Assume at 100 yards your shot is 3 inches low. Using a scope with a click adjustment of 1 click = .25" inch @ 100 yards, maintaining the same hold point i.e. on the bull you move the reticule 12 clicks UP to zero the rifle.

But I have seen videos where they move the reticle 12 clicks DOWN to bring the reticle to the bullet hole.

I understand both systems work, but they seem opposite to me so what am I missing and is one better than the other.

AR

The important thing is the position of the rifle before you move the reticle down.

In the second example the rifle reticle MUST be in the bull and the rifle MUST be immovable.

When you move the reticle down to the holes the rifle is still in the same place as when the shots were fired.


AND for semantics.

You know when the direction on the knob says down you are actually moving the reticle up and vis-a-versa.

Rich's last sentence is the most correct!

You want to move the sight in the direction that you want the bullet to go.

With a scope, if you want to raise the point of impact you turn the scope turrets in the direction needed.

Hip

P.S. Years ago some of the cheap Chinese scopes were labeled(?) wrong and when you turned the scope up it actually turned it down (maybe due to being on the other side of the world?)

Think of scope adjustments as rifle muzzle adjustments. So UP on the scope adjustment is actually to going lower the reticle cross hair to cause you to raise the muzzle up to bring the cross hair back up on target bullseye and vice versa.

That is why you hold the cross hair on the target bullseye and wind the cross hairs down (and/or across) to the bullet group (if it is low), then when you aim your cross hair at the bulls eye you are raising your muzzle to get there.

This is the easiest way to sight a rifle in but you have to hold the rifle firmly on the target bullseye while you or someone else adjusts the scope crosshairs to the bullet group.

I've got an old Japanese reticle-movement 'Targetmaster' 4x32 where the dial's 'down' also refers to the crosswires, not bullet impact. And, being reticle-movement, you can see it move down, which of course means you are raising the shot.

I'm tempted to pull that scope to bits for a look because the turrets are offset, suggesting they move an Oldham coupling, the toughest internal set-up I can think of, for double adjustments at least.

I fire 2 rounds to "rough-zero" my rifle.

After firing the first round, I stabilize the rifle on its rest with the cross hairs on my aim point.

Without moving the rifle, I then move the cross hairs to the point where the bullet actually impacted.

Then, I fire a second round aimed at the original aimpoint.

Then, I fire groups to refine my zero.

Your method makes sense to me, BL. I used a variation on that theme for the positioning of leaves on my self-alternating sights for double rifles, about 40 years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by B L O'Connor:
I fire 2 rounds to "rough-zero" my rifle.

After firing the first round, I stabilize the rifle on its rest with the cross hairs on my aim point.

Without moving the rifle, I then move the cross hairs to the point where the bullet actually impacted.

So if your bullet impacted low, you move the cross-hairs down by turning the turret in the direction labeled "UP".

That sounds right to me, at least. There is a certain counter-intuitive aspect to these things. Certainly, with my old reticle-movement scopes, if you want the shot to go higher the post needs to go lower.

quote:

Originally posted by B L O'Connor:
I fire 2 rounds to "rough-zero" my rifle.

After firing the first round, I stabilize the rifle on its rest with the cross hairs on my aim point.

Without moving the rifle, I then move the cross hairs to the point where the bullet actually impacted.

Then, I fire a second round aimed at the original aimpoint.

Then, I fire groups to refine my zero.

YOU ALWAYS MOVE THE RETICLE TO THE FIRST SHOT BULLET HOLE! A SPEEDY SIGHT IN, THEN 3 INCHES UP, TECHNICALLY..AND IT WORKS AND SAVES AMMO MOST OF THE TIME, MOST SCOPES ARE 4 CLICKS TO THE INCH BUT NOT ALL, SO YOU MUST KNOW THAT BEFORE YOU START..iN THIS CASE ITS 3X4 INCHES UP TO A 3 INCH HIGH AT 100. 4 INCHES HIGH AT 200 ZERO AT 250 TO 275 DEPENDING ON RIFLE AND CALIBER. ALWAYS CHECK ZERO AT 100, 200, 300 AT LEAST AND AT 400 AND 500 IF POSSIBLE AS GUNS ARE AN INITY UNTO THEMSELVES AND CAN VARY IN THERE IMPACT AT VARIOUS RANGES..tHIS WORKS MOST EVERY TIME..kNOWING HOW AND CHECKING YOUR SIGHTS BEFORE EVERY HUNT IS SMART HUNTING AND SAVES A WORLD OF GRIEF AND WOUNDED ANIMAL RETREVE..

I aways have a bore sighter marked to the position of a sighted in rifle and I check it every morning before the hunt.