First you want to recenter your cross hairs. I use weaver style bases with Millet rings on almost all my fire arms. With the crosshairs center in the scope I put shims under the bases to align my scope for elevation. A Bore sighter is a must have to do this. Once the elevation is correct I make the windage adjustments by adjusting the clamps on the rings. Once I have my scope lined up with the boresighter using my rings and shims then I start to use the windage and elevation adjustments on the scope. If this is done correctly I have all the range I need to make adjustments in my scope at the range or in the field.
NEVER MAX YOUR WINDAGE OR ELEVATION OUT ON A SCOPE AND NEVER FORCE THEM. THIS CAN CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE TO YOUR SCOPE, MANY TIMES THE RESULT WILL BE A SCOPE THAT DOES NOT HOLD ZERO.