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Scope Testing Results - 2017-07-15

Jay Christopherson

Not An Admin
I spent some time this morning testing some of my competition scopes (all Vortex Golden Eagles) using the prototype scope checker by @AlloyTargets. There's a thread about the checker on the Main Message board, but I have some in-action pictures here as well. In my estimation, the checker mount works perfectly as designed. For production, I have a few minor suggestions for Travis, but I had absolutely zero reason to doubt the mount. It's extremely simple and flexible, in terms of being able to mount it on different rifles without removing your mounted scope. For guys with permanently mounted scopes, I think this would be ideal. For those who are used to swapping scopes, it's still nice to have the mount since you can mount your scopes on your usual pic-mount.

Anyhow... on to the test.

Test Setup:
I used my #2 competition rifle, sporting a fire form barrel in .284 Win. I figured this would be a good opportunity to fire form some brass. I purchased a frozen 36X Leupold as the control scope. I setup my target at 50 yards - with the graph paper I was using, any further and I could not resolve the gridlines. I'll probably look around for something with a more contrast-y grid, but this worked fine at 50. The grid paper shows a 1/4" grid (1/4" squares).

Each scope was mounted up and then dialed in to witness the control scope on the red dot as perfectly as I could manage. When reviewing each shot, I matched the control scope up to the red dot as perfectly as possible. The target had the red and the blue does on it as well, to help me make sure I plotted correctly.

  • I shot (5) shots on each scope to start, swapping each scope onto the rifle for testing. The first shot of each test was *after* witnessing the control scope.
  • I shot (2) follow up shots on each scope, in the same order, swapping each scope back onto the rifle. I carefully did not make any adjustments, but took note of the new witness condition. In my case, each scope returned to the last point. I really don't see this particular series as a useful test and would not do it again in the future.
CameraZOOM-20170715100010456.jpg


Results:
Each scope moved on the first shot after adjusting to witness the control scope. #1 settled after two shots and all subsequent shots resulted in no discernible movement from shots 3 - 7. #2 and #3 both showed no movement after the first shot.

Follow Up:
I'm planning another test series, this time incorporating turret movement in a box pattern, where I would shoot 2 - 3 shots after each movement. I'm curious to see if there is any relationship between turret changes and movement.

CameraZOOM-20170715100510477.jpg CameraZOOM-20170715100458072.jpg CameraZOOM-20170715100446256.jpg
 
Last edited:
I'm not as quick as others to figure out what you actually did. I figure you tested Three (3) different Competition scopes. Also assuming that each of the three Competition models were "good" in that they may have had a small initial movement that stopped after the first shot.

That right?
 
I'm not as quick as others to figure out what you actually did. I figure you tested Three (3) different Competition scopes. Also assuming that each of the three Competition models were "good" in that they may have had a small initial movement that stopped after the first shot.

That right?

These were all three Vortex Golden Eagles. As for the outcome, I didn't state anything in particular, I just provided the data and let people make their own conclusions.
 
When you wrote the word "competition", you did not capitalize to mean Nightforce Competition. Since that particular scope was the object of some consternation with scope testing, and the poor grammar some use, I ignored that issue. Thought competition was Competition. Glad you cleared that up.

Sorry for the grammarian disrespect.
 
Question...

If frozen Leupolds are so reliable, why don't more people use them instead of higher dollar scopes that may shift on them?
 
Question...

If frozen Leupolds are so reliable, why don't more people use them instead of higher dollar scopes that may shift on them?
They do not suit long range well. Conditions dictate rather large changes in poi day to day, plus score matters in f-class or Long Range Br. For 100 yd shooting groups they are great. If a reliable 24 moa mount that could give accurate .125 moa adjustments was available I think I would prefer a frozen 40x leup for 1k.
 
They do not suit long range well. Conditions dictate rather large changes in poi day to day, plus score matters in f-class or Long Range Br. For 100 yd shooting groups they are great. If a reliable 24 moa mount that could give accurate .125 moa adjustments was available I think I would prefer a frozen 40x leup for 1k.

The clarity on the frozen scope is actually pretty nice. The dot it in the middle of the reticle is... not. It's more like a squashed bean or something, lol.
 
Check out the commercial classifieds. There's a link to pre-order the checker that Jay used. We'll start shipping in early September.
 

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