I just bought a new Remington 700 in .223 Remington for hunting woodchucks and prairie dogs. When putting a new scope on a rifle I like to set it up similar to my other rifles and also keep it simple. I started with Ken Farrell bases (the ones with no elevation built-in) and Leupold PRW rings. After I mounted the bases and the lower half of the rings on the rifle, I used the Sinclair Lapping Tool, to make sure of ring and base fit. I lapped the lower rings until I achieved about 80% contact on lower rings.

After completing that messy job and with clean up done it was time to put a Leupold M8 12X riflescope on and center the cross hairs. I installed the upper half of the rings and tightened them lightly so I could still rotate the scope as needed for proper alignment. I placed a target at 50 yards and a string with a plum bob through the center of the target. I then placed the rifle in a Sinclair Rifle Rest and made sure I was roughly bore sighted so I could level the rifle in place and square up the scope in the rings. I used a small linear level across the bases to level the receiver/rifle. While viewing the string/plumb bob through the scope, I rotated the scope until the vertical crosshair was lined up with the plumb bob.

After the scope was square and the rings now securely tightened down I bore sighted the rifle again and fired one round. The round was at 4 o’ clock , and one inch from point of aim. I made corrections so the bullet impact would be about ½” below my point of aim at 50 yards. I knew this would be a good starting point to move back to 100 yards.

I then sighted in the rifle and scope at 100 yards with the bullet impact at about 1.5 inches high so I would be close to a 200 yard zero. I then moved to my 200 yard target and verified the zero at 200 yards. I had to make a couple of minor adjustments and then re-set the scopes knobs the zero position for both windage and elevation. The above was done from many times of trial and error.

When I have a good 200 yard zero all I need to do to shoot accurately at 300 yards is to add 2.5 minutes of elevation. If I don’t want to change my elevation the point of impact would be about 7” low thus I would compensate by changing my point of aim about 7” higher. Note: this elevation change is for this rifle and my personal load so your elevation adjustments may be different.

I like using the 223 Remington cartridge varmint hunting for a few other reasons than just its pure performance. I know from experience that the bullet path on this rifle and cartridge combination are very close to what I have on my 30-06 hunting rifle. I can then use my 30-06 to shoot woodchucks and crows just prior to the hunting season with. Before I go after Antelope or Mule Deer in Wyoming I like to practice shooting varmints with my 30-06 and get comfortable using something with a little more recoil. It also gives me a good chance to get reliable zeros.

I know it’s fun to shoot at long ranges but I try to keep my game hunting shots under 400 yards. There are many variables going on between you and the target and usually 400 yards is within my margin of error. Another exercise I use prior to a hunt is to set paper plates at 100 yards, 200 yards, and 300 yards and shoot until I can hit the plates on the first shot. The paper plates are about the size of the vital zone on most game animals. I recommend shooting as much at 200 and 300 yards as you can, because I know how easy it is to mis-calculate distance. Learn to use your scope as a range finder. Duplex scope and mil-dot scopes are fairly easy to use for range finding and there are books that explain how to do this. I prefer the duplex for ranging just because this is what I’ve trained with most.

Thank you ,
Ron Dague

Sinclair International – Reloading Technician
NRA Certified Metallic Cartridge Instructor
800-717-8211
rond@sinclairintl.com

Ron’s Rifle with Target used at 100 yards. Point of aim was at 6 o’clock inside the circle at the edge of the black and white.

Close Up of the Target used in the set-up and Zero