Adjust Scope and Rifle to Fit For Better Accuracy

Ron Spomer Outdoors Proper shooting form

"My scope don't fit!" I hear that complaint often and for good reason -- many hunter's scopes are not set up correctly. Most are too high, which forces shooters to lift their heads off the stock comb and search for the optical center of the scope. Mount your scope as close to the barrel as possible without the two touching. Use the lowest mounts you can. If necessary, buy a scope with a smaller diameter front bell. You don't need a 56mm, 55mm or even 44mm objective lens to clearly see crosshairs on game in legal shooting light. A 40mm a scope with fully multi-coated lenses (each lens surface has several layers of anti-reflection coating, which dramatically increases light transmission) is more than bright enough at magnifications as high as 12X. That's enough magnification to target tomorrow night's cottontail dinner at 600 yards. If you can't get the scope low enough to see without lifting your head off the comb, raise the comb. Do this with an aftermarket elevated pad that straps around the stock. You can create a temporary one by taping slices of foam to the comb. Set it up so that your eye is looking right down the center of the scope when you nestle firmly into the rifle. The second reason we can't see well through scopes is because we've mounted them too far forward or too far back. Every scope has a fairly narrow "eye relief," which is the distance from the eyepiece lens to your eye at which you can see a full image without edge blackout. It's usually between 3 and 5 inches. Move your head back-and-forth behind the eyepiece to see how the edges black out when you aren't within the correct eye relief distance. To set this for your rifle and body size, close your eyes and mount your rifle as if you were going to shoot. Hold it so it feels comfortable and natural. Open your eyes. Are you seeing a full scope image? If not, slide it (loosen the rings) until you do. Then repeat the closed-eyes mount as necessary to establish the perfect position. Tighten the rings. Check out this video to help understand this process. Then watch this one to refine your technique --  and watch your shooting improve. # # #