Am I the only one....

[steve white]

My problem is getting crosshairs aligned vertically. I do every rifle the same, and they are all wrong in EXACTLY the same manner, no matter how hard I try. When I am setting the crosshairs, tweaking them and tightening sequentially, etc. I think at the time, "I've got it just right"....but later when I shoulder the gun, it is always a hair over to the left! However, if I keep looking through it, it gets straighter, likely because I am making some kind of an adjustment to hold.
I have tried setting the square bottom of the magazine onto a table top and peering through the scope from behind the buttstock. But later, when I set it back down onto the table, it is to the left, per usual. I have tried to relate to the action, to no avail.
Maybe it is like Leupold says to set the eyepiece on their old scopes: look up at the sky, but NOT TOO LONG when getting the crosshairs as distinct as possible. I have even fooled myself into making it just a hair to the right, I thought, but when I checked it later....same as the others. I have tried using the vertical line of a door frame to adjust to vertical, but I am still the one holding the rifle.
It probably wouldn't bother me, except I read that canting of the scope shows up in groups at long range.

Anybody have the solution?

 

[jruby]

yes i do as well. I dont see how it effects my shooting. My shooting is kept under three hundred yards.

 

[Sideshow]

Tilt your head to the other side

Nar so really, with a spirt level I draw a cross on a white wall or door frame. (Same as you) Next I set up my rifle in a sledge then use a sprit level on the scope mount’s base’s and make sure that the rifle is level. Then mount the scope and line the cross hairs up on the lines I’ve drawn on the door frame. Letting my eyes tell me when it’s true.
If it feels off I just start again.
With QD mounts it’s easier to slip these onto the bases without knocking the rifle from level.
Hope that makes more sense

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

Do you torque your scope rings with a torque screwdriver and in sequential order?

 

[Tex .416]

Is it possible the reticle is correctly aligned but you are holding it with a cant?

 

[Firebird]

Do you use a barrel level as well as a scope level when installing?

 

[Rolly]

How do you ensure that tour rifle is level in the first place? That is the flaw I see in many of the scope leveling solutions.

 

[Rolly]

I just do the best I can with the rifle sitting solidly on a table. I adjust from there till things seem right!

 

[steve white]

I just do the best I can with the rifle sitting solidly on a table. I adjust from there till things seem right!

Yes, that's what I did. Tho I have no doubt I may cant when I hold the rifle, it is then when it is straight.

 

[Flipper Dude]

Been killing stuff with crooked scopes for years. Don’t sweat it. Just get close and don’t loose your nerve.

 

[CoElkHunter]

Been killing stuff with crooked scopes for years. Don’t sweat it. Just get close and don’t loose your nerve.

+1. The crosshair “wobble” too. SQUEEZE the trigger when the crosshairs are on target and don’t overthink it.

 

[Challer]

There are plenty of tools for reticle alignment. I used to use Arisaka. But now I use rail mount Swaros for just this reason. Rail mounts make mounting and adjustment simple.

 

[steve white]

Do you use a barrel level as well as a scope level when installing?

Can you provide an example of a barrel level?

 

[Challer]

Like this? Lots of them by lots of companies

 

[Challer]

Or this

 

[Sideshow]

@steve white is this showing in your groups?
As others have said if not then don’t worry. It could also be your eyes. They can play tricks on you. The crosshairs may throw your eyes off when looking at another straight line through the scope. I’d recommend buying Nathan Fosters book. News got a lot of good advice that’s helpful as well how to set up a scope. Have done a few his way he explains it a lot better than I do.
Cheers

 

[Warbeast]

How do you ensure that tour rifle is level in the first place? That is the flaw I see in many of the scope leveling solutions.

Put a level item between base and scope erektor housing.
A caliper or even a stackof playing cards for example

 

[Phil Giordano]

This is a screenshot from a video on you tube - I don't know how to link videos here. "Waffenland tv How to install a Steiner.."
Anyway :
I use the same metod: two rods, square section, one on the upper turret, the other on a base. I don't even look at the reticle. What it matters to me, is that the two rods are perfectly parallel to each other. So I just tilt the scope looking at them. Period. It doesn't even care if the the rifle is a little canted or not. I used this metod to mount scopes on many, many rifles, for me, my friends, my clients. Never ever failed. My rods are 40 cm long, square section (7mm × 7mm).
The reticle will be perfectly aligned and you don't get fooled by looking and looking at it, getting tired.
Hope it has been of some help. Try it, believe me is 100 times better than trying to align the reticle looking at it.

 

[VertigoBE]

Not a solution, but likely the culprit (I have the same, even on rail optics)

The human body is not a square box with right angles, nor is your shoulder. With some people this is more pronounced than others. This is why on a custom fitted gun or rifle, they will often cant the butt stock to better follow your shoulder pocket. Likely you have this issue more with standard, rack guns and rifles which have no cant.

 

[steve white]

Do you torque your scope rings with a torque screwdriver and in sequential order?

Yes, but the last to get tightened generally carries the crosshairs a tad to that side.