Not looking to bash any manufacturer here, am looking to see if there have been similar instances to my experience and the best way others have solved these problems.
Yes, I know this is a long post and that there are plenty of people out there running ZCO’s that haven’t had problems, am not looking for input similar to, “I’ve had several and never had a problem”, I’m looking for folks that have had problems to post. Yes, I also know that after searching the forums here that there are a number of people very passionate about ZCO’s, again I am not looking to bash any manufacturer.
The gist:
I bought a new ZCO 527 with a 3X reticle and a new Spuhr mount (SP-6602) for one of my rimfire PRS rings (22LR for those not familiar). Yes, I have a ton of experience mounting scopes and building PRS rifles with high quality glass. I used the Spuhr because of having good prior success with them mounting NF’s and Leupolds on them, plus I needed the extra elevation due to shooting rimfire at distance. No, I didn’t drop, bang, assault or otherwise use this glass as a hammer before I had issues.
Mounting: I centered the reticle bell in the middle of the mount and torqued the ring screws to 18 inch lbs. I don’t like over tightening rings on my glass and yes I know ZCO says you can go up to 25 inch lbs.
I zeroed at a local indoor range and shot some good 10-shot groups, totaling about 100 rounds. I did have to come down 3.4MIL from the factory zero to find my own.
I then shot about 50 rounds over the weekend outdoors at distance to validate DOPE with a few other shooters. While shooting, twice I noticed the reticle “drop” ~4MIL after adjusting elevation between 150yds and 200yds and sending a round. When I say “drop”, I mean that while watching the round land, the reticle dropped ~4MIL at recoil. Both rounds landed at the location the reticle dropped to, ~4MIL below the targett. Both instances were also the first round after adjusting elevation. Initially, I thought it was just me.
Sunday, I shot a PRS match with it at RTSS (love that place). The second stage was at 220yds, 7.9MIL of elevation for my DOPE. First two rounds were ~5MIL low, it surprised me. I adjusted the turret up 5MIL and reengaged. That 3rd round landed in the same spot as the first 2. I adjusted the turret up again 5MIL and the 4th round landed in the same spot as the first 3. I halted my COF and took a 0, didn’t want to introduce more of a safety concern.
I went back to the zero board and after returning the turret to 0, a round landed correctly, dead-nuts at my zero. After adjusting up 1mil and firing, that round landed at 0.3MIL higher than the first, not the 1MIL I expected. I then adjusted up 5 more MIL, 6MIL in total, and that rounded landed at 1.3MIL of elevation, not the 6MIL I expected.
I changed scopes for my old NF and shot the rest of the match, glad I brought it.
After the match, I had 3 other shooters verify the same thing I was seeing. I also adjusted the windage knob Left 6MIL and back about 3 when I heard a loud click inside the reticle bell. Another shooter heard this as well. After dialing everything back to zero and sending a few rounds, impacts were 3MIL left of zero. The reticle had moved 3MIL left from its zero.
I can see something happening like this once in a blue moon, the shocking part of yesterday was that another shooter, with his brand new ZCO 527 came up to me after the match and said he had nearly the same problem I did, that morning, at that same match. 2 brand new ZCOs going down at the same match just doesn’t sound right.
Needless to say, I am very disappointed and I have low confidence running a ZCO again in a match. I do intend to send mine back to ZCO for repair but spending ~$4K on glass and having this type of issue is just a kick in the pants. Is ZCO having a quality problem? Anyone have good advice on repair or mounting? I’d very much like to hear if others have had similar situations and how they were or weren’t corrected.
Yes, I know this is a long post and that there are plenty of people out there running ZCO’s that haven’t had problems, am not looking for input similar to, “I’ve had several and never had a problem”, I’m looking for folks that have had problems to post. Yes, I also know that after searching the forums here that there are a number of people very passionate about ZCO’s, again I am not looking to bash any manufacturer.
The gist:
I bought a new ZCO 527 with a 3X reticle and a new Spuhr mount (SP-6602) for one of my rimfire PRS rings (22LR for those not familiar). Yes, I have a ton of experience mounting scopes and building PRS rifles with high quality glass. I used the Spuhr because of having good prior success with them mounting NF’s and Leupolds on them, plus I needed the extra elevation due to shooting rimfire at distance. No, I didn’t drop, bang, assault or otherwise use this glass as a hammer before I had issues.
Mounting: I centered the reticle bell in the middle of the mount and torqued the ring screws to 18 inch lbs. I don’t like over tightening rings on my glass and yes I know ZCO says you can go up to 25 inch lbs.
I zeroed at a local indoor range and shot some good 10-shot groups, totaling about 100 rounds. I did have to come down 3.4MIL from the factory zero to find my own.
I then shot about 50 rounds over the weekend outdoors at distance to validate DOPE with a few other shooters. While shooting, twice I noticed the reticle “drop” ~4MIL after adjusting elevation between 150yds and 200yds and sending a round. When I say “drop”, I mean that while watching the round land, the reticle dropped ~4MIL at recoil. Both rounds landed at the location the reticle dropped to, ~4MIL below the targett. Both instances were also the first round after adjusting elevation. Initially, I thought it was just me.
Sunday, I shot a PRS match with it at RTSS (love that place). The second stage was at 220yds, 7.9MIL of elevation for my DOPE. First two rounds were ~5MIL low, it surprised me. I adjusted the turret up 5MIL and reengaged. That 3rd round landed in the same spot as the first 2. I adjusted the turret up again 5MIL and the 4th round landed in the same spot as the first 3. I halted my COF and took a 0, didn’t want to introduce more of a safety concern.
I went back to the zero board and after returning the turret to 0, a round landed correctly, dead-nuts at my zero. After adjusting up 1mil and firing, that round landed at 0.3MIL higher than the first, not the 1MIL I expected. I then adjusted up 5 more MIL, 6MIL in total, and that rounded landed at 1.3MIL of elevation, not the 6MIL I expected.
I changed scopes for my old NF and shot the rest of the match, glad I brought it.
After the match, I had 3 other shooters verify the same thing I was seeing. I also adjusted the windage knob Left 6MIL and back about 3 when I heard a loud click inside the reticle bell. Another shooter heard this as well. After dialing everything back to zero and sending a few rounds, impacts were 3MIL left of zero. The reticle had moved 3MIL left from its zero.
I can see something happening like this once in a blue moon, the shocking part of yesterday was that another shooter, with his brand new ZCO 527 came up to me after the match and said he had nearly the same problem I did, that morning, at that same match. 2 brand new ZCOs going down at the same match just doesn’t sound right.
Needless to say, I am very disappointed and I have low confidence running a ZCO again in a match. I do intend to send mine back to ZCO for repair but spending ~$4K on glass and having this type of issue is just a kick in the pants. Is ZCO having a quality problem? Anyone have good advice on repair or mounting? I’d very much like to hear if others have had similar situations and how they were or weren’t corrected.
