Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics A Funny One at the Range Yesterday

A neighbor, who is really quite bright (like he made Colonel in the Air Force), mounted up a new scope on a 10/22, and failed to notice the top of the scope was rotated 90° to the left. I trailed along for the zeroing session where his first shots were about 5 inches right at 25 yds. As he started making adjustments, I noticed he was cranking on the topmost turret. I called him on that move, and he insisted it was labeled L/R and that's where the adjustments should be made. I got a blank stare in return, and he then verified the turret to the left side was labeled U/D, and he ran with his adjustments. When the subsequent shots went up about 4 inches, the lights finally came on.

With no tools along to rectify things, I explained the slugs would go whatever way he turned the turrets regardless of their labels, and we eventually got to zero. His issue now is the unit is to be a gift for a nephew and he's wondering if he should just write up some instructions or loosen the mounts, rotate the scope, and do a new zero. Being slightly on the cheap side, I think he's going to do a write up.

He initially tried to blame his wife for the orientation error, but a couple questions this morning verified she had nothing to do with it.

Have a good one,

At least that was at the range.

I saw that in elk camp in BC one time. The hunter claimed he had used the gun before, but it wasn't sighted in and the guides helping him couldn't get it sighted in either. One look at the scope and it was pretty easy to see what the problem was. Like you, I got a lot of blank stares until I put two rifles side be side and showed them the difference and explained it several more time. Guy finally got it sighted in to hunt. Didn't get a shot on game while there.

The hardest part was explaining to them the direction the reticle actually moves in relation to point of impact. That they never did understand and I just told them to move it the way I said.

I enjoy watching a show like that BUT I would have helped the person rectify the problem. I thought at some point you would have helped your neighbor and rotated the scope after he struggled for a while. Experiencing a difficulty then seeing the correct solution is how we learn.

Reminds me of the time a student in my HS Auto class put his car on the four point lift. His intention was to rotate his tires. He got them off, relocated them and was tightening the lug nuts. Another student came up to me and said he was putting the nuts on backwards with the flat side towards the wheel. I said let him finish then we will tell him. No harm was done. He was reminded twenty times that he made a mistake. I can say with authority, that he will never put lug nuts on again without studying them.

I've always wondered why scope manufacturers put the windage knob on the right side right over the load /ejection port. I have a Leupold ultralight on a kimber 338 Federal with extra low Talleys. I purposely rotated the scope 90 degrees to make the port more accessible.

Probably because the 1st scopes went on single-shot rifles and by the time they were going on rifles that ejected to the side, "This is the way we've always done it." had already taken hold.

Cause they work great on left hand bolt actions! 😄

Best defense is a good offense

There are some guys that do this, on purpose, with certain rifle actions. My buddy has an old gloss Leupold that is turned that way too, on his Winchester model 71 lever action. When you do this, pay no attention to what the turret says, you just turn the turret that corresponds to the correct axis. On top, and it adjusts up and down. Turret on the left or right, that is your windage. Not really hard to understand.

Your first sentence is totally incorrect-----He is in fact --- NOT very bright!

Hip

Should he have a rifle unsupervised?

No! That's why he was in the Air Force instead of the Army.

I met a guy at a turkey shoot back in the mid 60's.He had a Rem 700 BDL in 7MM Rem. Had a 3 - 9 Redfield mounted upside down. He explained that when he increased power from 3 to 9 the POI went down by 3 inches. He rather liked having the bullet higher at the higher power. He knew what guns were about and he could crop the floorplate to make adjustments.

I met a guy at a turkey shoot back in the mid 60's.He had a Rem 700 BDL in 7MM Rem. Had a 3 - 9 Redfield mounted upside down. He explained that when he increased power from 3 to 9 the POI went down by 3 inches. He rather liked having the bullet higher at the higher power. He knew what guns were about and he could drop the floorplate to make adjustments.

That's good thinking there.

I have to admit that I made that mistake once last fall. I had pulled about eight scopes and switched them around while replacing three with new scopes. Level/leveled them and the whole works. Then as moving them back into the safe, I saw the one was 90 degrees off. OOPS!

At least it never left the work bench.

bsa1917hunter;
Good afternoon, I hope the day down in your part of the world is as bright and mild as it is here today and that you're well.

After reading the thread and then your post, I have partial recollection we did that same thing on a rifle a buddy had.

For the life of me I can't recall what it was other than a bolt action, but way it'd eject the empty case was such that it would hit the turret and drop the empty back into the magazine/feed path every few shots.

It "might" have been an '80's Sako in .375 H&H? Sorry those details are apparently not available from the memory banks at present.

Anyways we rotated the scope, put a piece of masking tape on the inside of each turret cap with the "new" instructions and all went swimmingly thereafter.

All the best to you for the rest of the week.

Dwayne

This makes sense, as officers receive their lobotomy upon reaching field grade rank.

I have no idea how many scopes I’ve mounted and set up for myself, not to mention all those friends and family jobs we get if we’re the expert” among friends and family. I’ve never put one on wrong like that….until I did late last summer. Got to the range, took a shot at 50 yards to see if it was on paper, which it was, took off the cap to adjust the elevation and for a second was baffled as to how they’d labeled the elevation knob wrong. Then I realized what I’d done. Sighted it in, shot it some, thought that’s not too bad, having the turrets like that. When I got home, I corrected it.

It amazes me how many don't take tools to the range......

It doesn’t amaze me. I take a small collection of screwdrivers and hex wrenches in case something needs to be tightened up, but when I go to the range what range time I have is used for shooting. I seldom take fewer than 3 long guns and at least a .22 pistol to work on basic skills with and my IDPA gun to run some racks of plates. In the rare event that something needs work it goes back into the truck and I continue shooting the other stuff I brought.

I don’t have the time I’d like to have to spend at the range and I’m not going to spend it working on something I can do in my spare time at home under better conditions. Small parts, springs, 8-32 screws….they all are very good at hiding in the grass or gravel.

In the above mentioned incident I was able to continue what I went to the range for which was check the accuracy potential of a new rifle with some proven loads in that caliber. There was no need to waste time turning the scope 90 degrees when I could do it later, at home, under better conditions where I could be sure it was reinstalled properly.

We all have our own ways of doing things, mine works for me.