Rifle Scopes Reticle movement with ocular eyepiece

[generalzip]

I was playing with my Kahles 624i the other day and noticed that when adjusting the eyepiece for the reticle focus, the reticle moves when pressure is applied to the eyepiece. This caused me concern because clearly with recoil etc, the ocular piece could move ever so slightly and change your zero/POI. It's hard to tell but looks like around .2-.3 mil of movement. I then checked out my PMII and Gen 2 Razor. The Schmidt did it a little but no where near as bad as the Kahles. My 2 Razors were super solid and I could not notice any movement of the ocular piece or reticle at all.

I'd never heard of this talked about before and was curious if anyone has seen this problem. The way I tested this was:

1. Look at a white, brighty lit wall inside or a target outside on the range (i did this indoors on a white wall)
2. Set to max mag
3. Set parallax to infinity
4. While looking through the scope try to wiggle/torque the fast focus eyepiece on your scope. You may feel the ocular have some play and see the reticle move

Because of this I've decided to run my fast focus eye pieces all the way in to remove any play in the ocular eyepiece. Honestly, the reticle seems clear to me on pretty much every scope all the way in or very close to it anyway.

If someone else tries this on their scope I'd be curious to hear the results. I was pretty shocked on a high end scope to see this. I'd prefer them to have locking eyepieces now that I've seen this.

 

[Bender]

Did you shoot it and check actual zero?

 

[generalzip]

No I did not. I just noticed it at home. When I'm at the range next I'll fire 3, move the focus ring a bit and fire another 3 and see where they land.

 

[spife7980]

Check to see if it is just the whole image shifting (nothing to worry about) or is the reticle moving independently from the target (worry about)?

Ive seen it questioned before but its never been something that efffects the function of the scope since all of the actual target-reticle alignment etc is happening in front of the ocular.

 

[Yama Arashi]

FFP, probably just image shift (vs. reticle jump) - as the image is married to the reticle and won't affect POI.

I have 4 ATACR's and 2 of them do this ever so faintly when reversing direction on the ocular piece - you can see a slight shift on the reticle as you first apply pressure to change magnification, but the ocular moving doesn't actually affect the reticle/image or POI. As little as .001-.002" of thread tolerance movement will cause this.

I only have a K16i, so I can't speak directly to the 624i in regard to what you're seeing, but as stated, my assumption would be the above in conjunction with how the ocular/diopter assembly is configured.

Verify by locking the scope/rifle down with whatever type of vice, center the reticle on something, and see if it stays put with the ocular/diopter input.

 

[generalzip]

My friend just took his TT to the range and sent me a video and it does the same thing. In it you can see the reticle move while the target stays still in the image.

 

[Savedsoul88]

So my back up Kahles does the same thing. i just noticed it the other day since i just got contacts i moved the ocular ring for the frist time ever. i tested moving it back and forth at 1000 and i was getting a decent amount of POI shift. Id focus it, shoot a group, run it in and out and push on it alittle and then focus it and shoot another group and they were moving a good amount. I called Swaro in RI and asked them and they want me to send it in to have it checked out and possibly shipped back to Kahles. I will say though that with it all the way screwed in tight i have no issue with shift or anything when i shooting. its only when its screwed out does it shift while shooting.

 

[Bender]

So my back up Kahles does the same thing. i just noticed it the other day since i just got contacts i moved the ocular ring for the frist time ever. i tested moving it back and forth at 1000 and i was getting a decent amount of POI shift. Id focus it, shoot a group, run it in and out and push on it alittle and then focus it and shoot another group and they were moving a good amount. I called Swaro in RI and asked them and they want me to send it in to have it checked out and possibly shipped back to Kahles. I will say though that with it all the way screwed in tight i have no issue with shift or anything when i shooting. its only when its screwed out does it shift while shooting.

The diopter? Just set it and forget it. I never touch mine.

 

[Savedsoul88]

The diopter? Just set it and forget it. I never touch mine.

ya, and i never touch mine either and most of the time its best screwed all the way in for my eyes. But i just got contacts so i had to change it to focus with my contact in and thats when i noticed it. SO now if i shoot that scope i just take my contact out and screw it all the way in. I dont feel like possibly waiting 10 weeks to get my scope back.

 

[Bender]

ya, and i never touch mine either and most of the time its best screwed all the way in for my eyes. But i just got contacts so i had to change it to focus with my contact in and thats when i noticed it. SO now if i shoot that scope i just take my contact out and screw it all the way in. I dont feel like possibly waiting 10 weeks to get my scope back.

I use flip up scope caps on my .223 bolt gun and it holds the diopter solid. Not that it moved anyway as is it’s really stiff.

 

[generalzip]

I’ve used scope caps like tenebraez that grab the diopter and spin it if you bump it. Could cause a POI shift during a match

 

[Steel+Killer]

My NF ATACR did this a great deal when you would adjust the zoom because as everyone knows the entire ocular moves when adjusting magnification on a NF one of the reasons I sold it.