Having a reliable method for scope leveling is an essential foundation for accurate long range shooting. If you cut corners in this process, it’s likely that your scope will be off of its X and Y axes. When your scope is not resting at 180˚ on the barrel, your crosshairs will also be out of level. Even a small degree of difference here will compound over long distances into a significant change in the bullet’s trajectory – and impact your accuracy.

Besides the frustration of missing your mark, troubleshooting becomes a real hassle when you don’t know if your scope is level or not. Are you miscalculating for windage and elevation adjustments, or other factors like bullet drop, wind speed or projectile dynamics? You may spend hours scrutinizing these questions, when your scope is simply out of level.

Additionally, you’ll encounter problems trying to zero your scope if it is resting unevenly on the rifle barrel. When your scope is level on a completely flat surface, it can be correctly zeroed with your barrel. Having established this, you can focus on making adjustments for the target without having doubts about your scope’s accuracy.

How to Know Your Scope is Level

Your rifle’s scope is intended to be level horizontally and plumb vertically with the barrel, rather than your line of sight. When the scope and rifle are aligned correctly on the X and Y axes, there won’t be any cant when sighting your reticle. It will be upright and aligned with the rifle.

For all these reasons, you’ll want to find a consistent and effective scope leveling method. You may have heard about methods that use bubble, line or triangular leveling tools to find horizontal or vertical alignment. Though these methods can work with time, patience and attention to detail, there’s either significant room for error or they don’t work with every firearm. Here’s what to know – and beware of.

Challenges of Using Leveling Tools

Considering a “simple” approach with a bubble or line level and plumb bob? There are a couple challenges you’ll want to know before trying this scope leveling approach.

First, you need to have a level table to work on. You may think your table or workbench is “level enough”, but have you actually checked it? Table surfaces and legs warp with time and weathering – don’t underestimate this factor. You’ll want to measure your table for level and may need to use shims to adjust accordingly. The same goes for a table-mounted vise grip.

Second, you will need to make careful manual adjustments based on readings from your leveling tool. Besides being tedious, you’ll have to make changes while not disturbing your leveling tool. Or you can take off the tool, make “best guess” adjustments and keep assessing for level until you get it right. 

In both cases, the potential for human error is high. What began as an interesting hobby project can quickly become a tedious hassle of guesswork and meticulous adjustments, when you really just want your scope and rifle to be aligned and accurate.

The Limitations of Triangular Scope Leveling Products

Alternatively, you could use a triangular level tool that fits into the rifle’s Picatinny rails. This tool can work in many cases, but they don’t fit every gun’s scope base and rail configuration. This is particularly an issue if your rifle’s scope sits higher or lower than most guns.

A Simple, Fast and Effective Scope Leveling Tool

Does scrutinizing your table with a bubble level or making tedious micro-adjustments with strings and levels sound like a poor way to spend your weekend? How about investing in a tool that may not even work for your gun (or guns)?

Consider the Nevel device from DNZ. The Nevel is easy to use, aligning your scope with the finest degree of precision within seconds. See how it works in the video below:

The Nevel is designed to work with DNZ’s scope mounts, which can be fitted to a wide range of rifle, including Browning, Benelli, Remington, Mossberg, Howa and more.

Additionally, the Nevel is available in 1 inch and 30 MM sizes, with Long Reach options for tall target turrets. It slides over the outside surface of the mount, and aligns the scope’s top turret at exactly 90˚. The Nevel can be used whether your scope has a flat top turret cap on the up/down scope turret, or you can remove the cap and it will work on the flat top adjustment area.

Ditch the hassle, guesswork and incompatibility of other scope leveling methods to easily align your rifle’s scope with the Nevel:

At DNZ, we know accuracy is a must. That’s why we deliver the highest grade shooting accessories, made from the best materials at our shop in Sanford, North Carolina. We’ve got the reviews to back up our reputation as one the premier gun component manufacturers in America.

If you’d like to learn more about our company, please check out our website or reach out with any questions.