Scope tracking checker

[Ledd Slinger]

I'm really wanting to pull the trigger and get a scope checker. I really want to know if my scopes are doing what they're supposed to.
Problem I'm running into is finding one of them "frozen" scopes. Haven't seen one for sale.

You don't need a frozen scope to check turret tracking. Just mount a decent reference scope, get it zeroed on same POA and dont touch it while making adjustments on other scope.

If you want to check zero hold under recoil, then yes, you need a frozen scope or at worst an optic proven to be solid by a frozen scope.

But be careful when buying a frozen scope. Have to remember these scopes have been modified by people in a shop, not the manufacturer. If you find one, inspect it very carefully. I bought a frozen Leupold 45x a while back. Close inspection revealed there was all kinds of dirt and dust on the inside of the lenses. Obviously someone didn't open it up in a clean environment and/or didn't seal it back up properly. Luckily the seller was a good guy and refunded my money when I told him about the issue.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

With my luck,I'm sitting on 18k worth of junk!

Dont get a scope checker then

 

[Bc'z]

Why not shoot 16 clicks up, 16 right,16 down, 16left to original poi?

 

[BoydAllen]

That is a tracking test. What the scope checkers are used for is to verify that a scope holds point of aim after recoil. One little fly in the ointment that I think is worth noting here is that years ago when Lou Murdica used a scope tester to test eight Leupold 45 x 45s he tested each one for multiple shots, and some of them did not show movement right away, but rather after a few shots. Half of those scopes moved, anywhere from .020 to .060 at 100 yards. The rest did not move. He said that all of the scopes that moved moved in the same direction. I forget what that was. The next time that I talk to him I will try to remember to ask him how many shots per scope he did.

 

[Bc'z]

Thanks Boyd,
Is that movement per shot or in general per shot string?
Personally I'll never shoot in the
.1's and smaller. I can see where its important to competition shooters.

 

[alinwa]

You don't need a frozen scope to check turret tracking. Just mount a decent reference scope, get it zeroed on same POA and dont touch it while making adjustments on other scope.

If you want to check zero hold under recoil, then yes, you need a frozen scope or at worst an optic proven to be solid by a frozen scope.

But be careful when buying a frozen scope. Have to remember these scopes have been modified by people in a shop, not the manufacturer. If you find one, inspect it very carefully. I bought a frozen Leupold 45x a while back. Close inspection revealed there was all kinds of dirt and dust on the inside of the lenses. Obviously someone didn't open it up in a clean environment and/or didn't seal it back up properly. Luckily the seller was a good guy and refunded my money when I told him about the issue.

LOL.....

I've got to agree with Ledd on this one. I've never had a good scope screwed up but I did take one apart one time and got stuff in it. But where I was going is a little different.

I was visiting with Wally Siebert one time about getting a custom dot set into a Leupold 36. A common modification back ln the day was to set the dot high and have the scope "boosted" in magnification.

So I sez to Wally I sez..."how many dots can you put? Can I get like moa dots all 4 ways?"

And he replies...."well, no. Because I don't know how you'd do that"

So me....."can't you just put dabs of paint or whatever it is that Leupold uses??"

Long pause...."paint?"

"Well, whatever carrier you use to hold the pigment...."

"Carrier"....

Finally he started laughing. "You probably aren't aware of how paint is made but a single fleck of pigment would look like a boulder in your scope! A single fleck of pigment with no "carrier" or binder or glue would subtend something like 8-12moa"

As we found out when we took that scope apart...... we didn't find anything to clean out but after "cleaning out" the scope looked like an active hurricane inside. I didn't even dare send it back to Tasco.... I think we gave it to a kid to put on his BB gun...