Over dialing your scope then dialing back on purpose?

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Roddy

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I was watching Todd Hodnett's DVD Long Range Made Easy and in the zeroing section he had a technique that I have never heard of before.

He advocates dialling a few clicks past your intended zero when zeroing. I think the reason he gave was the springs could get hung up if you only move one or two clicks. To go two clicks left he dialled five left then three right.

I have read a lot about zeroing scopes and I have never heard of doing this. It seemed weird and I know Todd Hodnett may be a bit opinionated like a lot of instructors but I do respect his shooting ability.

Has anyone even heard of this? These scopes are meant to be dialled constantly. He was using the scope I have, a Bushnell ERS.
 
I over dial a full MOA then come back with all my Leupold scopes and even give the butt stock a good knock after the adjustment but find there is no need with the higher end brands I use.
 
That's the way I was taught as a boy by my dad and uncles. Probably unnecessary on high end jobs , but habits are hard to break.
 
Well during his zeroing demonstration Todd claimed it was happening with a scope that sells for over $2000CAD. To me it looked like the zero was shifting around 0.2 mil but I thought it was the rifle.

It seemed weird to me as I would think if you are dialling two clicks left and over dial a few clicks then come back wouldn't you have the exact same problem in the other direction?
 
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Some scopes have this built into their zeroing (for elevation). Where it's not a firm zero. You set zero, but it will go .5-.75MOA below and you come up to 0 everytime after bottoming out.

I remain open minded as I don't fully know how scopes work.

I do find myself undershooting elevation and always stopping on the "up turn", Ie, if I go from 30 to 18, i go to 17 or 17.5 and back up to 18. I have no reason to do this, I just do it remain consistant. This is on scopes that are $2-3,800

I don't do this on windage though. I hold most windage adjustments though.
 
Shibby! said:
Some scopes have this built into their zeroing (for elevation). Where it's not a firm zero. You set zero, but it will go .5-.75MOA below and you come up to 0 everytime after bottoming out.

I remain open minded as I don't fully know how scopes work.

I do find myself undershooting elevation and always stopping on the "up turn", Ie, if I go from 30 to 18, i go to 17 or 17.5 and back up to 18. I have no reason to do this, I just do it remain consistant. This is on scopes that are $2-3,800

I don't do this on windage though. I hold most windage adjustments though.
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That's how SB and TT scopes zero stop works. Let's you adjust down 0.6 or 0.3 mil. It's been a while since I looked at my TT tho, can't recall exact amount of under zero it has.
 
On the DVD he was doing initial zeroing not dialing for elevation. I don't know if that had anything to do with it.

On my scope I set my zero stop to be 0.2 mils below zero. The reason being the thing is a pain to reset and if I have to rezero it I should have enough elevation adjustment that way.

I have only watched the first two of the four DVDs from Long Range Made Easy. They are okay. The production values are not nearly as high as say Magpul. Poor editing and lighting and I have found it to be a bit lacking in substance. Maybe the next two DVDs will get better.
 
bsand said:
That's how SB and TT scopes zero stop works. Let's you adjust down 0.6 or 0.3 mil. It's been a while since I looked at my TT tho, can't recall exact amount of under zero it has.
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They are usually .3 mil below for the zero stop.
And yes, if my scope wasn't returning to any setting, be it elevation or windage when I dial, get rid of it and buy a new scope.
 
Thanks again for all the responses.

I also feel bad saying Todd's DVD didn't have much substance. The parts I have watched did have some interesting bits like this scope dialling technique and some things may be more helpful to someone looking to buy equipment. He endorses a lot of the gear I use so that's nice.

Probably the best tip I got out of it so far was if you are holding over with a reticle, say 0.8 mils, just hold 1.0 mils say on the bottom edge of the target so you can focus on an actual mark on the reticle instead of trying to guess where 0.8 is.
 
Brappp306 said:
I'd be getting rid of that optic asap! That is why you buy quality optics, so you don't have to worry about tracking issues. My Night Force NXS and Vortex PST track 100%, even my cheap Falcon Menace tracks very well!
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I haven't noticed it personally. I really like the scope and it was rated very highly in Cal Zant's Precision Rifle Blog scope tests including in tracking. Maybe it's just a habit Todd has and he may have meant to do it only for initial zeroing not dialing for elevation.

My PST tracked great until the turret cap started slipping.
 
I don't think it is required, but I always click "up" to the target. If I have to go down, I go down an extra few and click up to the target value. It doesn't make a difference but it makes me feel better...
 
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