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  #1  
Old 08-17-2012, 01:10 PM
AlbertaAl AlbertaAl is offline
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Default SCOPE TRACKING...anyone test their scope?

I bought a like new - but used, MARK 4 M1 turret, TMR reticle, .250MOA
Mounted this on a SAKO 6PPC and prepared to sight-in @ 100 yds.

Needed an additional 1/4 inch RIGHT and would have been finished the sight-in job. One click RIGHT and the bullets began printing 1/2" too far

I immediately did a "tracking" test by shooting every four click intervals.
The bullets did not print accordingly in 1" intervals.
The bullets varied spacings were 1-3/4", 1-1/2" and 1"

I'll be re-doing this test as I was short of ammunition and would like to monitor barrel temperature and conditions.

I've overlooked doing a scope tracking test for many years.
Especially with all the multitude of Leupolds that I own.
My Nightforce scopes track 100% as sighting-in is usually completed with a handful of shots.

I spoke to LEUPOLD service on the phone and they admitted that TRACKING is never 100% ....and isn't considered a scope malfunction under their lifetime warranty This is an huge "eye opener" as I never considered to have to look backwards when shooting LEUPOLD

Of course once your rifle is sighted-in with any scope then you're good to go as long as you aren't twisting knobs.

I'd like to know how good or bad your scope tracks...
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  #2  
Old 08-17-2012, 01:21 PM
Hog Patrol Hog Patrol is offline
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How bad was the wind blowing? I've had the same experience with Sightrons, Leupolds, Burris, Bushnell, Clearidge, and Weavers. They all track ok and come back to the same spot on a four corner test but the POI changes don't always correlate to the knob movements. As an aside, except for a couple rimfires, I only use the Burris rings with the inserts and windage adjustable bases. You can tweak the scope and never touch the windage knobs.

Last edited by Hog Patrol; 08-17-2012 at 01:27 PM.
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  #3  
Old 08-17-2012, 01:41 PM
larryinIA larryinIA is offline
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Default

My results, on the couple scopes I checked mirrored HogPatrol's results. I have had, or still have a couple that tracked as they were supposed to, click for click, and really only remember one...I'm going to miss that scope. It is a Leupold 6-20x50 VXIII.

It is about the only one I really twisted knobs on, and always returns to zero.

Larry
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  #4  
Old 08-17-2012, 04:03 PM
xring xring is offline
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Al , here is something you can try if you experience this again . Lets say you want to go 2 Clicks to the Right . Go a few more Clicks like say 5 to the Right and come back 3 . This takes up some of the slop in the Adjustments and does work in some cases . I know this can be a pain if you are a knob twiddler instead of a Reticle user for Windage and Elevation corrections , but I would give it a try before sending it to Leupold .
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  #5  
Old 08-18-2012, 01:25 AM
Verminator Verminator is offline
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Default click values

Al

I have 3 Grand Slams that I love to shoot and they all track true, but the click values at the turrets are not reflected on the target and the windage and elevation click values do not give equal results on the target either. I have a Super Slam that seems pretty close but I haven't done alot of knob twisting with it and didn't have any difficulty setting it up and zeroing.

The only 2 scopes I've owned that gave predictable results on target based on adjustments at the turrets are a trijicon ACOG and surprisingly a millet trs.
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  #6  
Old 08-18-2012, 03:55 AM
AlbertaAl AlbertaAl is offline
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Default no wind

I didn't have any wind during my day at the range.
I'll surely be testing all my scopes and if the tracking doesn't give me positive results then the scope is gonzo.

Owning equipment that doesn't function as it should is of no interest to me.
I'm really disappointed right now because I absolutely like the Leupold TMR reticle and M1 turrets.

I'll update my results another day.
Thanks for everyones input
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  #7  
Old 08-18-2012, 06:45 AM
Bryan527 Bryan527 is offline
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A gun writer described what he called a 'box' test. You shoot a group at a spot, adjust the scope up a few inches and aim at the same spot, adjust left or right and shoot at the same spot, adjust down and shoot, then adjust left or right and shoot.

If the box is tilted, the sight or scope is mounted crooked (presuming you aren't canting the rifle when you shoot. I tend to do that a little naturally, so all my scopes are mounted crooked to everyone else). You can measure group to group to see how accurate the scope tracks, and the last group should land in the first if everything is ticking okay.
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  #8  
Old 08-18-2012, 11:29 AM
AlbertaAl AlbertaAl is offline
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Default scope mounting

All my scopes are mounted with the cross-hairs squared to the rifles action using a special tool. This particular 30mm Mark 4 scope is mounted in opti-lok rings and I use a tourque screw driver on all my installations.

If the rifle is canting - then it is being caused by the shooters REST set-up or the method of HOLD.
Overall a very good point to consider when doing that scope tracking test.
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  #9  
Old 08-18-2012, 12:03 PM
Hog Patrol Hog Patrol is offline
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Something else I do with all new scopes is run the knobs all the way to the stops a couple times to make sure I don't have one that slipped through quality control. I then go to the mid point and start there with the sighting in process. I've had a couple that when I twisted the knob nothing happened until after multiple clicks. Also, as someone else suggested, go more clicks than needed then back off to the amount you want.
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  #10  
Old 08-18-2012, 02:09 PM
Harold M Harold M is offline
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Default Experience

I did a variation of the box test on my Sightron when I first got it. I hung a fifty foot sporter rifle target - the six bull one - at 100 yards and adjusted the scope five times so that, aiming at the sighter, the bullets would hit the center of each the record bulls. The first thing I learned was that the adjustments were in true minutes, not "rifleman's minutes" of one inch at 100 yards. Second, I learned that the adjustments could be depended upon for dialing in on targets in the field using a drop chart created likewise for true minutes.

I ran a similar test on a high-magnification, variable power scope made in Asia and discovered that elevation adjsutments caused some lateral changes in point of impact so that the windage poi first moved right and then left as the elevation was increased. That scope was returned to the good folks at Midway along with an order for a Leupold.

By the way - My Unertls on 7.2" bases move in "rifleman's minutes," and the folks at Leupold afirm that their LRT scopes are calibrated in true minutes. It seems to be the case.

Harold
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