Scopes that actually hold zero

Originally Posted By: ICU22-250To answer your original question without all the [beeep].. Most reliable scopes comes with a premium, NF ATACR and NXS, S&B, Tangent Theta, upper end bushnell, Vortex Razor gen2 and AMG, Hensoldt.. You get what you pay for, as far as a hunter friendly option the TT 315M, NF ATACR 4-16 and the Vortex AMG 6-24, S&B ultra short or for a bit cheaper, the Bushnell DMRII are good options...

All good scopes I'm sure, but let's try and keep this realistic.
 
What's not realistic? If you want rock solid, stay away from the made in China and made in the phillipines stuff.. I guess it depends on what type of optic your looking for and it's intended use. A set it and forget it hunting only optic, or a hunting/target and steel optic that your actually gonna use your turrets..
 
Other than the upper end bushnells, there's not a scope on that list under $2000, some over $4000.

It's not realistic to think that you need something in that price range to keep a consistent zero.

I believe in having nice things as well, but I also know that in 6 seasons of hard use, I've never touched the windage dial
on a Mark 4, and it has always return to dead zero at 100 after shooting steel.

And for a point blank hunting rifle, I've had a $200 Burris on a deer gun for 10 years that's never been touched.

Agreed, the best is the best for PRS type shooting, but that's not what this thread is about.
 
It's a pricey list for sure, the 4-16 ATACR can be had used like new for 1750.. I've never been a huge leupold fan myself, if I'm gonna be confident in any of the lower end optics, it's gonna be a set it and forget it scenario. I would never attempt to start spinning turrets and expect a repeatable return to zero. Maybe the Mk4 leupy is just what the Dr ordered for the OP then, problem solved. Lol..
 
I'd like to have an ATACR for 1750. I'll get to looking when I finish the current build.

I think if you're an upper level PRS competitor that's shoots every day, or if you're fighting a war, you definitely need a bulletproof optic.

I also know that I shoot 3-4 days a week except during the largemouth spawn, and in all this time I've managed to have one partial failure in what you call a low end scope, a Mark 4 LR/T that had a canted reticle.

I've really wrung out the new VX6 on my 6.5, and so far it's just taken it. I will say that 1 MOA tracks at 1.029 MOA, but it's consistent and as easy as typing in 1.029 in the app..... a little finger fatigue isn't worth another $3000 to me.

To each his own though, if you've got it, go for it!
 
Look on the hide, lots of great deals on lightly used like new high end optics.. I have had great dealings with the guys on there, I'm not trying to knock your Leupold, I'm sure it's a great optic and I probably should give one a try and just might. So don't take me the wrong way, I do however love my ATACR 4-16 F1 for a smaller crossover optic for hunting and plinking. I will be looking for another one shottly..
 
I've owned several scopes, some with custom reticles and shot benchrest for many years. I've had custom reticles break but never owned a scope that didn't hold zero. In over 50 years of shooting I've heard of maybe a half dozen scopes not hold zero in matches. Many competitors bring a second scope to matches "just in case" but never need it.

Most scopes on the line when I competed were Leupold's but there were others and our bases were always the lightest that could be found - Bushnell was one such light mount.

With these out of the box Leupold's with custom fine cross-hairs one could expect to shoot sub-0.250" 5-shot groups all day long at 100 yards rested of course.

Rifle actions were mostly Custom with most non-custom actions being Remington 700's - match grade barrels, 2 ounce triggers, pillar bedded fiberglass stock. Preferred scope power was 32X, which was usually a 24X Leupold boosted to 32X.

That type rifle shot less than 0.150" 5-shot group at 100 yards indoors. A good rifleman could shoot anywhere from sub-0.150" to 0.350" at 100 yards in good to fair conditions. Outdoors the difference was wind/mirage reading ability and gun-handling on the bag - indoors it was gun-handling.

I'm saying all this in an attempt to show that the vast majority of scopes will hold zero day in & day out in my opinion. To get most AR's shooting a 5-shot group around that 0.5" mark - it will probably need a good aftermarket trigger with a light let-off - Myself,I prefer a Geissele trigger adjusted to 10/12 ounces for load development, then you will probably want a high magnification scope of at least 24X with fine to Xtra-fine crosshairs. Normal X-hairs are usually thicker than desired and might account for somewhat larger groups - a lot of shooters don't know the actual thickness of their X-hairs, where as they know the diameter of their red dot - a 4" red dot might be quick on target but not much for group shooting at 100 yards - same for crosshairs. You might find commercial ammunition that will give you that 1/2 inch group but handloading will get you there with less expense.

I have a handload for my 1:7 twist AR that will shoot 77 grain nosler's into a 1/2 group at 100 yards using a 32X scope, JP trigger and a good rest - I use Vihtavuori powder only because it gives this particular AR the best groups using 77 grain bullets - velocity is only 2,260fps at the muzzle. That same AR with that 77 grain load using my Burris XTR 1-8X24 scope normally gives me anywhere from 1.2 to 2.0 inches at 100 yards at 8X using my Atlas bipod from a bench. Plenty good for fox or coyote.
 
Seeing reticle shift upon dry firing may simply be the action shifting in the stock. Poorly bedded rifles can suffer this problem.
 


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