You know you need to shoot your rifle at the beginning of each new hunting season, whenever you travel with it (especially by air) and when you change to a new type of ammo. But this doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out affair. In fact, re-zeroing a rifle can be done in just two shots, and I’ll tell you how.
First, a disclaimer: This isn’t necessarily for a new rifle that you’ve never shot or for a rifle with a new scope you’ve just mounted. While this method can be used as a base for those types of sight-in processes, you might need a few initial shots just to get on paper, and you’ll need to shoot the gun several more times after making adjustments to make sure everything is as it should be. But if your gun is already pretty close and you’re just checking zero or adjusting to slightly different ammo, this method will work great—and it’ll save you time and ammo.
It's really very simple, and you really only need a solid rest that will hold the forearm and the buttstock of the gun for you. Sandbags are sufficient, but something like a Lead Sled is even better. A shooting buddy is really helpful, too, but not strictly necessary.
Step one: Shoot one shot at the bullseye.
Step two: Line up for a second shot, putting your crosshairs right back on the bullseye again.
Step three: Ensure the gun does not move, and dial your turrets up, down, left or right until the crosshairs are situated exactly over the hole from your first shot.
The gun must stay still while you do this, which is why a solid rest is so essential. This is where a second person comes in handy—they can dial the turrets while you look through the scope, so you can hold the gun steady. You can make the adjustments yourself if you can stay locked onto the gun and adjust the turrets without moving. Otherwise, you’ll have to look, come off the gun and adjust, look again, and repeat, not moving the gun the entire time.
Step four: Move the gun so that the crosshairs line up on the bullseye again. Fire a single shot—it should hit the bullseye. If it did, you’re done!
Now, I personally use this method, but I always shoot a third and sometimes a fourth shot at the bullseye just to make sure my first shot was true. I just like the reassurance of a group rather than a single shot to confirm my zero.
It also helps if you know your rifle pretty well; if it’s inherently accurate and you know you’re a good shooter, you can have a lot of confidence in the two-shot zero. If the rifle (or the shooter) tends to throw a shot now and then or shoot softball-sized groups, you might want more than one shot at the bullseye to confirm the crosshairs are lined up properly. And, of course, if you jerk or pull your first shot, the whole method is thrown off. The accuracy of the adjustment depends on a a good first shot.
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