lets try that with an open sight No4 Enfield. Eyes not as good as they used to be. Will probably end up with a scope some day soon.

Only ever used open sights myself on rifles but like you my eyesight is giving me trouble I've recently bought a .22 and have the open sights on it and I've noticed, like yourself, that I need a scope, which is another story.

Are you based in Ireland as I notice you're shooting a No. 4 :eek: