how do i shoot with a scope?
 

not sure if this is the correct forum or not feel free to move it if it's not in the correct location...

anyway i recently bought a Remington 700 with a Nikon Buckmaster scope and i can't shoot to save my life with this thing. i always shot with a peep sight, learned with a peep and always knew how to use them. when i bought my new rifle i was talked into a scope by friends and the salesman but i've found i hate it. i am use to focusing on a clear front sight post on a fuzzy target and blurry rear site apeture. with this scope i see nothing to zero in on, it has crosshairs but i don't see a dot or anything to align a rear site apeture with.

please help i am not too proud to admit i have no idea how to use this thing, i can take two rifles to the range the one with the peep sight i can fire 5 shots in a2 inch group from 100 yards, the rifle with the scope i fire 5 shots in maybe an 8inch group from 100 yards. (i'm not a great shot just a serviceable shot and i'm ok with that)...

my rifle has already been set with a scope, can i now go back to a peep sight? or am stuck with this scope? if i'm stuck with it someone please tell me how to use it, sometimes the crosshairs look blurry sometimes they're crystal clear, am i firing when they're clear on a blurry targert? or when the crosshairs are blurry on a clear target?

Thanks...

RE: how do i shoot with a scope?
 

When the crosshairs are clear on a clear target.You need to have the eye relief set up for you,then focus the crosshairs,then get used to holding your head the same distance from the scope.

RE: how do i shoot with a scope?
 

First you make sure you mount the scope at the correct distance from where your eye is when you mount the gun in shooting position. You can tell it is correct when there is no dark floating circle visible and you see the full width of vision in the scope as light with sharp edges around. If you see the dark circle it's too far away.

Then, pointing the gun at the sky you focus the eyepiece so the crosshairs are nice and crisp.

Does your Buckmaster have a side focus knob? Cheaper scopes or those made for shorter-range shooting (ie rimfire scopes) have "fixed parallex", meaning that the scope is set so that at 100 yds if your eye is off center through the scope it won't matter, the point of impact will still be the same. If you have side focus, you need to adjust this for each range you shoot at. This may seem like a bother but it increases your accuracy. Roughly, you can set it by using the side focus (or some scopes have this on the objective lense) to bring the target into crisp clarity. If you have it right, with the gun ridgedly held still you can move your eye left to right if the centerline and the crosshairs will not move on the target. If they do, you don't have it right.

The easy way is to always make sure you are looking right down the center of the scope -- the above paragraph is less important if you are good at that.

Whether you can go back to open sights depends on if your rifle can even have them mounted. Seems most rifles sold today are not dovetailed/drilled for open sights.