Tony Fouracres talks us through a very important part of the process in setting up your scope, one that is often overlooked by many shooters….
- As a passionate Field Target shooter, I prefer to have all my scopes fully optically centred before fitting, ensuring I always look through the very centre and clearest part of the glass.
- This can be achieved by a number of various methods; some count the total number of clicks on the turrets from one end of travel to the other, and then halve the number. Do beware of using this method, though, as with some cheaper scopes, you may damage the internals when they rub against the inside of the tube at full travel. Also, by coming back exactly half the number of clicks on both the elevation and windage turrets may still not give dead centre – you will be close but not exactly there!
Others use the “mirror method”, by looking at the reflection of the cross hairs in a mirror placed a few millimetres from the end of the scope. Personally, I have found this method somewhat difficult and struggled to get things spot on.
For me, the method that seems to work best is to rotate the scope 360 degrees in a homemade jig that I have come up with, and watch where the cross hairs travel in relation to a known point on a wall or target board located about 10 yards or so away. The “path” travelled by the crosshairs can often be around 4” high by 9” wide (similar to the shape of a rugby ball), as the scope is turned through the full 360 degrees if the scope is not centred. You then simply adjust the elevation and windage turrets a few clicks at a time until it is totally optically centred, the cross hairs will stay on exactly the same point you are focused on.
My own homemade jig is solid, rigid, and fully adjustable for the length of the scope, serving me well over many years. I have also seen people use a shoebox or similar by cutting an arc for the scope to sit in!
Finally, I’ll make mention of the fact that I always use Sportsmatch ATP66 fully adjustable mounts and having first ‘optically centred the scope, I then zero the rifle at my chosen distance by using the MOUNT adjustments and NOT the scope turrets. By taking your time, you should be able to get it fully zeroed using the mounts and may only have to adjust the scope turrets, maybe one click maximum, hence the scope remains fully optically-centred on your rifle.
*Note the elastic used to hold the scope in position when rotating.
So if you are fed up with nothing to do during this Coronavirus/Covid-19 Lockdown period, then have a go at building something like this. When optically centred, it may just get you those extra few target points!
Please stay Isolated and Safe
If you are fed up with nothing to do during the Coronavirus/Covid-19 Lockdown, try building something like this. When optically centred, it may just get you those extra few target points!
