How do you get the crosshairs level?

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Wheeler "Level, Level, Level" works pretty well.



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if the scope does not have turrets it really isn't that big of a deal, as long as it looks decently straight you are likely good to go, however if you intend to use turrets to dial up your range it gets very tricky to get it right, IMO to start with you gotta have one of these

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/P...LE%20INSTRUMENT

its about the only way I know of that you can have your gun level to start out with in a gun vise, which is most critical, I also use it to attach a leveling device to the scope, which I flip up when making a shot, I secure the above device with the gun in a vice, then I look through the scope, the EXD device has a slot that allows you to see through it, then I level the cross hairs against my neighbors front door behind my house, its about 120 yards away, (they don't know I do that LOL) I normally spend about 45 mins fiddeling with everything to get it right, I also don't trust the small levels that you can set on top of the scope turret, that also implies the crosshairs are aligned to the turret, but what if they aren't?? you also should check this at the range, by putting a target up with an upside down T on it that is of course level and perpendicular, shoot a group with the intersection of the t on the bottom, then dial up the scope as far as you intend to shoot, then shoot another group, if the groups are dead center right on the line, you are good, if they are to one side of the line or the other, you need to rotate the scope slightly, a 1 degree cant will cause you to not only miss but also hit low.
 
Biwheeler, radius of glass tube does offer a higher level of accuracy. But in some applications, the longer the level the better the results regardless of the tube radius.. carpenters use 4 foot levels for a reason.In unrested hunting applications leveling by eye is all that is necessary. In long range,turret adjusting applications then level become an issue.
 
This is how I've been doing it and it seems to work fairly well:
1. Level gun in gun vice with small bubble levels.
2. Place Black and Decker Bulls Eye Auto level on wall on opposite side of basement. I'm not sure how accurate the laser level is but I've checked it with a 4' level and it seems to be accurate.
3. Turn scope until horizontal reticles cover the laser lines.
4. Snug up scope and check for eye relief. If all is good tighten down scope and recheck. I add blue loctite to the screws individually once everything looks good.
 
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Wheeler "Level, Level, Level" works pretty well.



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its not so hot for small calibers. I just recieved mine yesterday and it was too big to work on my cz 527 because the action is too small. I was able to use a dremel to make it fit and now its perfect for a .222 or .223 ... I'll have to see if it works on my 22 mag i doubt it.

i've always just held the gun and then leveled the cross hairs. I know i always cant the gun slightly. I'm hopeing level hairs relative to the gun will teach me to keep the gun level and not cant it.
 
Okay. Seems to me that for long range shots the only thing that matters is that the reticle is level with the Earth, not the rifle. A round bullet out of a round tube shouldn't care if the rifle is canted. A bullet fired from a rifle held upside down will have the same trajectory. My belief is that the reticle should be level to the Earth when shouldered naturally by the shooter. This gives the highest probability of correct windage when being shot off hand, with or without turrets. This is especially true when shooting across uneven terrain that will cause the shooter to perceive that the reticle is canted due to a lack of reference. Close your eyes, shoulder the rifle, then view a known vertical or horizontal reference.
 
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Okay. Seems to me that for long range shots the only thing that matters is that the reticle is level with the Earth, not the rifle. A round bullet out of a round tube shouldn't care if the rifle is canted. A bullet fired from a rifle held upside down will have the same trajectory. My belief is that the reticle should be level to the Earth when shouldered naturally by the shooter. This gives the highest probability of correct windage when being shot off hand, with or without turrets. This is especially true when shooting across uneven terrain that will cause the shooter to perceive that the reticle is canted due to a lack of reference. Close your eyes, shoulder the rifle, then view a known vertical or horizontal reference.



The scope has to be level over the bore centerline, not random.
 
bigwheeler is correct - if the scope is not level to the gun and you do scope adjusting, you will not have true movement of the crosshairs. You want "up" to be straight "up", not up and a little left or right... Sure, you will be minute of deer, but how about a 400 yard prairie dog?
 
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