What would cause my scope to be so off?

[.cheese.]

I bought a Nikon ProStaff today (with adjustable zoom) for my Savage Arms MKII-FV .22lr rifle (I know it might be a bit overkill).

Anyways, I also bought a Laserlyte bore-laser to zero-in the scope today at Walmart.

So I take it home, put on the rings, put on the scope, and start dialing in adjustments to get it at zero. I picked a short-medium distance to use (say maybe 20 yards). The height was easy, but the side-to-side knob had to be turned all the way and the laser is still just a little bit to the left of center. What would cause this and is it normal?

 

[RH822]

Check to insure that the scope rings are seated in the grooves correctly.
Also, it may not be the scope at all, it is possible it's the bore sight causing the problem.

RH

 

[countryrebel]

Bore lazers suck,Just pick out the top of a tree or something far and center that in the center of the bore,I am assuming it is a bolt action,Could be the rings?I had a tc encore handgun barrel that was so far off center on the bore I maxed out my scope and it still was not right.

 

[Outlaws]

Bore lazers suck,Just pick out the top of a tree or something far and center that in the center of the bore,I am assuming it is a bolt action,Could be the rings?I had a tc encore handgun barrel that was so far off center on the bore I maxed out my scope and it still was not right

Excellent post. My friend wasted money on one of those bore plug lasers. I can't speak for the cartridge lasers, but the bore ones are just general vicinity type stuff. Almost completely useless IMO.

Bore sight it. But first, zero out that scope. Turn it all the way one way, then count the turns/clicks to go all the way the other way, then go back half of that. Now take it and bore sight the thing on something. I use a distant electrical poll from the backyard on a rifle rest. The metal things (which replaced the glass things years ago) seem to work well as targets for this task. Then take it to the range and get the final zero.

I have done this with a .204, so there is no reason a .22 can't be done.

But as for the scope itself, the parallax might greatly hinder your accuracy since most are for 100 yards, and anything closer could be effected.

 

[hexidismal]

Hey Economist, I didn't know you had one of those Mark IIs. I've got one too. Love mine, LOVE it.

 

[Onmilo]

If your rings are not aligned on the scope bases this can cause your scope to be off on windage.

I use a scope ring alignment lap to bring the rings to alignment on the bases prior to installing the telescope.

 

[RNB65]

What kind of rings you using?

Some rings are windage adjustable and yours may be pushed over to the side and not centered. Check to see if your rings are windage adjustable. If so, make sure they are centered and the windage adjustment screw is tight.

 

[.cheese.]

hex - yeah I got it a few months ago, but haven't gotten to take it to the range yet. Hopefully this weekend.

I'll check if there is a windage adjustment.

Also, I don't really see how the accuracy will be that off if I adjust it? It's factory rated for 100 yards, yes, but if I adjust it and am not shooting close up, I'd imagine it should be fine.

 

[Outlaws]

Also, I don't really see how the accuracy will be that off if I adjust it? It's factory rated for 100 yards, yes, but if I adjust it and am not shooting close up, I'd imagine it should be fine.

Parallax is not why your scope is so far off target. But, the groupings will be hindered if the parallax is set for the wrong distance...ie, set at 100 yards and you shoot at 20 or 50. I don't recall that scope being adjustable. When the scope is on a stable rest, put the cross hair on the target. Now without touching the rifle, move your head around a bit. The cross hair might move a lot, it might move a little, it might not move at all. If there is any movement, then you will be aiming depending on how you are holding the rifle.

Just something to look for. Try it at various distances.

 

[dstorm1911]

make sure your rings are tightened equally, also if your useing weaver type rings (or any others with top/bottom versus vertical split) remove the bands and just lay the scope in the bottoms to see if its sitting square and even, I've lost track of how many scope tubes we've ran into that were tweaked by rings that were not squared...

As far as Laser boresighters, I've had the opposite results of those mentioned above we use several arbor types as well as in the chamber ones and all of the one piece factory aligned arbor types are dead on the money, we use em while building guns to help insure proper trunion alignment as well as sight mounts and blocks aligned etc... Even the very touchy G3 and CETME builds always result in dead on the money straight front trunion alignment. When I complete any Build be it a basic AK47 or A MG34 the first sight check is always done with an Arbor type boresighter followed by a chamber bore sight to verify the gun then goes out back to the range where I never have to touch the windage its always right where the lasers said it would be I just fine tune the elevation.

If not used properly however even the best laser boresighters can be useless.... and the ones that use separate arbores and require the user to realign constantly are crap....... stick with a factory aligned unit they will always have a seal over the alignment screws tellin ya not to mess with em

 

[.cheese.]

hey hex, quick question:

how far have you found you can shoot this rifle accurately? I was hoping to go 50-100 yards, maybe more if it will let me.

 

[hexidismal]

Actually, I couldn't tell you. I've used it pretty exclusively off the little balcony here to bounce tennis balls around and take down the occasional robin or chipmunk at the far end of our parking area. I have neighbors nearby (and no close rifle range at all), and I have to keep it particularly quiet, so I have it sighted in specifically for the extremely low velocity CCI CB longs at about a 35 yard.. maybe 40 max. I haven't really had the opportunity to take it out longer with good ammo myself. I can put two CBs in the same hole though at that range, and as far as volume it may as well be suppressed. Sounds like a pellet gun with that stuff. I'd like to see what it can do , but it serves its purpose as a fun gun that I can shoot at home now.

 

[.cheese.]

cool.... whatever keeps the neighbors from complaining.

Some people asked what scope rings I used - they're Weaver brand quick-detach style rings.

 

[Essex County]

Mounting a scope can be more problematic than most of us would expect. That would be the first place I'd look. I would seriously doubt a new Nikon would be a troublespot.........Essex

 

[Vitamin G]

This doesn't exactly pertain to your problem (probably), but i asked the same question once. Why is my scope so off?? Sometimes my group would be dead center, sometimes it wouldn't even be on the paper, sometimes it wasn't even a group.

The screw that keeps the reciever and stock solid, was loose


Sometimes it isn't the scope thats the problem.

 

[Outlaws]

This doesn't exactly pertain to your problem (probably), but i asked the same question once. Why is my scope so off?? Sometimes my group would be dead center, sometimes it wouldn't even be on the paper, sometimes it wasn't even a group.

The screw that keeps the reciever and stock solid, was loose


Sometimes it isn't the scope thats the problem.

My buddy wasted 3 boxes of good ammo while cursing Remington for making a crummy product when he bought his XCR in 30-06. On that third box of ammo he found the windage screw at the base wasn't tightened. Extremely loose. I don't even know how he was adjusting the windage/elevation without noticing it, but I guess when you have $700 sunk into a rifle and another $250 in a scope, your mind is elsewhere.