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trying to find the right scope (vortex, bushnell, athlon)
- Thread starter jamoalla
- Start date
Jamoalla,
I'm sorry to hear that the scope isn't working out for you!
Just like for you, for me dialing the scope turrets reliably is very important — I prefer it to using holdovers.
A scope can suffer from several different problems — and there are different ways to test for each of them. Below find 4 problems with their respective test...
However, there are two general issues to consider:
(A) Are you using the scope on a springer airrifle? ➔ If that's the case your rifle could have broken your scope — it happens all the time, even with "springer certified scopes" on magnum rifles.
(B) Is your elevation turret dialed almost all the way up? E.g., the specs at Vector say your scope has a turret adjustment limit of only 12mil (40moa).
So, if you have dialed 10mil of those 12mil then you might be too close to the max. and the springs holding your reticle are too relaxed to hold the reticle firm enough — and so your reticle changes without you dialing anything, or changes inconsistently.
➔ Maybe a good rule of thumb for cheap and midpriced scopes is to not use the upper 25% of the turret adjustment (Tom Gaylord).
(
Question: Does this scope [with a 34mm tube] really only have 12mil of total adjustment? — I personally would like to know! 
)OK, 4 problems and the tests for each:
Problem Type 1: The scope clicks are not exactly 0.1mil per click. You can figure this out with the following test:
(1) Get (or glue together) a tall piece of paper (or use a piece of wood), at least 1 meter tall.
(2) Draw on it a vertical line (1 meter long), with markers for every centimeter.
(3) Place the paper 100 meters away from the gun. With a level or plumb make sure the line is perfectly vertical!
(4) Put the gun into a vise (or mount your scope to a scope rail that you screwed onto a wood plank). The scope must not move when you click the turrets!
(5) Make sure your scope is perfectly level! — Align the vertical crosshair with a plumb line in the distance.
(6) Align the crosshairs with the bottom of the 1-meter line on the paper. For that move mostly the gun/scope into position, use the turrets only for fine tuning.
(7) Now, without moving your scope, dial the elevation turret 1 mil up = 100 clicks.
(8) Look where your crosshairs are now. They should be at the top of the line of your paper, having traveled 100 centimeters. If they are not, measure how far they are off from 100cm.
(9) Enter this correction into your ballistic calculator (both Strelok and ChairGun have a place where you can enter these corrections).
➔ From now on, your ballistic calculator will adjust for the error in your scope and you should be back on target!
Problem Type 2: The scope clicks are inconsistent — e.g., sometimes 20 clicks move the reticle 2.0 mil, sometimes they move the reticle 2.4 mil, or 1.8 mil. You can figure out a turret inconsistency with the "box test."
(1) Same setup as with problem 1, but instead of only a vertical line, make a box (a square of 1m x 1m). You won't have to put markers for every centimeter. Make sure the box is perfectly level!
(2) Dial the elevation 10 mils up — and see where your crosshairs end up. They should be spot on in the corner of the "box" you drew. Make a note where about they are.
(3) Now dial the windage 10 mils (left or right, depending in which direction your box is drawn). Note down where your crosshairs are now — again they should be in the next corner of your box.
(4) Dial 10 mils down — note the crosshairs' position.
(5) Dial 10 mils windage in the opposite direction as before. This should bring your back to your original position — note where you actually ended up.
➔ If your crosshairs ended up not being spot on in the corner where you started, then the turrets are inconsistent. And a turret without click repeatability is not usable for dialing.
➔ And Vector should replace your scope under warranty (last time I checked the Taurus line has a lifetime warranty, no receipt needed).
Problem Type 3: When dialing the elevation turret the reticle does not move perfectly vertical. When dialing windage the reticle does not move perfectly horizontal. You already did the test for this problem under Type 2.
➔ If your crosshairs ended up spot on in the corner where you started, but where not spot on in the other corners, then:
▪Either your box and/or your scope were not perfectly level (check again!) —
▪Or the elevation and/or windage turret does not move perfectly in the same direction as the reticle line but somewhat at an angle.
➔ This error will not be significant when you dial small adjustments on the turret, but the larger the adjustment, the larger the error.
➔ Vector should replace this under warranty.
Problem Type 4: The scope crosshairs change position when changing the magnification. (1) Same setup as before, but now you don't need a large piece of paper or a box at 100m — just any target at a longer range will do as long as the scope or the rifle don't move at all.
(2) At maximum magnification place the crosshairs on a target small target, a tiny spot or an X on a paper.
(3) Now change the magnification of the scope. As you lower the magnification — do the crosshairs wander significantly away from your target?
➔ If they do...
— then your scope is defective and should be replaced by Vector under warranty.Hope any of this will get you back on target, Jamoalla!!
Matthias
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Why not a Hawke Sidewinder Gen 2? IMO, it’s the perfect match for airgunners. Your choice of magnification, reticle, focal plane, and they focus down to 10 yards.
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