What is the best way to . . .

[longwinters]

What is the best way to make sure that your rifle is level when mounting a scope?  It always bugs me because I can look and fuss etc...and then have other guys look and everybody will concure that the scope is mounted straight, but then later on I will be shooting at the range etc... and it does'nt look straight to me.  I have done lots of rifles over the years, and except for buying some type of "system" for 30-50 dollars, have tried everything I know.  I want to be confident that my scopes really are mounted straight.  What works for you?

Long

[Zeke Menuar]

I put the rifle in my gunsmithing rack, mount the bases and the bottom part of the rings.  I use a small level set across the bottom rings to level the rifle.  That's it.  Then the rest of the process is done very gingerly because if the wanna-be-gunsmith(that would be me) bumps the setup around, the scope winds up canted.
 I am way too cheap to buy one of those gizmos.  Rather put that money towards another milsurp.

I wear glasses and the parallax between my glasses and the scope sometimes makes the crosshairs look cockeyed.  I usually have my wife look through the scope to double-check my work.

ZM

[sgtt]

Midway had the Wheeler "system" for less than twenty bucks about a week ago.  Might still be on sale.  I like it better as it levels off the receiver rails rather than the scope mounts.   I was trained to look through the scope from the objective end.  Placing the butt of the rifle on your foot.  Works pretty well.

[Dean Walther]

You could get rifle level with a small level, and use a rope with a hanging weight at 100 or what ever yards to use as a verticle reference against the verticle crosshair. Then after sightin, crank scope 10" down and shoot 1 or 2 shots. then crank in 20" up from there, shoot 1 or 2 and your shots or groups should be true verticle. Hope this helps. Dean.