Plumb Bob for Aligning Scope

[starlingassn]

Right, you maybe holding the rifle so it looks canted but the scope/bore/retical relationship is correct.

Allen

exactly.

and the leveling of the reticle to a plumb bob
to set your scope mounted level
ensures this relationship stays
all unicorns and rainbows lol

 

[AirShot]

It doesn’t really matter if the scope is mounted off-center, so long as the reticle aligns with the center of the bore and the reticle is plumb. You’ll just have to hold the rifle canted one degree or so, something most of us probably do inadvertently anyway.

You could mount the scope 90 degrees offset and so long as you held the rifle horizontally your point of impact and holdovers would still work fine. Think of the USFT and how the grips on many of them were angled 45 degrees or so to the side.

This is why a scope mounted level is a good idea. No matter what angle the scope might be on, once the vertical line goes thru the barrel and your level is set to that line your good !!

 

[rcs9250]

I only shoot out to fifty yards plinking and hunting. If I was competing in FT I would probably go to the trouble to align everything perfectly since some of the targets they shoot are pretty tiny.
For the longest time I would just set gun up on a bipod and get it as straight as possible and then eyeball the scope or sight on something plumb. The other day I ordered some stuff from AoA and needed to hit a minimum so I ordered a set of Wheeler scope levels. The kit had two levels that have magnets in them. One level sticks to the pic rail or bolt rails if using on a PB bolt gun. On most if not all airguns the pic rail is aluminum so the magnet doesn’t stick so you either hold it or do something to hold it. I cut a piece of foam a bit thicker than the gap between the level and bottom of my scope to hold it in place. The other level just sits on top of elevation knob.
Level out the rifle and then level the scope.

I know about the argument that the pic rail isn’t guaranteed to be perfectly in line with the bore yada yada. I was in manufacturing my entire career and with current manufacturing techniques which all manufacturers use, the pic rail is going to be in perfect geometry within .002” or less. More likely less. And, I’m only shooting fifty yards and don’t pretend to be Chris Kyle.

Robot or human?

 

[DBlue]

Lots of different methods posted here on how to level a scope....I've tried several but the one I have always used works the best for me, nothing wrong with any of them as I'm sure they all will work. About the plumb bob... I do know that the same thing can be achieved by just tying some kind of a weight on the end of a string, but I chose to machine the plumb bob just because I can...I actually machined two of them, the one posted here is heading to a good home where it will be used as intended and here is a pic of the second one I made.....

 

[bustachip]

Lots of different methods posted here on how to level a scope....I've tried several but the one I have always used works the best for me, nothing wrong with any of them as I'm sure they all will work. About the plumb bob... I do know that the same thing can be achieved by just tying some kind of a weight on the end of a string, but I chose to machine the plumb bob just because I can...I actually machined two of them, the one posted here is heading to a good home where it will be used as intended and here is a pic of the second one I made.....

View attachment 427239

Nice. I made one as well out of hex stock, but rarely use it. Instead I just draw a plumb line on paper with a sharpie and a level.