Scopes Not Holding Zero-Updated

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coleman1495

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Anybody else find that it’s very common for scopes to have a wandering zero? I have seen this problem multiple times. Seems to be a common thing.

I just spent a couple days painfully diagnosing accuracy issues with my new Savage GRS. I wasn’t getting great groups. Also I kept having to adjust the elevation up by ~1.5 MOA. By the fourth adjustment I had my suspicions that the scope or mounting system had failed.

I double checked all the mounting hardware torque and went to the range again today. Still had accuracy and wandering zero issues. In frustration I mounted another scope (3-9 Leupold) to the rifle.

Guess what? I suddenly have no issues with accuracy or moving zero.

The really frustrating thing is that this is a Swaro z5 3-18x44. It’s not a cheap scope.

So yeah having seen multiple Nikons, Vortex, and now a Swaro I tend to think this is a common issue. What surprises me is how little you hear about this.Hard to diagnose but nonetheless very common. Rant over
 
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Yeah it’s something I would expect from a cheap scope. If you haven’t had that issue with Vortex it’s only a matter of time.

The Swaro is a 1600$ scope that’s what really bothers me
 
define great groups?
how do you normally shoot with other rifles?
does the rifle shoot better with a different scope?
I've never had to send a scope back for wandering zero ever.
that's multiple dozens of scopes over the last 30 years.
 
Something I've found over and over again for other people is a sliding scope. It'll drive them nuts until either it hits something that stops the sliding, or they spot it, or someone else spots it. On a good day an innocent by-stander can see it from 3 benches down, but the shooter can't see it at all. The reason why it doesn't happen to me (lately) is my scopes inevitably are mounted up hard against the rear ring. They have nowhere to go.

It can happen to anyone, and if anything its more likely with an expensive scope. That's because:

a) Murphy loves to chew the finish on expensive scopes.

b) Lots of those high quality optics are quite heavy.

Lapping the rings goes a long ways to avoiding problems. Screaming tight rings can slip too, so its not always something that can be fixed with a Torx driver.


The other big reason for wandering zeros and most other problems is what is techically known as "Junk." Junk is nobody's friend and lives to cost you money. Sometimes you can get expensive junk.
 
coleman1495 said:
Anybody else find that it’s very common for scopes to have a wandering zero? I have seen this problem multiple times. Seems to be a common thing.

I just spent a couple days painfully diagnosing accuracy issues with my new Savage GRS. I wasn’t getting great groups. Also I kept having to adjust the elevation up by ~1.5 MOA. By the fourth adjustment I had my suspicions that the scope or mounting system had failed.

I double checked all the mounting hardware torque and went to the range again today. Still had accuracy and wandering zero issues. In frustration I mounted another scope (3-9 Leupold) to the rifle.

Guess what? I suddenly have no issues with accuracy or moving zero.

The really frustrating thing is that this is a Swaro z5 3-18x44. It’s not a cheap scope.

So yeah having seen multiple Nikons, Vortex, and now a Swaro I tend to think this is a common issue. What surprises me is how little you hear about this.Hard to diagnose but nonetheless very common. Rant over
Click to expand...

As others have mentioned -- yes check your mounting thoroughly as it is a frequent culprit... BUT yes - if you study the internal construction of image moving scopes it becomes quickly apparent why they are pretty tough to build so that they maintain a zero after any significant recoil shock. I think that the older Burris 'Posi-Lock' scopes were pretty good holding zero ... 'if and when' you could get them zero'd in the first place.
 
Dogleg said:
Something I've found over and over again for other people is a sliding scope. It'll drive them nuts until either it hits something that stops the sliding, or they spot it, or someone else spots it. On a good day an innocent by-stander can see it from 3 benches down, but the shooter can't see it at all. The reason why it doesn't happen to me (lately) is my scopes inevitably are mounted up hard against the rear ring. They have nowhere to go.

It can happen to anyone, and if anything its more likely with an expensive scope. That's because:

a) Murphy loves to chew the finish on expensive scopes.

b) Lots of those high quality optics are quite heavy.

Lapping the rings goes a long ways to avoiding problems. Screaming tight rings can slip too, so its not always something that can be fixed with a Torx driver.


The other big reason for wandering zeros and most other problems is what is techically known as "Junk." Junk is nobody's friend and lives to cost you money. Sometimes you can get expensive junk.
Click to expand...
I always left a piece of “invisible “ scotch tape on either side of the ring to see if I have a “wanderer”
 
I use a dusting of powered rosin on the inside of the rings to help the grip.
When all is done, I like to put a dab of White Out correction fluid on each ring/scope edge. That way I can see at a glance if the white dot has a gap or has gotten smaller with slippage.
 
I threw a set of TPS rings away once. Never would hold; switched to Mark 4 rings and barrels will die before anything will move. I've got to where I don't trust much of anything without reservation.
 
Still not a mounting issue. How come my Leupold works fine in the same rings?

I don’t understand why people are so reluctant to believe the scope is screwed. This is common.
 
Did you buy the scope new or used?

I usually stick with Leupolds not because I think they have the best optics, it’s because they have one of the toughest erector assembly designs. They alway keep zero and track well.
 
sounds like a parallax issues to me, add that into the mix of a run off the mill ammo in a run of the mill rifle shot by someone with the hopes of 1 ragged hole at 100 yards.....not uncommon to get rimfire ammo to hit multiple times over multiple areas of a target if you shoot enough of it eventually you'll have a inch and a half ragged hole in the paper, but still sounds like parallax to me.......but I wasn't there to see it
 
coleman1495 said:
Still not a mounting issue. How come my Leupold works fine in the same rings?

I don’t understand why people are so reluctant to believe the scope is screwed. This is common.
Click to expand...


Lighter scope? Actually I don't have a problem believing that a scope is pooched. Scopes break all the time. What seems different
is a pattern you have of a moving zero and a gun still grouoing. When scopes die on me it's usually more like not being able to dial out parallax, parallax increasing on non AO scopes, loss off clarity, floaters or mostly just groups opening up or fliers.
 
As mentioned it is a Swaro z5 3-18x44. This is a lighter scope depending on what you compare it too.The rings are very similar to MK4 rings. Very stout high quality stuff.

Initially I was just getting lousy accuracy when I went to sight it in. 2-3 MOA groups isn’t what I was expecting from the set up I wss using. I kept having to bring up the elevation. After bringing up the elevation 4x I knew something was wrong.

Moving zero is typical of a scope that’s screwed. Same thing I had happen to my Viper PST (which was mounted on two different rifles with ATRS rings.

People instantly blame the shooter, the gun, the rings. I have seen multiple scopes that wont hold zero. It’s common.
 
3-4 MOA groups? You should have just lead with that. ;) sounds like your scope is screwed. Once it's screwed, the exact kind of screwed doesn't matter much since it's the same fix in all cases. Most failures are directly related to the erector assembly.

You're not the first guy to break a scope; and you won't be the last. You know what to do. Junk scopes break. Expensive scopes that break are expensive junk. If they break again they are total junk.


You get advice on mounting problems because it's actually something you can correct if it's the problem or eliminate if it's not. You're not going to get much advice on stripping it and changing a broken bias spring.


One thing you are right about though is people will sometimes get all weird when someone else's scope piles up, especially if it is the same one as theirs. It's like a funeral where people are confronted with their own mortality and would rather not think about it.


Cheer up; having a scope in a box is way better than being in a box yourself. It just doesn't seem like it right now.
 
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My point is that scopes commonly do not hold zero.I realize it’s hard to diagnose sometimes. Considering how many times I have seen it happen it would be one of the first things I would suspect.

People that say they haven’t seen it are either not experienced or very lucky.

So to anyone with issues with losing zero or erratic accuracy I would definitely recommend trying another optic for troubleshooting purposes.
 
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