Scope Issues

[El Chivo]

I got my first scope mounted, and I noticed when looking through it that changing my viewing position slightly (cheek weld) moves the crosshairs. I can see my front sight at low power (1x) and the crosshairs drift away from the sight if I change my head position.

How important is this for accuracy? Does my eye have to be in perfect alignment with the scope's lenses? Or is accuracy pretty good as long as I can see the image?

The only scoped rifle I ever fired was a 22 mag at an indoor range, and accuracy was terrible - at 50 ft. I thought it was a bad gun, but was I using the scope wrong?

[JReed]

Make sure your eye relief is right. Also if you see shadow on one side of the image or the other your head is in the wrong spot. Think of a scope as fancy peep sights I find that ussualy helps me to get the correct sight aglinment.

[Jeeps]

What your seeing is parallax. If you do not have an adjustable objective then
your parallax is probably set for 75 yards.

The most important thing for accuracy is consistent holding of your weapon,
along with breathing and trigger pull. Once you get your cheek weld and your
eye relief consistent then parallax will not matter much. It is more of a thing
for competition or long distance.

If you happen to have a scope with an adjustable objective (the far end of the scope can rotate and has yardage units marked off) then just set it for the appropriate distance and have at it.

[Blaine]

It's never going to be perfect. As long as it's close, you're gonna be alright for hunting and such...... I like to get the lowest mounts that will work, this usually helps a bit......

[edsguns]

It is indeed parrallax you are experiencing and depending on scope type, it's likely set at 75yds(shotgun and muzzleloader scopes) to 150yds (most mid-power rifle scopes) An adjustable parrallax scope is not needed unless you have power over 10x or so and intend to do long range target shooting or varmint hunting. In an owners manual for a Leupold scope they said that a 4x scope when having the worst alignment possible for your head to the scope, would only be off at most less than an inch at 100yds. Less than 4" total at 500yds. As already stated, good ring height is the best thing you can do, along with proper eye relief, of course.

[Chuck 100 yd]

As I understand it , You are seeing the front sight move when you move your head around? This is paralax but no scope can be paralax free at 12- 24" ( scope to front sight) . Learn to ignore the front sight when the scope is set at low power. It will shoot just fine.