Steps to sighting in a rifle

[kelleno]

I want you guys to give me your detailed, step by step, successful way you sigh in your rifle.
Also can you tell me some mistakes a lot of people make?
Thanks guys

Kellen

[stubblejumper]

1)I boresight the rifle.
2)I fire a three shot group at 100 yards.
3)I adjust the scope to move the point of impact where I want it to be.
4)I fire a three shot group.
5)I readjust the scope if necessary.

[nchawkeye]

Is the rifle scoped or are we talking about iron sights...What caliber???
Bolt action, pump, semi-auto or break action???

[Colorado Luckydog]

ORIGINAL: stubblejumper

1)I boresight the rifle.
2)I fire a three shot group at 100 yards.
3)I adjust the scope to move the point of impact where I want it to be.
4)I fire a three shot group.
5)I readjust the scope if necessary.

Thia is pretty much what I do. After the above steps, I move to the distance I want it zeroed in at and fine tune it to that distance. (250 yards are whatever) At this point, I feel my rifle is zeroed. Next I practice out to "my" effective long range distance. My rifles can always preform at longer distances than I can.

[stalkingbear]

Properly mount scope (includes lapping rings).
Boresight scope.
Center adjustments on scope (adjust mounts or shim if necessary).
Reboresight scope.
Use SOLID rest.
Shoot 1 shot at 25 yards.
Adjust crosshairs to bullet hole.
Shoot to confirm sight in.
Move to 100-300 yards and adjust scope exactly where you want for sight in.
Shoot for group.
Grin.

[bronko22000]

Ditto the above steps.
Common mistakes I've seen:
Not using a solid rest and/or resting the barrel on the sandbags and not the forearm.
Using 'cheap' ammo to sight in with and hunting with the 'good' stuff.
Shooting too many rounds, too fast. (wainting til the last minute and being in a hurry)
Having someone else sight in your rifle for you.

[skb2706]

ORIGINAL: stalkingbear

Properly mount scope (includes lapping rings).
Boresight scope.
Center adjustments on scope (adjust mounts or shim if necessary).
Reboresight scope.
Use SOLID rest.
Shoot 1 shot at 25 yards.
Adjust crosshairs to bullet hole.
Shoot to confirm sight in.
Move to 100-300 yards and adjust scope exactly where you want for sight in.
Shoot for group.
Grin.

Exactly the way I do it.
Common mistakes I see include

trying to hold onto foreend on the bench, hand between rest and foreend
resting barrel on front rest
not getting buttstock rest solid
poorly mounted scope/rings/mounts
poor fitting stock
rifle canted
shooting too quickly
poor breathing
switching bullet weights
the expectation of a $50 scope working with the precision that a $800 scope does.

Me and a couple of friends are always running out to the farm to shoot prairie dogs. We take different rifles and some times different rifle/scope combinations that require sight in before we can go make those long shots. We have it down when it comes to getting them 'dialed in' in the least number of rounds. With a great rifle and excellent scope typically I can do one in 5 rds.

[ndncreek]

i've noticed that no one has mentioned one important step........ make sure that you have plenty of room between the scope and your eye, lol... when i raise my rifles to my shoulder i stick my thumb straight out and touch my nose to my thumb. it give me about 3 fingers so space from my scope. it's the same for all of my rifles and i've still don't have a half moon on the eye.

[stalkingbear]

I didn't mention all the steps to properly mount scope-that's a post in itself.

[GreatHunterWannabe]

I prefer to shoot several times before adjusting the cross hairs. This gives you good statistics to show where your gun is shooting vs. where you are aiming.

That is to say that one shot does not convince me that any inaccuracy is due to the scope, or me.