I have been trying to make my rifle scope central, you know not leaning towards one side, i set it up so it was perfect looking from the muzzel end of the barrel down the scope, but when i look through it the right way it is noticably tilting to one side, whats the deal here?

Paul, you are eligible to join the club.
This problem has been discussed here at some length as little as a couple of months ago.

There are apparently some gadgets to set it straight, and various tricks with plumbobs and vertical lines on walls etc. Then when it's perfect and mount the rifle to your sholder it's crooked because of a natural cant you may have. Damn things can twist as the mounts are tightened also.
My way is to get it as close as i can with the rifle seemely straight while looking from near the buttplate. Then trial and error over the next few days. Be sure that the first friend that looks through it will tell you which way it needs to go.
But apparently, when it looks right to you off the sholder, any actual difference in the field will be negligible.

Try clicking on "Find" above, type in "straight crosshairs" and you'll get some old posts about it.

I hate mounting scopes, I do it quite a bit but I still just hate it.

The best way I've found lately is to place the rifle in my cleaning through or a cleaning vice and level the bases(or butt plate on some)w/ a small bubble level then, place the scope where you want it and level it by the the elevation cap, tighten the mounts and presto. Forgot to mention you need to know how far foward to mount the eype piece for proper eye relief and to do that I just set it in the rings prior to doing the above. you can just mark the tube w/ a small piece of masking tap to get you back to the proper eye relief.

Good Luck

Reloader

If you mean that the cross hairs are rotated one way or the other and the vertical one is not at 12 O'Clock then I am guilty as well of having them off.

As of late they have been better as now I am tightening the rings I sight at the edge of a vertical freezer across the basement.

It's not the best way, but this is how I set my scope up.

First I put the scope in the lower half of the rings (already on the bases -on the rifle), and put top half of rings on scope with the threaded fasteners. "Tighten" so I can twist scope,and "stay put", but it won't slide easily and lose positioning (subjectively "snug").

In "shooting position: (sitting, offhand, etc) I set the eye relief to give me the max bright field.

Then I set the reticle position.

I look at the scope from beyond the butt plate (16-18 inches from rear of scope). I just try to make the bottom part (6 o'clock part) of the vertical reticle line up with the 12 o'clock position of the bolt below it (bolt action rifle).

I double check eye relief, then reticle "verticality", then tighten the scope rings down.

Then I bore sight.

I must hold the rifle oddly, because if I try to keep the rifle up to my shoulder while setting the "reticle verticality," I always seem to set the top of the reticle to ~ 1:00 position. You can do this by pointing the muzzle downward on a table on a white sheet of paper. It shows the reticle up well, without any distractions of print or pictures.

When I do the check from behind the butt plate, I think I come pretty close to being dead on.

If you are using the Weaver "hook and wrap-around style" rings, you have to set the top of the reticle to ~ 11:30 position or so, to prepare for scope twisting as you tighten (presuming the fasteners on on the right side of the gun as looking from butt plate). It's trial and error for that style of rings, and you usuallu put ring marks on your scope in the process. I don't like using them. If you are using Weaver-style bases, try Kwik-site rings. They are split "3-to-9" (no twist), have 4 fasteners per ring, made of aluminum, and are very inexpensive (~15 - $20 /pair?). Get the lowest rings you can get to keep your head down and comfortable.
http://www.kwiksitecorp.com/

http://www.gunaccessories.com/Kwik-Site/WeaverStyle.asp

It works for me. Good luck

I have Leupold QRW mounts, steel ones. dont know what goes on because i have it the rifle sitting on the bench and look at it from the end of the barrel down the scope and set it up so its 12 o'clock, but when i look through it the right way around on the bench its at about 11 o'clock, hmmm maybe its just me. oh the scopes a Leupold VX-III 4.5-14X40 LR (30mm tube)

oh i figured it out, i was looking down the scope on a slight angle and not directly at it. perhaps a 5 degree angle or something.