How to Sight In a Rifle Using Only Four Shots

How many shots should it take sight in a rifle? How about four? Start by bore sighting the rifle. Remove the bolt and sight down the bore, centering a 25-yard target in the barrel. Have the rifle secured in a gun vise so when it is bore sighted, it stays in place.

Then adjust the scope, starting with the windage screws, followed by the turrets until the crosshairs are centered on the target.

Fire one shot at the 25-yard target to make sure you're on paper and that you're close to the bullseye.

Now you're ready to shoot your second shot, this time at 100 yards.

After the shot, place the crosshairs back on the bullseye and, holding the gun securely without moving it, use the windage screws to move the vertical wire directly over the bullet hole. Now you can use the windage and elevation adjustments to center the crosshairs on the hole. Now that the crosshairs are lined up with the hole, move the rifle enough to aim it at the bullseye and take another shot. Your rifle should now be perfectly zero.

One additional shot will confirm that the rifle is sighted in properly.

--Larry Potterfield