Thread: Maintaining zero after flying

For people who fly regularly to go hunting, how do you ensure that your rifle is zeroed before hitting the hills?

I regularly fly between islands to go hunting and unless I am in Southland I, don’t have the facilities to sight in before I go on a trip.I am constantly worried about my scope loosing zero after seeing how badly the baggage handlers treat gun cases (on my second one due to damage ggrrrr).

Ideally don’t want to be shooting rocks at camp on day one.

Have you noticed that you are loosing zero or just worried about it might happen?

Loosing zero could also be related to rings, mounts, and rifle bedding, so not necessarily the scope.

Nightforce ensure their scopes can be treated very badly and still perform

@Beetroot It’s a Burris signature 3-15 with the standard plex reticle. I’ve never had it loose zero yet but I am going on a big 10 day trip in April and have that nibbling paranoia.

okay get a square of cardboard put a 100 meter target on it two very light stakes bamboo will do 4 drawing pins and place at back of pack when you get to camp check zero - nothing like being confidant - when culling we used the cardboard boxes our tucker arrived in and yes it does not hurt to check - ohhh and lots of bubble wrap when packing rifle

After you got zero,count your clicks down to the bottom of yr scope dialing maximum and count back up to yr zero.If you suspect yr scope is out of zero afert travel,dial down to bottom and dial back up yr count of clks.You shouldn't be too far off zero,unless your scope is badly damage.

Quality scope and rings go a long way for piece of mind an the question but unless you are still living in the past, your gun will be suppressed so no drama about checking the zero on the block. Confidence is key

If it was bore sighted at home at a known distance after being properly sighted in, could the same bore sighting target be used when at destination?

This is a question to all, not an answer to the OP.

Get a colometer? Zero it put meter on see where it is on the grid. Get to destination put meter on again see if its the same. No shots fired.

Originally Posted by RUMPY

If it was bore sighted at home at a known distance after being properly sighted in, could the same bore sighting target be used when at destination?

This is a question to all, not an answer to the OP.

Yes gives a pretty good idea if badly out of whack and if you have an empty shell with primer removed even better.
I used to have a aerosol can lid on a post at about 80 meter's and rifle on deck handrail was the litmus test.
When first mounting a scope the boresighting gets you pretty close before you start chucking lead down the range.

Buy some high quality QR mounts and remount the scope and zero it. Take the scope on and off a few times to check that it holds zero when remounted. Then , before you fly, take the scope off and pack it in your suitcase/pack surrounded by clothes etc or put it in your hand luggage so that its under your control. Remount the scope when you get to where you are hunting...

Hi guys. Some great suggestions here. Unfortunately I don’t run a suppressor on the mountain gun to save the weight. Seems like I have some other options instead to get some confidence it hasn’t been thrown out of whack by the baggage handlers!

I guess there are two ways to go, either test your rifle at the beginning of a hunt (as you currently do), or do enough testing to be confident in your gear that you don’t need to do a zeroing shot. If you want to do some testing there is a very big rabbit hole you can go down.

https://rokslide.com/forums/forums/r...aluations.133/
There’s a whole section on the Rokslide forum more or less dedicated to this issue, I’m not suggesting you go down this rabbit whole but if you want to test your setup to have 100% confidence, then you’ll find all the info you need here.

You could conduct a simple drop test of your setup, similar to the Rokslide drop test.
Effectively 6-9” your rifle onto a padded mat and see if the zero shifts between shots, or even do it this with your rifle in your travel hard case and see if impacts cause a zero shift.

I still think my idea of taking in a simple target is the most accurate and easiest and will give confidence over all others - one shot at camp with a suppressor not ideal I know but if you really want to know

Yet to loose a zero mate good hard case good scope and good rings