The Zero Check Thread

[Tahr]

Regarding Leupold scopes. I’ve got 2x M8 4power scopes x never had any zero issues with either. One is currently not fitted to rifle which is my current night hunting one. The other is fitted to M70 Win with Leupold rigs/bases for 40+ years. Only time I’ve rezeroed is when I’ve occasionally changed ammo brands/loads.

It's the dialing ones Ive had a lot of trouble with. All VX3 variants. Over the years Ive had 3 pack it in. The set and forget ones seem ok.

[Kelton]

It's the dialing ones Ive had a lot of trouble with. All VX3 variants. Over the years Ive had 3 pack it in. The set and forget ones seem ok.

Touch wood iv had a good run 3x vx6 1 vx5 and the vx3hd the vx3i was a problem child for sure

[Dreamer]

How did it go?

Haven’t been back to the range since to verify but had to put in 1.075 to match up to the numbers from last time.


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[Beavis]

- Today
- 100m
- UTAS Straight Pull AR15 w/newish White Oak Armament barrel
- 2.5-10x32 NXS in Mil
- Aero Precision 30mm Ultralight Mount, base and rings torqued to 20in/lb
- 73gr ELD loaded into PMC brass full of 2208

4th 10 shot group with this load and getting a consistent mean radius so happy to run with it. Adjusted .2 down and fired 5. I felt it might still be a smidge low, so, came up one click and called it a day due to running low on the ammo I will need tomorrow.

I will fire another 10 shot group when I get back to the range to check if it moves at all. My expectation is the vertical should be no more than a click off up or down, and I think it will be obvious if there is any left or right movement.

[Beavis]

Dunno how the 3rd target ended up in the post - it's a different load. Nothing to do with my original post. Can't figure out how to delete it.

[Tahr]

Touch wood iv had a good run 3x vx6 1 vx5 and the vx3hd the vx3i was a problem child for sure

Mine were pre HD.

[nor-west]

20 shot groups should be the minimum, hot barrels be buggered. I guess I'll keep being a dinosaur and consider 5 shot groups is all I need. I cannot recall ever having to shoot 10 shots while out hunting. Tell me again why we need to burn powder, primers and barrels because someone decided its now necessary to have 10 shot groups for a hunting rifle?

[Beavis]

20 shot groups should be the minimum, hot barrels be buggered. I guess I'll keep being a dinosaur and consider 5 shot groups is all I need. I cannot recall ever having to shoot 10 shots while out hunting. Tell me again why we need to burn powder, primers and barrels because someone decided its now necessary to have 10 shot groups for a hunting rifle?

Pretty much because extensive testing has shown that you need to fire a minimum of 10 rounds, ideally 20 or better yet 30 to get a good sample size that represents the true dispersion pattern of a rifle/bullet/powder combination. Shooting larger sample sizes and ruling in "flyers" gives you much better data to zero your rifle.

Most people can get by with an imperfect zero etc because of the size of the target and the distances they are shooting things at.

[Tentman]

Yup and it gets you other ways too. Someone was posting about the temperature effects on ammo, how they got a 400mm drop at 300M. Poor zero right there.

[Tentman]

20 shot groups should be the minimum, hot barrels be buggered. I guess I'll keep being a dinosaur and consider 5 shot groups is all I need. I cannot recall ever having to shoot 10 shots while out hunting. Tell me again why we need to burn powder, primers and barrels because someone decided its now necessary to have 10 shot groups for a hunting rifle?

Actually I do recall you firing 10 shots once, then you ran out of ammo, but that was a "we will never speak of this day again" scenario so I won't. Haha

[Steelisreal]

20 shot groups should be the minimum, hot barrels be buggered. I guess I'll keep being a dinosaur and consider 5 shot groups is all I need. I cannot recall ever having to shoot 10 shots while out hunting. Tell me again why we need to burn powder, primers and barrels because someone decided its now necessary to have 10 shot groups for a hunting rifle?

You don't need to do anything that falls outside of your own requirements. If you're happy with your method of defining precision and zeroing your rifle then good for you - go shoot stuff and be happy.

Here's the big but - when claims are made that a rifle shoots 'sub-MOA all day' or suchlike, that's when statistical validity becomes the primary consideration.

These discussions posted by Gimp et al have always been to try to get us thinking about what we're claiming (and expecting) of our equipment and abilities and BE HONEST with ourselves about our expectations of both.

Beavis makes a great point that errors in your system are much less problematic if you follow the traditional hunter's advice to 'stalk in close, then get a bit closer' before shooting. This was very much the approach when I was younger and was taught to shoot. And it served us well for trying to achieve humane kills with the equipment we had.

Times change though and these days it's very easy to wander in to a shop and buy yourself the ultimate long range precision rifle setup and set off into the world to emulate what has been seen or read about online. And that's where it can all come unstuck without understanding what precision actually is and how to use that to zero your rifle/scope system to make best use of that potential.

[gimp]

You don't need to do anything that falls outside of your own requirements. If you're happy with your method of defining precision and zeroing your rifle then good for you - go shoot stuff and be happy.

Here's the big but - when claims are made that a rifle shoots 'sub-MOA all day' or suchlike, that's when statistical validity becomes the primary consideration.

These discussions posted by Gimp et al have always been to try to get us thinking about what we're claiming (and expecting) of our equipment and abilities and BE HONEST with ourselves about our expectations of both.

Beavis makes a great point that errors in your system are much less problematic if you follow the traditional hunter's advice to 'stalk in close, then get a bit closer' before shooting. This was very much the approach when I was younger and was taught to shoot. And it served us well for trying to achieve humane kills with the equipment we had.

Times change though and these days it's very easy to wander in to a shop and buy yourself the ultimate long range precision rifle setup and set off into the world to emulate what has been seen or read about online. And that's where it can all come unstuck without understanding what precision actually is and how to use that to zero your rifle/scope system to make best use of that potential.

This is a very good summary.

[gimp]

Quick pre roar trip check shot around 2 weeks ago tomorrow I always like to check before a trip but I also dropped the rifle directly on its head trying to weigh it with luggage scales I think it bounced from can to scope so would have some what broke the fall also wanted to double down on the velocity as iv now fitted a cds accuracy is more than good enough for my intended use and it had an sd of 14.5 across the 10 shots which is also good enough for my max range of 400 yards . Note the only shot I’m certain of is #3 I know #1 and 2# were far right and together the rest is just marking impacts in no confirmed order for the purpose of marking the shots I also see now iv finished mucking with the app one shot is out of place as theirs a hole just behind the aim point

Nice. Looks like you're zeroed about 2 clicks high & 1 click right -did you adjust to centre? Interested to see how it holds that zero. Thanks for contributing.

[Kelton]

Nice. Looks like you're zeroed about 2 clicks high & 1 click right -did you adjust to centre? Interested to see how it holds that zero. Thanks for contributing.

I did adjust left to right but not height only because it’s 16” and going slow with the most common intentional range being sub 100 I figure dead deer, when I got this rifle going the eldx never grouped particularly well when say looking at my saum but I thought hey what’s your max range here 300-400 yards absolute can that load hit the plate 150mmx150mm at max range and I couldn’t miss so I left it alone hoping it holds a zero all my bartliens have being very stable barrels other components could be the Achilles heal we will see ��

[Kelton]

Only one of those is this rifle don’t no which one but same theory dead deer at max range