If you are interested in sighting in your red dot optic to your firearm, then you will need some info before you get started. Sighting in refers to the act of aligning the optic to the line of the barrel. This can be done at particular distances to increase accuracy at specific ranges. As the nature of a bullet in flight is actually more parabolic then just a straight line, sighting in your firearm to a particular distance will ensure that you are shooting within its range, making accurate shots easier than without a properly adjusted optic. Here are some tips for sighting in your firearm.

For new shooters especially it is easy to assume that wherever you aim your shot will be the spot you hit. This is generally untrue in most cases.

To begin sighting your rifle in, make sure you have your gun positioned in secure fashion to a stable surface. In order for everything to be perfect, this is a step you don't want to mess around with.

Use a collimator to provide an accurate line of sight to your intended target. Collimator is a fancy term for a device that filters out only parallel streams of light, hence why you need a perfectly secure and stable surface with which to work.

Using a bore laser, which you can install within the chamber of your rifle will also help in making the proper adjustments. The good thing about using these devices is that you do not need to fire a single round to successfully sight your firearm. Be sure to use a sighter that is compatible with the chamber, or you will risk the accuracy of the alignment to the optic.

Now that you know how to sight in your gun, you have to make sure it is sighted in to the proper magnification. While that is something you choose, any change in magnification when your firearm is sighted in for a different magnification will render your shots unreliable. Whenever you switch the magnification you will have to sight the firearm again to that specific magnification.

Consider your field of view, which is described as the width from the center of your sight picture at a particular magnification. If you have an FOV of 20’ at 50 yards distance, you will be able to see a distance of 10 feet each side of your target. A larger FOV means that you can see more per the distance you aim. The greater the magnification, the less FOV you are able to have. Consider this when choosing what magnification you want to sight your optic in for.