sighting in a 22

1
So, I'm a fairly handy guy, I've read and seen some tutorials on sighting in a rifle but some of these breakdowns I think are going a little over my head.
I am getting my rifle this weekend and it will be my first which means I dunno what the heck I'm doing. But whatever it is im doing I wanna know the equipment is working well.

Assumption - From what it sounds like to me I need to pick a distance, make sure the rifle is steady, line up a shot, fire it off, and adjust the sight until the rifle hits where I want it no?

If that assumption is true I have two questions

1.) what do yall do to steady your rifle for this
2.) what distance roundabout am I using for a 22?

If that assumption is not true I sure would appreciate being set straight.

Any and all help super appreciated.

Re: sighting in a 22

2
If it's new and your first rifle, I would just go shoot it. An adjustable rifle rest is a good investment, and they are inexpensive. Unless there's something seriously off because someone was drinking while building your new 22, there shouldn't be much of any adjustment to do out of the box. As a starter, 25-50 yards will be fine. If you find yourself creating a single ragged hole that is in a very different place than where it should be, then look to do some adjustments. A scope is a different animal, but for iron sights, should be good to go.

If you do wind up needing to adjust the sights, the front sight goes in the opposite direction that you want to go, the rear sight goes in the same direction that you want the point of impact to go.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

Image

Re: sighting in a 22

4
Oh yeah I wasn't gonna try to do it any time soon. Part of not knowing what one is doing is to realize you're not going to know what you're doing wrong, and to try to fix things without having a working perspective is a circle to the bottom,

but thank you on the recommendation for the rest and the info on the distances. that will help a lot, when and if it comes down to it.

Re: sighting in a 22

5
I use sand bags to steady a gun for sighting in. Atop a table. A friend likes to make them from old jeans. They are cheap and useful to have around, ones similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B071F7Q2 ... ref=plSrch
"It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent." -Gandhi

Re: sighting in a 22

6
Bisbee wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 4:16 pm I use sand bags to steady a gun for sighting in. Atop a table. A friend likes to make them from old jeans. They are cheap and useful to have around, ones similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B071F7Q2 ... ref=plSrch
This is what I do too, although the ranges I go to generally provide sandbags for people to use.
106+ recreational uses of firearms
1 defensive use
0 people injured
0 people killed

Re: sighting in a 22

7
Eris wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 4:31 pm
Bisbee wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 4:16 pm I use sand bags to steady a gun for sighting in. Atop a table. A friend likes to make them from old jeans. They are cheap and useful to have around, ones similar to this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B071F7Q2 ... ref=plSrch
This is what I do too, although the ranges I go to generally provide sandbags for people to use.
Yup, sandbags or similar. The key is to minimize barrel sway buy using the v-notch as a rest (make sure it's your stock making contact, not the barrel). You can adjust elevation by squeezing the rear bag under your stock with your off hand. It's awkward at first, but very stable once you get the hang of it.

Ideally, you want to take 5 shots prior to making adjustment with a stable platform, then adjust to the average of the shots (you may not need any adjustment). I'm no expert, but the above helped tremendously over my first attempt at sighting in a rifle with the "blast, adjust, blast, damn, adjust, blast, fuck, adjust, blast, jesus christ, adjust, blast, fuck it" method on my first trip. ;)

Re: sighting in a 22

8
Are you using a scope? If so, there is an easy way to get it sighted in quickly if you have a stable base for the rifle. If using irons, shinzen’s advice is right on.

As for distance, for most common .22 LR rounds, I Sight in at 25yards. You will be about an inch high at 50yards and back at zero at about 65 yards and an inch or so low at 75.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Image

Re: sighting in a 22

9
Bucolic wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:12 pm Are you using a scope? If so, there is an easy way to get it sighted in quickly if you have a stable base for the rifle. If using irons, shinzen’s advice is right on.

As for distance, for most common .22 LR rounds, I Sight in at 25yards. You will be about an inch high at 50yards and back at zero at about 65 yards and an inch or so low at 75.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
If using a scope, definitely try to start at a close range. 25yds is great. The reason you start close is because the sight error grows larger as ranges get farther and when you totally miss, you won't know what adjustment to make to get it on the paper. Also, get some wide and long paper -- butcher paper is perfect but anything big will do. I put a dot in the center, bore sight if that is an option (it is with a bolt action for sure but much less straight forward (requires some disassembly) or totally impossible with a semi-auto like a 10/22 without a laser doohickey). I don't shoot a group with my first shot -- even after bore sighting it will likely be many inches away from the target so I just shoot once and adjust my scope. It usually takes me two to three shots to get close to the dot on the paper.

Note that if the clicks on your scope are 1/4" at 100 yds, they'll be 1/16" at 25 yds. Once I get close to the dot at 25 yds, I'll back off to a longer range to continue fine tuning. Lastly, I always do the sighting in from a bench with sandbags -- this takes out the wobble you put into things if shooting a less stable position. At a minimum, if a bench isn't available, you should shoot prone with bags. If you don't have sandbags, use a book bag. Just be sure the stock, not the barrel, rests on the bag. Resting the barrel on the bag will affect the point of aim.

This is one of the clearest sighting-in videos I know of -- it shows both bolt action and a 10/22: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUV40AetF5M (note that in the large bore rifle, he finishes it by sighting in 2" high at a 100 yds - this is for big game hunting purposes and I don't really see how a 2" high zero will apply to your 22).

Also here's a decent video on using a rear bag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FhxVS5A3gk

Re: sighting in a 22

10
featureless wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 5:07 pmI'm no expert, but the above helped tremendously over my first attempt at sighting in a rifle with the "blast, adjust, blast, damn, adjust, blast, fuck, adjust, blast, jesus christ, adjust, blast, fuck it" method on my first trip. ;)
I know that process! :lol:
DougMasters wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 4:09 pm...but thank you on the recommendation for the rest and the info on the distances. that will help a lot, when and if it comes down to it.
Doug, once the gun's on the sandbags, the only other piece is the trigger pull. It's still possible to pull shots in different directions even with bags. A couple of slow, straight pulls should give you the paper punches you need.

Re: sighting in a 22

11
Okay, here is my foolproof method for zeroing with a scope.

First, get it to hit on paper. You may need to come in to close range, like ten yards, or use a large piece of paper. Just dial it in close enough to the POA that the POI will be on paper at 25 yards.

Move to 25 yards and shoot one round, maybe two. Without moving the rifle, while looking through the scope, use the dials to move the POA (the crosshairs) onto the POI of the last round.

Re-point the rifle so the POA is on the the Bullseye and shoot a round or two. You may need to repeat the previous step depending on how immobile you held the rifle when zeroing. If you are within an inch or so, use the calibrated clicks for a final adjustment.

I can usually get darned close with only about three or four rounds and then my OCD kicks in for the final zeroing.
Image

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests