The Perfect Shot: Zeroing Your Rifle

Aaron Spuler is a firearms enthusiast and recreational shooter. Follow more or his work at The Weapon Blog

You’ve got a rifle and can’t wait to take it out for a test run, but before you can run you have to walk. In this case, that means zeroing your optics.

Accuracy is key in long-distance shooting, so your choice of scope is important. Once you’ve made your choice based on parallax, reticle, and other factors, you can rein in the sights.

Step 1: Mounting Your Optic

In order to zero, you have to correctly position your scope onto the rifle. Screw in the base and rings first, waiting to tighten completely until you’ve got them in place.

With that done, you’ll have something to set your scope on. Place the optic onto the base and position it so that you have enough eye relief, or the distance from your eye to the lens when it recoils.

Step 2: Adjust the Crosshair

Now that your optic is in place, you can use a coin to level the crosshair. Line up your crosshair by rotating the top slot of your optic until the vertical crosshair is straight up at the twelve o’ clock position.

Once you’re confident that the optic is positioned and the crosshair is dead center, finish tightening the mount base and rings over the scope.

Step 3: Rest Easy

One key element to correct zeroing is to eliminate user error. The best way to do this is to place your rifle on a rest or something similar to reduce your contact with the weapon.

It’s possible to do with sandbags as well, but the most common method is to use a rest.

Step 4: Ammunition

If you know the caliber and grain of ammo you’ll be using to shoot, it’s best to zero with that. If not, try to get one that will be close so that the zero is as accurate as possible.

Step 5: Preparation

The best distance to zero is 100 yards because it’s far enough to test for long-range shooting but close enough to minimize the effects of weather on your shot.

Use targets specifically designed for zeroing. The way to tell this is if they have multiple smaller targets with several measurements.

Make sure to clean your rifle and barrel before firing. Rifling could affect your zero.

Step 6: Zero Hour

With everything in place, load and fire a grouping of 3-5 rounds at your target. Try to aim at the same spot and limit how much you touch the rifle for the best results.

Once you’ve fired, check the target and look at your grouping. This will give you everything to zero your optic.

Step 7: Adjust and Go Back

Based on the misses, adjust your scope. The optic will have two knobs, windage and elevation. The former affects horizontal fire while the latter deals with vertical shots.

Keep in mind that each click of the knob, or turret, accounts for ¼”, so a little goes a long way. Always adjust your optic toward the misses.

If your grouping shot to the right, set the windage knob to the right based on the distance on your target. If it shot low, drop the elevation knob by that amount.

Once you’ve made your adjustments, you’re ready to check your zero.

Step 8: Rinse and Repeat

A perfect zero can take patience, but remember that it means the difference between accuracy and missing.

After adjusting your knobs, load and fire another grouping of 3-5 rounds. You might want to mark each set to avoid confusion if it takes too many attempts.

If this grouping is perfect, meaning that all rounds hit the intended target, your optic is successfully zeroed for that distance. If not, adjust and try again.

Step 9: Zeroing for Distances

The only thing left to do is to set your zero for other distances based on shooting preference. If you’ll be shooting within the 100 yards, you’re set.

For those long-distance shooters, though, you might consider setting your zero further out following the same steps above.

Good shooting!

Author Bio:

Richard Douglas is a long time shooter, outdoor enthusiast and technologist. He is the founder and editor of Scopes Field, and a columnist at the National Interest, Cheaper Than Dirt, Daily Caller and other publications.