Centering a scope can be a bit of a costly affair, but it is necessary for later satisfaction, and especially if we are going to dare to shoot at long distances, for example at 50m with a 4.5mm calibre air rifle.
Centring a air rifle scope.
Centring a scope may seem unnecessary, but centring a scope correctly means comfort and more accurate targets.
To centre a riflescope, you need to have a riflescope attached to a carbine and have it in its final position, securely fixed. It would not be correct to start centring a riflescope without first having it attached to the body of the rifle.
In addition, for the proper centring of a rifle scope, it is essential to know how to hold the carbine. Air rifles have a lot of recoil, it is not advisable to do so on a shooting bench, as the behaviour on the shoulder, in the firing position, and on the trigger, will be very different. Our recommendation is to position yourself in a position as close as possible to the final shooting position, as stable and fixed as possible in order to centre the scope as accurately as possible.
It is best to hold the carbine resting on the shoulder (in the shooting position) holding firmly but naturally, nothing forced, the trigger hand should meet the grip of the gun and pull the trigger in a smooth and constant movement, without exceeding the pulling movement. There are air rifles with adjustable trigger, both in pressure and travel. Adopting the natural, proper way of firing and keeping it constant is paramount to being accurate after centring the scope.
How to centre a scope?
Now by following the steps below you will be able to centre your rifle scope:
First of all it is important that the scope is correctly positioned on top of the barrel (dovetail) and that there is a distance from the eye to the eyepiece of approximately 6-8 cm. We have to check that the reticle is both vertically and horizontally correctly aligned.
With the carbine correctly clamped, the next step is to make the first centring. Our recommendation, for a "first" centring is to do it with table supports or other support that fixes the barrel. It is best to start with targets at 10 metres, to see where the pellet is going.
You will then have to increase by five metres to the chosen distance at which you want to centre the scope (the best is around 30 metres, although you can extend to fifty metres). Once you've got the pellets in the right place, the next thing to do is to get into the final shooting position and fine-tune as much as possible.
And finally, as a final step to centre the scope you should make groups of three shots, in this way when shooting consecutively you will get three hits as close as possible to each other. You will be able to observe better in which area the shots are aligned and avoid that the shot with which you have made the centering, has been a coincidence or luck.
Steps to ensure the centring of the scope
To ensure reliable and accurate results it is advisable to always shoot from a supported position to perform the following steps:
1. Fire several shots to achieve a concentration or grouping of shots on the target, from where to start the centring.
2. If several inches off-centre, make the appropriate M.O.A. click adjustment to move the reticle to the centre of the target. Both in height and drift. But, one at a time, not at the same time.
3. Fire a group of three shots.
4. Use the centre of this group as a reference point for the final lateral correction and elevation adjustments. Do this until you get a grouping centred on the target.
If you are unfamiliar with the term MOA, you can see another of our previous posts, in which we explain what MOA is in centimetres according to shooting distance and how the turrets of a rifle scope adjust it.
Example of scope centring
In this image we can see an example of centring, the centre of the group is two centimetres below and three centimetres to the right. Assuming you are adjusting for 20m, an adjustment of 4-5 clicks (1/4 MOA click) must be made.
The next group of three shots fired should be very close to the centre of the target. In case of not being hits on the centre of the target, it could be due to external causes such as side wind or we will make MOA adjustments again until we get the most precise adjustment of the scope.
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