Joseph,
Thank you for your reply. I am new to the shooting sports, so I am in that learning phase. There is an incredible amount of information to make sense of and it gets a bit confusing. I am far from ready to be a long distance shooter, but I am enjoying the process of learning. When I mount my first scope, I want to do it correctly. It will probably be on a Marlin 60 as per the advice of members here to learn to shoot economically. That being said, I am hungry to learn as much as I can. Thanks to members here, I am beginning to understand MOA, zeroing, adjustable mounts, target turrets, etc. and what it takes to shoot long distances accurately. Each time I learn something, it seems to raise another question. I think I understand mechanical zero as being in the center of the available adjustment range. What I don't get is - optical center. If I place the scope objective on a mirror and line up the reticle with its reflection, have I found mechanical center? Or, are they separate things? I learn better when I understand what I am doing and why. Once I do put together a long distance set up, I would like to try varmint and predator hunting. I would not even consider taking a shot at an animal unless my rig is set up properly and I fully understand what I am doing.
Tim