Tuning HW50 177 & Vortex scope

[swampfoxoutdoors]

So am having an issue with getting my HW50 in 177 zeroed.

Backstory: Bought the gun used from a fellow member here. Gun looks great barely used, has an upgraded Vortex kit.

Purchased TO4C rings for the gun based off of suggestions here from pyramid air.

Purchased vortex 4-12x40AO scope new from B&H. Went with Vortex over Hawke due to VIP warranty.

Mounted said scope and rings on gun and tried to zero and scopes elevation was bottomed all the way up at 20 yards to get a 1.5-2” low zero.

Took everything off today and double checked rings and ring tension. Re zeroed scope and same issue. Scope has to be cranked all the way out to the Upper limit for a 1” or so low zero at 20 yards.

Gun shoots great. Tested 2 pellets and shows great consistency. Even with the low zero I am able to make hits out to 50 yards.

Rock at 50 yards on fence post.

So my question is what am I missing which is requiring the scope to be cranked all the way up to be zeroed?

Someone mentioned barrel droop in my scope thread but the gun does not appear to have that issue. Is there a way to measure for that? If it is barrel dropping how do I fix it?

The only 2 things I can think of is something is wrong with one of the rings causing a zero issue. Or scope is defective in some way.

I measured the rings and both seem to be the same size from receiver to bottom of scope. They were taken off and inspected today and reinstalled.

I also cranked the turret down 12 clicks and the response was reflected on the target so it appears the scope is properly tracking.

Seems as if I have 2 options. Send the scope back to Vortex, or shim the front ring to gain more elevation and rock on.

What’s yalls thoughts on the issue?
If shimming the front ring what’s the best way to do that?
Was thinking of a small strip of electrical tape in the bottom of the front ring.

 

[Struckat]

It is not unusual to bend the barrel to the need. I had to do that with my 95. It’s the simplest and most accurate solution.

Barrel bender and spring tool.

 

[Sqwirl57]

The 50S is pretty notorious for having barrel droop straight from the factory. The two I had required droop compensation mounts. I'm a fan of the RWS Lockdown Mount (verify your scope is long enough to fit!) but many other manufacturers make something with some sort of elevation compensation built in also.

 

[JDR]

Many scopes adjusted all the way in either direction will not hold zero. I had a HW 35E with a Vortex scope and it did not hold zero. The droop compensator mount solved the problem. If that still is not enough, add adjustable rings. You could shim the scope but some are against doing it although some report success. I am not competent to bend a barrel.

 

[cjtamu]

Sportsmatch makes one piece droop mounts and adjustables also if you want to stay with them. Your scope is tracking and your POI is consistent so unlikely it’s the culprit.

 

[swampfoxoutdoors]

Thanks for the info.

Can someone provide links to the droop specific mounts. As I’m not familiar.

 

[Sqwirl57]

I assume 1" tube on that scope?

BKL Mount

RWS Lockdown Mount

FYI, to get the adjustment you're looking for via shimming you would want to shim the rear mount, not the front.

 

[cjtamu]

Sportsmatch droop mount. Medium height. Didn’t see the fully adjustable for 1” tube, must be out of stock.

Sportsmatch OP15C 1-Pc Single Screw Scope Mount With 0.75mm Verticle Taper

 

[PEP3]

When you say vortex kit did you mean vortek spring. If so you need to run it over a chrony, if has the spring without the seal it will run really low fpe on the 50 exaggerating the barrel droop.

 

[swampfoxoutdoors]

I assume 1" tube on that scope?

BKL Mount

RWS Lockdown Mount

FYI, to get the adjustment you're looking for via shimming you would want to shim the rear mount, not the front.

Shimming the rear was what I initially had typed out then I started overthinking it and changed it. Lol

 

[swampfoxoutdoors]

When you say vortex kit did you mean vortek spring. If so you need to run it over a chrony, if has the spring without the seal it will run really low fpe on the 50 exaggerating the barrel droop.

Yes spring kit.

I’ll chrono it one day and see. It seems to be shooting pretty hard. Harder than any of my other 177 guns.

 

[swampfoxoutdoors]

Thanks for all of the help and links. Will sit down tomorrow and order one.


Being new to air guns, when I have read about droop I assumed it was the physical lock up which was causing an inconsistent poi. Did not consider barrel bend as a possible issue.

 

[Frogy]

My 50 has a lot of barrel droop. Have a droop compensator mount. And if you want to try shimming , shim the rear of the scope up

 

[PEP3]

Just another tip here, AOA has a barrel press and can take that droop out for you. I don't know how much they charge but it is so worth it not to run a drooper mount.

 

[Struckat]

Like I said, bend the barrel.

 

[Sqwirl57]

There's nothing inherently wrong with "drooper" mounts. Even a lot of firearms come factory with 20-30 MOA built into the rail which is the exact same thing. Tgat Vortex has 60 MOA of travel built in and based on how close his zero is without a drooper mount, one will put him pretty darn close to optically centered

 

[beerthief]

I would go with post #14 , get the gun shooting right b4 i would use a drooper mount . and also make positive the scope is optically centered , i got one new that was not centered right out of the box .

 

[swampfoxoutdoors]

Just another tip here, AOA has a barrel press and can take that droop out for you. I don't know how much they charge but it is so worth it not to run a drooper mount.

Ill reach out to them.

 

[Mycapt65]

Some of the new 50s have a lot of droop I've gotten a couple of them. I've bent the barrels upward enough to get a scope zeroed in it's reasonable range. Ideally you'd like the scope optically centered near your zero. To bend some of these new 50s to optical center the barrel will have a pretty noticeable upward bend in it. It may require a drooper mount and a barrel tweaking to get to optical center.

I don't understand why the new 50s have so much droop. Something is off somewhere. It's disappointing that this is an issue now.

 

[c_m_shooter]

RWS lockdown mount has droop compensation built in. You can put 2 shims from a coke can under the scope in the bottom of the rear ring if you don't want to bend the barrel.