Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

"T-The scope? Why?" Olivia asked.

"Yeah, the scope. Well, not just the scope. Remove everything attached to it but do make sure that it's something you really want to use. If not, you'll be doing the same thing again if you changed to another one." I advised.

"Yeah, but why?" Chris asked the same question.

"As I said earlier, we're starting from scratch. You'd need to adjust it according to yourself. It's whether we'll add a cheek riser or anything else needed to make it comfortable for you. We'll get to that later but make sure to pick a bipod and a sling too for starters." I replied.

"So, you haven't shot these guns yet?" Cynthia asked.

"No, I shot them a fair amount. The issue was they're configured for me, not you. You could try to use them as they are but you'll feel strain or fatigue in a few minutes if we started shooting." I explained.

"Is that the same thing with you, sis?" Olivia looked at Kaley.

"Of course, dad already configured that M70 for me when I was younger though he was the one that would make adjustments. Well recently, I found about a few things we could've done better but I already changed to the AR-15 I'm using today. Wait- I'm doing the same thing for the other one, right?" Kaley explained to Olivia but she suddenly looked at me because she remembered the Delta 5 her dad gave me that she would be using.

"Well, you already know the procedures. I'm just gonna instruct them while I'm cleaning the guns." I replied.

"Oh, right… I'll just configure mine later. Help me again, okay?" Kaley went back to scrubbing the fouling of another gun.

It took them a few minutes of picking the replacements of the other attachments of the rifle they picked. Since they didn't know much, I suggested a few that would suit them. What they changed was only the sling but Olivia was already rifling through the cheek pads I have inside another box.

"We're done!" Olivia took my attention then I taught them how to place it themselves. However, I would still check if they did a good job and I told them to leave the scope off because it would be a different procedure.

I finished cleaning a few more guns before they managed to attach them properly.

"I think it's ready?" Cynthia tapped me.

"Okay, grab the lower half of the rings and place them on. Remember, just the lower rings only and make sure there's no slack by pushing it all the way forward after you nestle it in. I'll check it after you're done so-" then Kaley tapped me.

"Teach them hands-on so it would be faster. Just teach them how to mount it so we could continue cleaning the guns. We still have a 'lot' to do later, right?" Kaley said as she gave me that look.

Olivia and the other couple were oblivious to that statement but the others got Kaley's point. Cynthia blushed faintly while Tatiana and Rin were faintly smiling.

I shook my head while smiling but I removed my gloves and retrieved my own Delta 5. I still have my old M24 that Oscar gave me but it's chambered in .308. Since I already moved to 6.5 Creedmoor, I rarely got to use that gun. However, it was still maintained properly and I would bring it with me from time to time on outdoor ranges.

"Ooh~ That looks fucking awesome!" Chris was excited.

"Of course it is, I shot more than a mile with this gun several times already." I smiled.

"For real?! Could you replicate the same shot like in the video yesterday?" Chris asked.

"That would be impossible because this gun is only chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor while the gun I used before was chambered in .50 BMG. The bullets fired out of this gun could reach a few more yards beyond a mile and nothing more." I explained.

"Then isn't it better to just bring that other gun always?" Olivia chimed.

"That's a no. It would be overkill if I shoot a zombie 10 feet away with a bullet that could reach a few miles, right?" I replied, smiling.

"Oh, hahahaha… you're right..." Olivia chuckled.

I removed the scope on my rifle but I left out the lower rings where I could mount the scope. Now that our rifles were in the same state, I continued my little lecture.

"Okay, place the scope on top of the lower rings and tell me if the scope could still go lower. If it could, we'd replace the rings for smaller ones because you'd want the scope as low as possible. Mine is already at the lowest it could without hitting the rail." I instructed and they followed suit.

"Mine could go lower in the backside but it would hit the rail-thingy on the front." Olivia said.

"Okay, first things first, that backside you are talking about is called the ocular bell. It is where the ocular lens is located and where you look through to see the other side. The front you are talking about is the objective bell and if we follow the naming procedure, it holds the objective lens. The other parts are..." I started talking about the external and internal parts of the scope.

I received varying reactions but Rin was busy writing everything down.

"Rin, the information I'm telling you all is in the book by Mr. Cleckner. I have a softcopy of that and you could read everything about it on that. I also have videos of him so you could watch them later if you have the time. In the meantime, just listen to me and I'll repeat myself so don't worry." I explained.

They nodded and I continued the short lesson.

The next thing I made them do is to gently place the scope in the right position while lightly placing the other half of the rings without tightening it all the way. The dial for the elevation should be the one on top while the dial for the windage should always be on the side.

"Okay, the next thing is to pick up your rifle and put the stock against your shoulder, in the normal shooting position. After that, close your eyes and place rest your head on the cheek rest in a way that's most comfortable to you. There should be no strain whatsoever and the full weight of your head should be on the cheek rest." I instructed.

"Closing their eyes?" Charlotte chimed.

"Yeah, you'll see why." I replied, smiling.

The four did as I told them to and then I told them to open their eyes while maintaining the same position. When they did, they discovered that their eyes were not aligned to the scope.

"Do we need to adjust the scopes again? Wait- it's ok with the cheekpiece." Olivia said.

"I just need to raise my head a little..." Chris trailed.

"Mine too..." Rin said.

"Mine's okay if I adjust it for a few… good thing mine could rise for a bit." Cynthia added.

They all looked at me and I said, "The problem now is not with the scope but with the cheek rest. I wouldn't suggest raising your head a little because it would be different from the comfortable position you're in earlier. What I suggest is to use the cheekpiece Olivia used for more padding or if your cheek rest is adjustable, turn it a few notches until you could see through the scope." I explained.

Chris could adjust his cheek rest on his rifle but on Rin's case, it couldn't be adjusted.

"How about mine? Do I need to use another gun? I kinda like how this looks..." Rin looked at me, dejected.

"Hmm, it's only a few more before it reaches perfect alignment. What we could do is drill holes on the stock and I'll attach a thin wood plank and we'll cover it with the cheekpiece or I could wrap the stock evenly with paracord so we wouldn't damage the stock." I suggested a few things.

"I think I'll go with the paracord, I don't want to do something permanent to your rifle..." Rin decided.

I looked at the group I'm teaching how to mount a scope and their expression was already different from earlier.

"Too much already? We already skipped a few steps but there's a whole lot more coming." I said to them.

"It's okay, it's just a little too much to take in at once..." Olivia trailed.

"Then let's continue. Don't forget, mounting the scope properly is very important. I met a lot of people that just used whatever scope was mounted to the rifle they brought and they didn't even bother adjusting the settings of it. In the process of trying to use it, a lot more time and ammo was wasted just to make a single shot hit the target." I explained.

"Well, what are the other steps that we skipped?" Chris asked.

"One of them is lapping the lower rings. I've already done that process in all of my rifles so that the scope could snug in perfectly. I have a bar at the workshop where I just rub it against the rings until it's perfectly aligned with one another. It slowly removes material from it until it's ready and it's helpful if there are no rails to place the rings onto. They're usually aligned but it wouldn't hurt to be sure." I replied.

"And what are the next steps after we mount the scope?" Olivia asked.

"Heh, let's finish the task at hand first, yeah?" I smiled devilishly.

"I think we just got trapped in a very~ long~ lesson..." Olivia shivered.

"Not so much, heh. Anyway, next thing to do is to turn the magnification to the lowest setting first because we're checking the alignment. It's similar with using the iron sights but this time, we're using the scope shadow to make sure we're properly aligned. Oh, it's better to do it while sitting down first so the scope doesn't wobble while you adjust it. After getting it ready, don't forget to bring the power back to the highest setting so we could see the scope shadow. If you could see the scope shadow, adjust the scope front to back while still looking through it until it disappears." I gave them space on our table so they could adjust it accordingly.

I assisted them also with leveling the rifle and their eyes lit up when I told them that they could finally tighten the upper rings in place. I told them the proper way to do it and there was one final adjustment to be made before we try and shoot it outside.

"What do you call it again?" Rin was holding her pencil.

"The Parallax." I replied.