How to Sight in a Rifle Scope: A Step-by-Step Guide

Scope sighting or zeroing is the process of fine-tuning your reticle to allow you to hit a target a certain distance away. Your scope adjusts to allow you to aim at a distant target while taking wind and bullet drop into consideration.

This makes sighting one of the most important steps you can take to improve and ensure shooting accuracy. After all, a gun is nothing if you cannot hit what you are aiming at due to improper sighting.

This guide will cover everything you need to know to sight in a rifle scope, the importance of zeroing, and a step-by-step guide on how to do it correctly and consistently.

What Is Scope Sighting?

Scope sighting is the process of adjusting your scope reticle to align your point of aim (what you are targeting) with your point of bullet impact (where the bullet hits the target).

While scopes and other optics are often factory-zeroed or set to be “accurate” straight out of the box, you must still make your own adjustments to ensure that your bullets hit the bullseye every time you pull the trigger.

When sighting a scope, you will have to manipulate the elevation turret (the top turret on the scope) and the windage turret (the side turret) to account for environmental factors that can affect the trajectory of your bullet.

The elevation turret controls whether the bullet will hit higher or lower on the target. This allows you to compensate for bullet drop due to gravity and the bullet losing power over time.

The turret knob will be marked with directional arrows to make adjustments easier.

The windage turret (located on the right side of most scopes) controls the horizontal direction of the bullet, which can be affected by the amount of wind blowing around it.

The windage knob is also marked with directional arrows for you to turn clockwise or counter-clockwise in order to adjust.

What Do You Need to Sight a Scope?

You will need the following tools to make scope adjustments easily and consistently.

• Gunsmith-grade screwdriver
• A stable shooting platform
• Sandbags/other rifle rests
• Targets (paper/cardboard targets)
• Ammunition
• Laser Bore Sight
• Gun vise (keeps your rifle stationary)

How to Sight in a Rifle Scope

Learn how to sight in a scope and ensure your bullet impacts where it should by following the basic steps listed below.

Step 1. Ensure Rifle Safety and Choose a Suitable Location

Whenever you are planning to shoot or even handle any firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, you must always prioritize safety.

When you select a shooting range, be sure it has proper backstops or a solid background to ensure bullets cannot hit anything else but the intended target and will not ricochet or hit bystanders once they pierce it.

Step 2. Mount the Scope Securely

Place the specific rifle you plan on using your scope on a gun vise or sandbag to make mounting your new scope easier.

Follow the manufacturer’s mounting instructions to ensure a properly mounted rifle scope, ensuring the mounting screws are tight and your scope sits comfortably on the scope rings without blocking the rifle’s action.

Give yourself enough eye relief by increasing the distance between your eye and the scope.

This is for your comfort, increasing the clarity of your target and giving you an excellent sight picture. It is also for your safety, as this space will prevent you from being hit in the face by your scope due to recoil.

Some rifles are designed with pre-drilled and tapped holes or grooved rail systems to make installing scope bases easier, while others use Picatinny rails.

Ensure your scope rings are compatible with the mounting system of your rifle.

Step 3. Boresight the Rifle

Bore sighting entails placing a laser boresighter into the bore of your rifle and aligning the reticle to the laser point at 100 yards. The laser exiting the muzzle simulates bullet trajectory and impact on a target at 25 yards.

Using a bore sight laser allows you to align your reticle with your point of impact (according to the bore of your rifle) without wasting bullets. Since you are not shooting through it, it allows you to reuse the same target across different sessions.

This method is also helpful for avoiding “reticle cant” (where you aim with your crosshairs unadjusted) as this can lead you to become more inaccurate the further the distance from the target.

Step 4. Set Up a Stable Shooting Platform

Ensure the rifle is well-supported and leveled to minimize movement during bore-sighting and later shooting by mounting your weapon on a rifle rest, bipod, sandbags, or other stabilizing equipment to keep your rifle stable.

A proper rifle mount can reduce recoil dramatically and ensure that you can sight in a rifle without worrying about improper calibration affecting your shots.

Step 5. Select the Sighting Distance

Knowing how to sight a rifle scope at 100 yards, the standard zeroing reference, or 25 yards, a solid base for sighting, can ensure that your results are accurate and repeatable.

You can reduce the amount of variables you need to worry about when shooting at these distances.

Step 6. Fire Initial Shots and Grouping

Fire an initial test shot and note its location. Then, fire additional shots to form a group (typically in sets of three) and select the two closest shots as a reference for the point of impact.