Rifle Scopes Is this a common issue with the tracking on these?

[slowr1der]

So I have a Nikon Monarch UCC 3-9x40, the older style of the Monarch with the finger adjustable capped turrets.

Anyway, when I mounted it and sighted it in at 100 yards, I did a box test and it tracked perfectly. I also twisted the turrets several times, and then back to zero and it always returned back to zero.

That being said, I sighted it in and never shot it at 100 yards again. I've probably put 50-75 rounds since at various ranges. 250-300 yards the first time, and 450-500 yards the second time so I did quite a bit of turret twisting. I then turned the knobs back to zero, and put it up.

Today I got it out to shoot at 100 yards, and noticed it was shooting 1.25" to the right and about .5" high. It wasn't way off, but off enough especially to the right that I was concerned. I dialed it back in and it seems to stay zeroed, so it doesn't seem to be that the scope is not holding zero, so I figure that it must be that it didn't return to zero after the last 2 shooting sessions. I'm going to do some more testing with this, but I just wondered is this about par for the course with these scopes, or is it worth sending it back to Nikon? If it's basically just how these things are designed being a cheaper scope, then I will probably just sell it. If others have this scope and it isn't doing this, I will contact Nikon about warranty work.

 

[bench98]

Re: Is this a common issue with the tracking on these?

You should probably try the scope on a different gun to see if maybe something in your gun contributed to the change in the impact point if you are sure that other variables like weather, or bumping the gun didn't cause the change. Another possibly, are your mounts or rings loose.

 

[kombar]

Re: Is this a common issue with the tracking on these?

It's possible your base or rings shifted a little. A shift as small as .002" could cause a change in point of impact that large.

If the scope is otherwise tracking normally, I'd look at the mounting hardware first.

 

[slowr1der]

Re: Is this a common issue with the tracking on these?

Thanks guys. I'm going to back to the drawing board and do some more testing. My rings and bases are tight, and I haven't dropped the gun, or anything else, but I did have to ride up a very rough road to get to my spot to shoot, and while I've never had an issue with that before as long as the guns been in a case, and my other rifle didn't, I guess I can't rule that out for certain and it also was about 20 degrees cooler today than when I sighted it in, but at 100 yards, I didn't think that would matter. I will have to do some more testing of it before I attempt to contact Nikon.

 

[slowr1der]

Re: Is this a common issue with the tracking on these?

Something must have gotten bumped or something because I went to test it out again. I didn't have enough time to really test the tracking, but I fired a couple shots to confirm my zero, and then I twisted the turrets a full revolution in each direction for both the windage and elevation turrets, and then I reset them back to zero and fired a few shots and my POI was the same. I don't know if it just somehow got bumped hard enough to jar the scope, or what, or if it not coming back to zero after repeated adjustments or what. I did check all of the mounts and they seemed tight. I guess I will just have to play with it more when I have more time, but for right now it seems like it's good to go.

 

[timelinex]

Re: Is this a common issue with the tracking on these?

For what it's worth, my zero seems to always change slightly, and not from the scope but just rather weather conditions change.

 

[jpspeeddemon]

Re: Is this a common issue with the tracking on these?

what kind of gun is it? Does it have a wood stock and a non free floating barrel? If so, temperature and humidity changes can cause zero changes do to flexing of the wood and resulting in different pressure on the barrel.

 

[slowr1der]

Re: Is this a common issue with the tracking on these?

It may have been the temperature, but I'd just never noticed that much of a difference before. I'm not going to rule it out though.

The rifle is a Savage non accu stock model, with a synthetic stock and the barrel is free floated. So I'm just not sure, what went on. I don't know if it's not returning to zero perfectly, but it's close enough that I don't notice, and then after lots and lots of turret twisting it adds up and ends up being a inch or two off, or if it was the weather change, or if the scope got bumped hard, I just really can't figure it out. I guess I need to try to get more range time in where I can really test the tracking some more instead of just doing a quick turret twist then turning it back to zero.