adjustment Archives

Introduction

Aside from firearms themselves, rifle scopes are probably the largest investment a shooter will make. It’s not only a financial investment either, learning how to properly use a rifle scope will help you get the most value from your investment. Today we are going to talk about the big three rifle scope adjustments, and understanding how they work can help you make better shots.

The importance of understanding your scope, and how to properly set it up and use it will make your shooting experience more successful and pleasant. First of all, let’s clarify what the big three are. Windage and elevation are imperative to being able to zero a scope. Windage of course meaning the lateral movements left and right of center. And elevation is the vertical adjustment up and down. The third adjustment that is often overlooked is called parallax, and it is often disguised as a focus feature. If you’ve ever wondered why your focus adjustment has number labels on it, today we will discuss why.

This Primary Arms GLx 3-18 perfectly illustrates all the scope adjustments

Parallax and Focus

When I say focus, many people think of the adjustable diopter on the very back of the ocular (back) end of the scope. While this is important for proper shooting, we don’t often consider it part of the big three. But since it is important, we’ll address it here.

The adjustable diopter is there to focus the eyepiece on the reticle inside the scope. You can turn it to better clarify the reticle clarity, and this is best done with the scope pointing at nothing but empty sky. For the most part it only helps the sharpness of the reticle, but not the target you’re aiming at downrange.