AusVarmint

When mounting a new scope the hardest part for me is getting the crosshairs aligned. Everytime I get them straight and then tighten the mount screws up, it seems the next time I shoulder the rifle they are lobsided again?? Takes me forever to get it right and I was just wondering how everyone does it themselves?

There are tools you can get to aid this but it can be done easily with out them. I do a lot of this and dont bother using them.

Once you have the scope on squarly in the spot you want ( this is best done with no back ground in your scope, look say at the sky or someting and make sure you are holding the rifle square) start to tigthen down the screws quarter to half a turn at a time and alternate, eg. front left half a turn, rear right half a turn, rear left half turn and front right half turn.

Once you start to put some tension on the scope check its position again and adjust if needed then using the same procedure tigthen until all are firm.
cheers,
Shane

LoL Jase the crosshairs are fine its just that your heads crooked!

Here's a couple of things to try to square up your reticle with the rifle .
With your arm extended hold the rifle by the pistol grip or butt with the muzzle down and resting on a bed , carpet or other light coloured surface . Look into the ocular lens and you should still be able to see the crosshairs . With a little manipulation you should be able to line the horizontal hair up with a horizontal surface on the rifle like the top of the rear scope base or the split in the scope rings .
Using a bipod , set the rifle up square on a level surface and check the crosshairs against a known vertical or horizontal surface eg. corner of a brick wall or a spirit level .
Tighten the ring screws alternately as Shane suggests keeping an eye on the alignment as suggested above .

G'Day all,
In BR circles, once you know you have the rifle level, make a plum bob with bright orange string such as builders/bricklayers string haning from a target frame gives an excellent vertical line for you to check your vertical crosshairs. If it is windy attach a heavier weight and sit it in a bucket of water. The water dampens any movement to the plumbob caused by the wind.

Personally, I try to make sure that when I move my head backwards, I can see the vertical cross hair line up with the top of the action. If it lines up with the centreline top dead centre on the action, that seems to work pretty well, too.

Cheerio Ned

Weaver rings that tighten all on the one side are a bitch for misaligned crosshairs. As you tighten they torque the scope over to one side. Any hints for these other than trial and error? I like the Weaver ring as they're light, cheap and QD!
Cheers...
Con