What am I doing wrong?

[No.1Dad]

Ive owned and enjoyed airguns for roughly 7 years now. I have never been able to get decent groups using a scope. Ive tried different holding techniques, pellets, scope brands, scope mounts, even going as far as to have it "professionally mounted" by a local armorer. It never fails that as soon as i rip off the optic im getting dramatically tighter groups with iron sights. I am at a total loss and would love to have this resolved without throwing out any more money. As far as research goes ive read and watched countless tutorials. I use locktite on the bolts and dont max out the turrets. The latest optic costs more than the rifle itself and it hasnt made a difference.

[Motorhead]

holding said Ag too firmly, not relaxed but TENSE as you try get on target with too much intensity and steadiness while looking threw an optic.

IMO

[Ash]

What position are you shooting from? Do you shoot firearms, and if so do you have the same problem?

[No.1Dad]

holding said Ag too firmly, not relaxed but TENSE as you try get on target with too much intensity and steadiness while looking threw an optic.

IMO

I think you may be onto something. I do notice increased tension while trying to keep it steady. Although I have tried deep breathing exercises without a noticable effect.

[No.1Dad]

What position are you shooting from? Do you shoot firearms, and if so do you have the same problem?

Im at a bench, with a shooting rest bag. And no, I dont use optics on firearms.

[Nomadic Pirate]

Buck fever ! LOL

[Ash]

What kind of groups are you getting each way? I wonder if for some reason you are adding more variables with a scope that make it be harder to be consistent. Is your cheek weld the same with and without the scope? That is about the only thing that I can think of that would change your hold on the rifle from a bench. Are you getting a good repeatable cheek weld? Is your scope zeroed to point of impact or is it zeroed to preserve the point of aim? How high is the scope mounted? It may be a combination of things.

[No.1Dad]

What kind of groups are you getting each way? I wonder if for some reason you are adding more variables with a scope that make it be harder to be consistent. Is your cheek weld the same with and without the scope? That is about the only thing that I can think of that would change your hold on the rifle from a bench. Are you getting a good repeatable cheek weld? Is your scope zeroed to point of impact or is it zeroed to preserve the point of aim? How high is the scope mounted? It may be a combination of things.

I got the new scope yesterday and while i do have it hitting the target, absolutely none have touched the bullseye when using the optic. There is a gaping hole there because i stack the targets. Honestly the scope that came bundled with the rifle held up better than this. (this particular airgun is ~1500 pellets deep). Cheek placement shifts a bit simply due to the height difference with the scope. Its a wood stock so theres nothing to be moved there.

[No.1Dad]

As you can see, shot placement is awful. Its to the point where it just seems like a really bad joke. Like Motorhead mentioned, i probably have a deathgrip on the rifle 

[Ash]

I don't see it making that much difference, but that bullseye looks pretty large. I do best when I draw + with a ruler and marker on a sheet of paper. Then line the cross hairs up with the +, not just the center but completely cover the +. Make it look like just a single +. You may be able to do the same thing with the cross on that target.

[Motorhead]

Squeeze the trigger as a PINCH between trigger finger and thumb leaving the other 3 fingers holding grip relaxed and loose.
Pressure of butt stock on shoulder needs to come from the fore stock holding / supporting hand & NOT the trigger hand pulling rearward !!
Do NOT plant your face on the cheek comb, and if you can stabilize your scopes ocular view ?  Don't contact the comb with your face at all !
Get on target .. gentle pressure between finger and thumb the rifles fires with out you expecting it .... ZEN type application shot after shot and groups will shrink right down if the guns capable.

[19Sheridan57]

   Are you using an " air rifle rated " scope ? What air rifle are you using ?

[R.K.]

Try turning the scope around. LOL

[Doug Wall]

You don't say what gun you are shooting, what range, or what pellets. Show us two ten shot groups at the same distance, one with the scope, one with open sights.

[JohnnyPDX]

Maybe use a red dot reflex scope? Revisit the problem with glass in a few months. It's supposed to be fun

[KevinJBrown]

Ben,

You want to make sure that your scope is mounted correctly. And by this I mean that you will be comfortably behind it with the eye relief correct for you and your eye in EXACTLY the same position every time you mount the rifle. There are lots of information about how to do this, but the only way to do it right is to go back and forth with you and the rifle and scope to get everything correct. Otherwise you are going to be cranking yourself around to try to match the mount of the scope. It also changes basically everything on the fit of a rifle.

You might want to decide now whether you want to "weld" your cheek to the stock when shooting. This is the way I learned (and I taught shooters) so I do it this way even on the bench. What that means for me is that I have to have an adjustable cheek piece and keep track of this adjustment because it changes quite a bit for example between prone and the bench and off hand. It's not wrong to keep your cheek off the stock, and some people will say you can get better results (and there are a lot better shooters out there than me), but you have to train yourself to keep your head in exactly the same position relative to the scope. If I had started out this way that's probably what I would be doing, but that's not what I learned. A cheek weld gives you one fixed point relatively close (basically the distance from your cheek to your eye) to the scope.

I don't know what magnification of scope you are using, but if it is variable, you might want to start with the lowest setting as you learn to shoot through optics. This will help with some of the learning jitters of going from 1X to multiple magnification.

Don't be afraid to ask questions if people are throwing out terms or concepts you don't understand. There is a lot going on.

[SteveP-52]

Might sound weird but consider giving it a try and see what happens.....

Sit at your bench, rifle ready to shoot and look through your scope. Now breathe and watch your crosshairs. Just my always lame random thinking but when you breathe, your upper body moves up and down even if just a fraction. Not something you likely notice shooting open sights but that fraction is magnified by the scope.

Try it and see what happens.

[mr007s]

You didn't mention what power yu have said scope set to and the distance you are shooting. Please state that info

[Rob M]

is it a springer ?? if so that changes a lott of these responses i bet 

[AKM]

One word......Parallax.

Do any of your scopes have AO adjustment to compensate for this?