Before we can discuss how to adjust certain parts of a scope’s scope, it is important to understand what these parts are and a brief description of their functions. Let’s begin at the rear of your scope mounted on your rifle. This is the part closest to your face. Next, we will move towards the front of your copes (the side that points at your target). The Long Range Shooting Handbook shows the main components of a scope.
Ocular Lens This is the lens that’s closest to your eyes when you look through your scope. To protect your lenses and keep them clean, do yourself a favor and use scope caps.
Ocular Housing This is the “eyepiece” of the scope that houses the ocular lenses and, in most instances, the ocular focus adjustment.
Ocular Adjustment for Focus: This is the mechanism that adjusts the focus of the image (crosshairs), inside the scope to your eyes. Some scopes have the entire ocular housing turning for this adjustment. Some scopes only allow for adjustment of the outer portion around the ocular lenses.
Magnification Adjustment This mechanism adjusts magnification power for variable power scopes.
Scope Body This is the main part of your scope. It attaches to the other parts and provides the tube through which you aim.
Turrets are Knobs that protrude out of the scope body and can be used to adjust windage and elevation. They can be either exposed (which allows you to easily grab and adjust them) or covered (which protects and covers the turret).
Reticle The reference point or cross-hairs in the scope that is used for aiming. Modern long-range shooting scopes can have a lot of reticles, which include references for elevation and windage.
Parallax adjustment / Target focus: This scope adjusts the target image to be in the same focal plane with the reticle. This will ensure that there is no relative shifting of the position between objects that you are looking at and that the target is in focus. This knob is located on the side of higher end scopes. These scopes are known as “Side parallax” or “Side focus”. This can also be found on other scopes. It is located around the objective lens. The objective-end of scopes can be adjusted by rotating the entire outer ring (these are called “adjustable objectives scopes”).
Objective Lens This lens faces the target and is often the largest of the two lenses on a scope. This should be protected by a scope cap. Okay, now let’s get into the details of how to adjust your scope.