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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.
Yes gives a pretty good idea if badly out of whack and if you have an empty shell with primer removed even better.Quote:
Originally Posted by RUMPY
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
ya right Kelton good scopes dont move - our rifles used to get shite used all day and never really shifted - the old standard 4x leupold and 2.5 leupold were pretty robust and simple - some of these new ones with a heap of adjustment may be a little more temperamental - the early tascoes were not good but surprisingly the early Nikko Sterling were actually not bad for the price - I did have early redfields fog especially one I tried with a wide angle lens fogged first time I used it - some cullers had Pecar and they seemed robust
Looking at the advice I’ll start carrying a target just in my bag just case. My rifle has good rings and a rail and has not shifted with flying before, I recently upgraded my case to one with pillar locks also to avoid crushing. In travel and on the hill it stays with a small neoprene cover on the scope also unless I’m expecting game.
One trip tahr hunting my mate had a shocker with his new rifle, bad rings with the big side screws and they came loose, and then the mag dropped out the next day lol. Found the mag and had a multi tool,got the scope back on, zeroed in on some rocks and he managed to get a good sized bull thar the next day.could see the worry etched on his face though.
those big trips carry a spare scope and the right sort of screw drivers or allen keys to change it - my first trip to fiordland bloody new redfield fogged first day never touched once since -- had prepared and rifle had open sights and had zeroed those so rest of trip open sights - had gear to remove offending redfield and the trip to Stewart Island after woods all open sights - if I had a spare scope could have fitted that -but my back up plan was open sights - worked out okay but had the right tools
That's been my system for over 15 years, many trips across the ditch, dall's sheep hunt in the Yukon, and one trip from the bottom of Aus. to mid Qld. Zeroed 1.6/6 and 2.5/8 Leupies in Talley screw lock detachables. Carry only two allen keys to fit both guard screws and scope screws. I've never needed the keys either, but nice to be able to check guard screws and scope screwsQuote:
Originally Posted by Barry the hunter
Some don't like the vertical split on the Talleys, but it has never been a problem for me. Never needed to use the spare, but rather have it etc etc.
Only time I have had travel induced issues was a Leupy knocked off by 5" on a trip to Central Asia. That was on what I though was a fully sealed wood stock, and the change in climate may have had something to do with it, but having seen the way my gun case was handled, I doubt it.
The spare doesn't need to be some hooley dooly, turret festooned boat anchor, just something that you can rely on. 4x Leupy is ideal, but good luck finding one.
I would invest in the best hard case you can afford, that should eliminate most risks of zero shifting.
Make a rifle suit case out of 10mm ply,line with foam rubber cut out of a old clean bed mattras.Cut the rifle scope shape out of the foam.It wont break in transit unless somebody it hitting it with a 20oz hammer.
Not ideal for flying in to yr hunting spot but good for transporting yr rifle around on bumpy river beds n tracks.
Attachment 267575
You can also run a suppressor just for zero checking if a real world zero check makes you feel better and correspondingly means you have a better holiday.
You just need to know the difference between ‘Suppressed zero’ and ‘Unsuppressed zero’. You can figure that out on the range at home. Then make up some targets with a marker for ’suppressed zero’.
You can even use cheaper projectiles too, provided they shoot a tight group.
Now when you want to check zero, you can put the suppressor on and shoot a group, just aiming like normal at target centre. If the group lands on the. ‘suppressor zero’ then you can be confident that the rifle will shoot to normal zero with the suppressor off.
If you do have to adjust your zero because it has walked in transit, you can adjust it to suppressor zero with the suppressor on and be confident that the rifle will shoot to normal zero with the suppressor removed.
There are quite a few things that can cause zero shift after travelling:
Scope itself damaged ( as tested by Rokslide ) this is the least likely scenario
Mounts shifted (collimator or boresight possibly)
Bedding or cracked stock ( Ive had this )
Ammo batch
Altitude effect on trajectory at > 300m
The only true test bundling all these together is to fire 5 shots at a range findered target. Be prepared to adjust zero and fire a few more 5 shot groups …
Next best is to check when you get home and over a series of 5-10 trips you get quality assurance it will be OK next time.
Pelican or Storm gun case. 1650 was the Pelican line, if your scope is out after a trip in that it's most likely that the barrel is bent (and you'll know from the crush marks flattening the case where the refuelling truck ran it over... Yeah...).
The other suggestion is a laser bullet, in themselves they ain't much chop- but mark it so it goes in the same way each time and its a good cross check that the zero was where you left it. Unfortunately it won't tell you where the point of impact will be (barrel tweak or one of the other many possible issues that could go wrong) but its a good check on zero.
Supercheap do a knock off of those cases for a couple hundy, will be almost as good as the real thing at 1/3rd cost.
I have flown with rifles alot, have to be atleast 20x with air nz over the years and only once has one of them not maintained zero, it made it through the flight fine but i managed to drop it down a bank on day 1 and proceeded to miss 2 deer.
Provided its in a good hard case and there wasnt an underlying issue prior, im sure you will be fine. I always ask them to put plenty of fragile stickers on, and touch wood never had an issue.
