Originally Posted by
Surpmil
At the risk of speaking out of turn, I am just wondering how you aligned the barrel on your point of aim? Surely 250 yards is a little excessive? Though in theory farther is better, at Holland & Holland it was all done indoors if I remember my reading correctly.
Are you using a new cartridge case with a small hole drilled through the center of the base, or perhaps a headspace gauge with a centered hole through which you sight by eye? (if so, be sure is snug in the chamber and well centered; a little cello tape perhaps to make it snug?) The easiest thing is to set up the barreled receiver "rock-solid", sight down the barrel and have an assistant move the sheet of paper or cardboard with the alignment marks until it is centered exactly on the barrel and then secure it to the wall. Then if everything is level at both paper and rifle ends, you will have the exact point of aim for the telescope - assuming you have the correct distance between the two alignment points for the distance you are using...
If you want a "back up" check on the alignment of your scope, buy one of the No.22 sights which are for sale very cheaply as they are no use for much else, and fit that into your bracket. The reticule on the No.22 is permanently centered, and as it was an artillery sight, and there was no way to move the reticule even if you wanted to, we can be pretty confident that the reticule is not only well centered, but STILL centered. Rotate the scope in the mounts to test it. They also have very little parallax having no magnification.