Shooting More Accurately – How to Mount and
Sight-In Scopes
What Price to Pay for a Scope
 Editor’s
Note: The secrets to shooting accurately include choosing
the best rifle for your hunt, the correct ammunition
and the right bases and rings, mounting your scope properly
and then sighting-in your scope correctly. To gather
the best information on how to make rifles shoot more
accurately, I talked with Russ Sockwell of Mark’s
Outdoors in Birming ham,
Alabama, a gunsmith with 10 years of experience who
mounts scopes and sights-in thousands of rifles each
year.
Russ Sockwell explains that deer hunters can expect
to pay $400 minimum for a quality riflescope, with squirrel
hunters paying from $100 to $200 for an appropriate
scope. Big-game hunters may want to consider scopes
costing $800 to $1500 or more.
Why Purchase a Sling:
Russ Sockwell recommends
that you always purchase a quality sling for your gun,
particularly since you’re already spending money
to buy a quality scope and a nice rifle. “Going
through the woods, you need both hands free when you’re
hunting to use your binoculars, climb, move brush and
do many other tasks that the hunter has to perform before
he’s ready to take the shot,” Sockwell advises.
“If you step in a hole, a rock gives wa y
under you, or you twist your ankle, the first thing
you’ll do is put your hands out in front of you
to break your fall. If you have your rifle in your hand,
your rifle and scope will be the first things to hit
the ground when you fall, which can scar-up your rifle
and/or jar your scope. Then your rifle may not shoot
accurately. I recommend the Butler Creek neoprene-style
sling that sells for about $20. Or, the Vero Vellini,
which is also a neoprene sling that sells for about
$30 to $35.”
To learn more, go to www.marksoutdoors.com,
email Sockwell at mark@marksoutdoors.com
or call (205) 822-2010.
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