So I rifle hunt so rarely these days (up until last year I hadn't pulled a rifle tag in ND since 2019), that I honestly can't recall the last time I've had to tinker with my rifle scope. Every year I'd go to the range or my parent's back yard, pace out 100 yards, and fire two shots, which would be within a half inch of each other and about an 1.5 inches high and to the right of the bulls eye. My rifle, a Remington 700 in .30-06 that I got 22 years ago, has been this way since the last time I fudged with my scope -- approximately 15 years ago, give or take.
Well, I've never loved where my scope lies. When I originally mounted it, I had it as far back as it could go, as I tended to shoot with my check a bit further back on the butt. While this worked OK, it also meant that when I worked the bolt, my thumb would sometimes get pinched between the bolt handle and scope. Minor inconvenience, but annoying nonetheless.
Sooo, fast forward to a few weeks ago. My buddy is an absolute gun nut and an engineer. Super Type A. He does stuff by the book, and has all the torque wrenches, levels and other various tools to properly set a scope. I told him about my gun, and he said we could work on re-setting the scope at his house.
The only issue was that one of the screws in the bases sheered off. In my gun. Somehow below the base but also below the threading. Because it spins, but we can't advance it or extract it. Me being me, I said, "well, we still have three other screws (two in the front base and one in the rear), and I'm sure that's enough."
He wasn't happy about that, and insisted I bring it to a gunsmith. I told him let's just get it back together as best we could and I'd sight it in and see what happens.
Twenty-five rounds later, my guns is all over the board. I finally quit screwing with the crosshairs and shot three times at 100 yards, and hit bullseye, three inches low and six inches high. Meanwhile we got my dad's rifle out, and hit three bullseyes in three shots -- so I know it's not me (or at least, I'm pretty sure it's not me).
I'm brining the gun to a gunsmith today to take care of the obvious issue. But what's odd is that my left/right is dead on. It's mostly the vertical where there's an issue. I also tried to see if I could get any play in the base, and as far as I can tell it's rock solid. Then again, I'm not hitting it with a sledgehammer like the actual round produces, so not a great example.
Another odd thing is my scope doesn't "click" when I turn the dials for L/R or U/D. Granted, the scope is 20 years old, so it could be an older model before that was a thing. But I swear I recall the incremental clicks before, so it could be an issue with a scope itself.
The good news is the Scope is a Leupold VX-1 and I'm pretty sure it has a lifetime warranty.
I realize there's probably a million things that could cause these variances and it's impossible to tell over the internet without asking more questions, but I figured I'd throw it out there as I know there are some gun nuts on this forum who like flogging dunces like myself for our misguided attempts at mediocre accuracy out of our hunting rifles.
Well, I've never loved where my scope lies. When I originally mounted it, I had it as far back as it could go, as I tended to shoot with my check a bit further back on the butt. While this worked OK, it also meant that when I worked the bolt, my thumb would sometimes get pinched between the bolt handle and scope. Minor inconvenience, but annoying nonetheless.
Sooo, fast forward to a few weeks ago. My buddy is an absolute gun nut and an engineer. Super Type A. He does stuff by the book, and has all the torque wrenches, levels and other various tools to properly set a scope. I told him about my gun, and he said we could work on re-setting the scope at his house.
The only issue was that one of the screws in the bases sheered off. In my gun. Somehow below the base but also below the threading. Because it spins, but we can't advance it or extract it. Me being me, I said, "well, we still have three other screws (two in the front base and one in the rear), and I'm sure that's enough."
He wasn't happy about that, and insisted I bring it to a gunsmith. I told him let's just get it back together as best we could and I'd sight it in and see what happens.
Twenty-five rounds later, my guns is all over the board. I finally quit screwing with the crosshairs and shot three times at 100 yards, and hit bullseye, three inches low and six inches high. Meanwhile we got my dad's rifle out, and hit three bullseyes in three shots -- so I know it's not me (or at least, I'm pretty sure it's not me).
I'm brining the gun to a gunsmith today to take care of the obvious issue. But what's odd is that my left/right is dead on. It's mostly the vertical where there's an issue. I also tried to see if I could get any play in the base, and as far as I can tell it's rock solid. Then again, I'm not hitting it with a sledgehammer like the actual round produces, so not a great example.
Another odd thing is my scope doesn't "click" when I turn the dials for L/R or U/D. Granted, the scope is 20 years old, so it could be an older model before that was a thing. But I swear I recall the incremental clicks before, so it could be an issue with a scope itself.
The good news is the Scope is a Leupold VX-1 and I'm pretty sure it has a lifetime warranty.
I realize there's probably a million things that could cause these variances and it's impossible to tell over the internet without asking more questions, but I figured I'd throw it out there as I know there are some gun nuts on this forum who like flogging dunces like myself for our misguided attempts at mediocre accuracy out of our hunting rifles.
