My 7mm Rem Mag has an old Redfield scope on, but I can't seem to get it dialed in right. I was at the range and wasted 20 shells chasing holes around the paper. I shot a couple at 100, probably around a 2 inch group, but I couldn't get it to go where I wanted. At 50 yards the scope adjusted beautifully, it doesn't have clicks, just turns, so you sorta have to guess. I got it real close, shot about a .25-.35 inch group at 50, then moved back to 100. Went from being almost dead on to about 3 inches high and several inches to the right. I tried to adjust it for several shots, got pretty much where I wanted it, made a final adjustment and had 6 shells left. I decided to shoot 2 3 shot groups. The shots moved up and to the right again, but the first two were probably about 1/2"-3/4" apart. The third shot almost hit the bullseye. Not good, about a 3 inch group. Second group looked almost the same, 2 up and right and 1 near the bullseye. I was shooting off a Lead Sled to try and be exact, but nothing seems to work. This was with Winchester Power-Points that I got for christmas, Remingtons group better, as with Federal Premiums, but do I have a scope problem? My dad and grandpa told me to put some pressure on the top of the barrel to hold down the recoil but then the hsot went waaay right, probably 6 inches. Am I doing something wrong? I shot a couple shots off a pillow and towel from another shooter and was reasonably close to the last shot off the Lead Sled. I'm getting a new scope as soon as possible, but what are things that could be wrong?

1. Don't touch the barrel, much less press on it. You'll throw shots wild. Especially, don't lay the barrel on a front rest, only the fore end.

2. You may have a raging case of loose-baseitis or oldredfielditis. The cure for either is dismantle, inspect and reassemble tightly and try again. But if you have a new scope coming I would wait until it arrives. Make sure you don't have old worn out Redfield bases with a worn front dovetail; the rear windage screws won't hold zero by themselves. If the bases are true, the scope may be crap.

3. Last (this happened to me), don't assume the barrel it torqued. I bought a factory gun once that wouldn't shoot for crap, only to find out eventually that the barrel wasn't even hand tight.

Tyler, no offense but check to see if everything is tight then have someone else shoot the rifle. If you are shooting 1/4" groups @ 50yds, you should still be hitting decently @ 100yds. It could just be your technique, but check that everything is tight, action, rings & base. I had an older Redfield that went south on me & would not hold zero. Good luck.

As the other posters have said, check all base & mount screws for tightness, and ring fit to the bases. Check the action screws that hold the action to the stock, and suspect your scope.

I hope you put good money into your new scope (read that as not BSA or Tasco). Leupold (my first choice), Burris, Weaver Grand Slam, etc. would be my recommendations without going into the Euro high dollar scopes.

I would also dump the lead sled and shoot off a good front rest or good sandbags, not pillows, folded towels, backpack, etc. You want to get the best out of your rifle off the range bench--for a good zero and for confidence in it when the crosshairs are on buckskin--good luck and let us know how it works out.

Burris Fullfield II with Ballistic plex NIB $139 plus $14 shipping. When i get fund I'll buy it. The 45-70 took all my money...

Couple of presumptions:
1) mounts and rings snug
2) you have a solid rest for repeatable shots off a bench.

Then:
1) keep track of your adjustments and shots, by writing them down for reference. Example: "fired 3 shots at 100 yards. ~ 2 inch group down 8 inches and left 6 inches of aiming point."

2) Your Redfield scope has some sort of markings on the windage and elevation adjustments. Use a pencil to make a mark on the settings for a starting point to let you know where you are. Each full revolution of the adjustments is ~ 14-15 INCHES at 100 yards (~ 14-15 minute of angle or "MOA"). Probably each major hash mark or divide on your adjustment is ~ 1 inch at 100 yards.

3)After 3 shot group is made (and recorded like in step 1), make attempt to move settings on scope. In this hypothetical case, you are 8 inches low, so move 8 major divisions to the "up" direction (if not marked UP or DOWN, then just record if you moved it clockwise (CW) or counterclockwise (SSW)). Since you were 6 inches to the left, move it 6 major hash marks to the RIGHT (again or CW or CCW if not marked) and WRITE IT DOWN. Make sure you marked your starting point with a pencil, or "white out" to have a "return point" if needed.

4) fire another 3 shot group USING THE SAME aimpoint as last time. First, note the size of the group. It should be about the same as the other. In this case it should be around 2". If it's something like 6 inches, then it's another variable (shooting technique, wobbly bench, loose mounts, or buggered scope internals, etc).

Then look at the groups position on the paper. Did it move up 8 inches and to the right 6 inches? Did it move at all? Did it move twice as far? Note the magnitude of the group change, and WRITE IT DOWN. "Moved 8 marks CW /up and 6 marks CCW/Right (for example)." Record amount of group's shift in position. I had a Leupold 8x scope that was supposed to move 1 moa/inch at 100 yards with a major mark. It only moved half the amount. The screw thread was twice as fine as it was supposed to be on elevation, but "normal" on windage (mix up at factory-sent it back to Leupold for repair, and now works as it should. This is why it's important to write things down to help diagnose problems. There may be other varibles/issues at work, and a written record helps take the frustration out of "I thought I did that already" type of approach.

5) bore sighting: you can also do the same approach without shooting (saves money on ammo). With an empty rifle, remove bolt. Devise some sort of rest for the rifle. If inside, have it on a table near a window. If outside, have it on bench that won't tip over. Don't put it on the hood of a vehicle. It's not flat, and you don't want to have your rifle fall. Let's presume you are doing it inside.

Use pillows, or cushions to have you rifle pointed outside (or get a cardboard box about 12-18" high and cut a "V" notch in the front and back walls of the box, wide enought to rest the rifle in it-then have some spacers/books/ to adjust the buttstock for elevation).

Remove scope caps for windage and elevation. Look through the bore/barrel of your rifle and find some object about 15-25 yards away (knot on a tree, rock in the yard, two crossed tree branches etc.). readjusted the position of your rested rifle while looking through the bore (from the recoil pad area of your stock) and have that object ge in the middle of your bore.

Once that is set, WITHOUT TOUCHING YOUR RIFLE, look through your scope. Are the crosshairs on the same object (let's say it's a knot in a tree)? If not, then make scope adjustments (again, write it down). For example: "Initial position, scope is ~ 8" high and ~4" left"

This is the weird part, ajusting the scope will be opposite of shooting. If you move it in the "wrong" direction, just go the other way.

I like to bore site adjusting only 1 turrent at at time. Let's just work on the elevation. Move you scope's elevation adjustment something big, like 1/2 revolution (write it down, ie Elevation 1/2 revolution CCW.

Now rebore site your rifle by looking through the bore and put the knot back in the middle of the bore. Then without touching the rifle, look through the scope. Did it move? In the desired direction? Too much, too little? Based on the amount it moved, then make adjustments. At this point, you are making bold/large adjustments to get close.

If a 1/2 rev was way too much then figure how much you were off and adjust accordingly (ie back of half the amount to a total of ~ 1/4 revolution). Keep on rebore sighting, and looking through the scope after you make an adjustment until your elevation is good.

Then do the same for windage.

If you scope doesn't respond to these changes, then you may have a mechanical problem with the scope.

Bore sighting at ~ 15-25 yards with a scope should put you on the paper at 100 yards. After you practice bore sighting, you will surprise yourself as to how close you can get to being "on" at 100 yards.

Try it. It's easy, fun, and you learn a lot about your scope. If you have a Harris bipod, that will work well to support your rifle. Just put some sort of spacer under you buttstock to adjust elevation (books, boxes, etc). You can slide the rear spacer forward and back on the angled portion of you stock to fine tune elevation for bore sighting.

When shooting after bore sighting, try a 3 shot group a 50 yards first and make adjustments before going to 100 yards.

I will sometimes bring a dishtowel with me when I shoot bigger bores off the bench. I fold it over 3-4 layers thick and drape it over the comb (where my cheek will contact the stock), and over the buttplate (acts as a recoil reducer on my shoulder). Helps take the sting of recoil out for boomers. Maybe it will help you.

I'd stick to one carefully fired 3-shot group as my indicator for group position change after a scope adjustment. Another thing you can do, to see if there is a shooter issue, is to have your Dad or Grandfather load one round in the rifle for you (without you looking). Ask them to once in a while to NOT load a round (without you knowing when), and shooting it off the bench. When you pull the trigger, you will know if you are flinching if you have an empy chamber, and the gun moves (ruins a potential group). It's normal, and you shouldn't worry about it if you do flinch. It's just good to know IF you do it, so it can explain potential irregularities. It just means you need to practice, and get used to recoil. That's why I use the folded dish towel. My 30-06 doesn't recoil badly, but enough to give me a sore shoulder after 7-10 rounds. The dishtowel makes shooting MUCH more enjoyable, and results in good groups off the bench for testing loads.

Good luck.

Someone already said don't hold the barrel down, ditto, rest the stock on the bags. I have two Redfields from the late 60's and early 70's still working very well. No they don't click and are 1" movement per mark @ 100yds. If it's a 3-9x it should be 1/2" @ 100yds. They are, as you found out, pressure adjust rather than click. I think their much more precise but also harder to zero unless your careful. With them and the adjustable rear base, the best to do is adjust with the base to get close and the scope to fine tune.

Now you have also been talking group size, not center of impact. The scope adjustments will not alter your group size, only the center of impact. Shoot a three shot group and then draw a line thru the center of each hole. Go to the center of the triangle you just drew and that is your center of impact and that is what you move.

I think befor you start blaming the scope or some other malady, you need to learn more yourself. If that's a 6x Redfield, I'll concider buying it from you.

Your old Redfield, unless something is damaged about it, is a superior scope to the Filipino Burris that you're wanting to buy. Skip the Burris and pay attention to what you've been advised thus far.

A problem that has not been mentioned is barrel heating. Shooting a full box of shells at one sitting through a 7mm RM is asking for trouble. Shoot no more than three shots, spaced at least one minute apart, then let the barrel cool for fifteen minutes or so. A hot sporter-weight barrel can walk shots all over the place.

Good advice from Stonecreek above!

After reading through the posts (all good advice in their own right) it is exactly what I was thinking as well. Keep in mind that as a hunting rifle it is that first shot from a cold barrel that counts! Try to keep your sighting-in as close to that condition as possible.

I took over an hour to shoot the full box, it took turns with my 45-70 and .22, along with talking to other people, as for the marks being 1 inch at 100, or 1/2", that really helps, I didn't know that. Thanks for all the info!

Dustoffer,
What is wrong with a lead-sled???

My advise is to first try shooting off of something besides the LeadSled. I had one and none of my rifles would group very well using it. Shooting of of sand bags or a front tri-pod/pad and rabbit ears rear rest shot a whole lot better groups.

I've gotten nothing but good results with the lead sled, although the elevation adjustment isn't totally smooth, it does reduce kick. At 110 yards I've gotten several sub-moa groups with my 7mm, and two with my 45-70 at 50 yards. With .22's I've gotten awesome groups. Mine is 3x9 Tracker scope so i guess it's 1/2" adjustments. I tightened all scope and base screws, they were becoming lose, I'm gonna get some lock-tite and hopefully go back to the range before school starts again.