Scopes Not Holding Zero-Updated

coleman1495 said:
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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If you can return for refund or exchange for another brand then just do it and say bye bye to a possible "lemon"

Similar experience but with a cheap bushnell 3-9x. Holds zero on my Ruger 10/22 but when I bought my Henry 45-70 and mounted the 3-9x on it and shot factory rounds the scope would not hold zero and would not track. At first I thought the ammo and rifle combo but when I mounted a Leupold VX-3i 1.5-5x with the same ammo the rifle held zero and grouped to my expectation, put the bushnell back on and it was shooting all over the place.
 
I've never had this issue with any of the dozens of Leupolds I've owned.

The problem is usually with rings not being lapped, screws not torqued properly, a cheap scope, or a defective scope.

Or a rifle that has accuracy issues, which could be caused by a variety of reasons, such as inadequate bore cleaning etc.
 
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Just as an example I had a scope on my target rifle (260 Rem) it was a 1/2moa shooter at 330yards.

My other target rifle had a scope on it that went south, turret messed up. Sent for repair and when I got it back I put it on the 260.

The 260 became a 1/4moa shooter at 330 yards that day with know other changes.

The first scope had a wondering zero, very slight but still there.

Both scopes were way north of $1000.

A scope will hold zero or it won't in varying degrees, doesn't seem to matter what they cost either.

It is noticeable when the rifle mechanics are spot on as are the handloads.

As far as rings go I have very good performance from Burris Signiture Zee rings, no lapping no marked up scope tubes.
 
Burris Signature and the Sako rings with the little gimbal inserts (perhaps there are others with similar design) permit you to mount a scope ‘stress’ free while still maintaining an adequate grip on the scope tube. A stressed scope tube is not apparent but recoil can cause the stress to exert a force and adversely effect the point of aim.

Read an excellent article where the author had mounted a scope on a device attached to very secure table. He was able to observe that the reticle could be moved against a distant target simply by putting a large elastic band around the objective end of the scope and pulling on the elastic band. He also noted that releasing the band sometimes caused the reticle to return to its original point of aim and occasionally to return to a different point of aim which he attributed to stress. He made some recommendations to deal with this which I wont go into now.

A set of solidly mounted ‘V’ blocks, a distant target to aim at and a rubber mallet can provide a great deal of information about the integrity, durability and repeatability of your scopes reticle and the WE adjustments if you think about it. It helps to first mechanically centre the reticle by rotating the scope in the V blocks and observing the reticle as you do so. If the centre of the reticle spins on its axis you are set ...if it describes an elipse - then adjust W&E until it doesnt After that you turn on or off windage and/or elevation and by counting clicks see how consistently it returns to its mechanical centre - a light wack with the rubber mallet to simulate recoil will provide additional info.
 
Ganderite said:
OP, tell us how you set the parallax, please.
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I have just been using the “100” setting for 100 yards. The crosshairs have very minimal movement when I move my head around unlike other scopes I have had.

Good idea for tightening groups a little though. I’ll have to play with that when I get my scope back.
 
Okay little update. I received my scope back from Swarovski. Looks like the objective assembly was replaced.

So yep the scope broke.

Good service from Swarovski. Didn’t cost me anything as they provided the shipping label. Only downside was the 8 weeks downtime.
 
coleman1495 said:
Except I am not the issue. I have seen several scopes fail to hold zero that weren’t mine.Have you ever owned a Nikon?
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I have owned several Swarovski and Nikon Monarch scopes, and no issues with not holding zero. In fact, I have never had the issue with higher dollar scopes, and I have owned well over 100 scopes, so it isn't as common as you make it out to be.
 
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.
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Try putting a rubber ring cut from the finger of a latex glove (white ones) between the scope an it’s rings. You only need to tighten the rings snug ... and the scope doesn’t slide. One of my guns has this setup for 11 years now.
 
coleman1495 said:
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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Good quality scopes don't just lose zero.

Even after flying across country and the rifle being abused by luggage handlers, my scopes never shift more than 0.10 mils.

Use quality equipment if you want to avoid headaches.
 
Vertically split rings are notoriously bad for causing scope slippage.

A good solid set of rings is an important part of the equation. My personal favorite are ARC M10 rings.
 
My scope related issues went away when I made the shift to Tangent Theta and Schmidt and Bender. Its relieving when you know the scope is not what's causing problems. Consistency is key. Try shooting wearing a t-shirt to a heavy winter parka, or off a hard surface to a soft surface with a bipod and tell me how much your point of impact shifts. I know what the OP is saying here, but there are other factors that will shift your POI around enough to make you think your scope is wandering.
Its always a piss off when your equipment fails, that is why I absolutely refuse to ever touch a Vortex product again. This isn't the first issue with a Swarovski scope posted on a forum either. No one is immune.
 
Ive only ever noticed this stuff on super cheap scopes like bushnell banners, and cheap brands like barska, NC STAR, sight mark etc. Unless ur mounting it to an extremely punishing caliber or action, u dont need a "$600 scope" to avoid this issue. Ive seen countless examples of $250-$600 optics enduring on various different setups for many many years.
 
kthomas said:
Good quality scopes don't just lose zero.

Even after flying across country and the rifle being abused by luggage handlers, my scopes never shift more than 0.10 mils.

Use quality equipment if you want to avoid headaches.
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I agree that quality scopes are much less likely to loose zero. The large majority of issues come with cheap scopes. This scope was a Swaro Z5 which I guess would be a mid tier option. It worked great for maybe 500-700 rounds.
 
I had the same swaro scope crap its pants on me inside of 200 rounds, swaro kept saying it was a ring torque issue, I use a calibrated inch pounds torque driver so torque was not the issue. Scope goes in to swaro and low and behold it had internal issues. I had a schmidt and bender pm2 that the paralax system broke in (which after talking to a cf sniper is a very common problem in the last couple years with these scopes). I had a VX3 target scope that the paralax system came apart on. I have had the crossshairs drop out of leupold vx2s, Ive seen the crosshairs in leupold vx2s come loose and spin in circles. Scopes fail, cheap scopes fail more but even good quality stuff fails. Any time I have accuracy issues my first move is to swap scopes and see if the issue stays or not. Scopes also wear out, but most people never shoot enough to see it just like barrels.
 
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