Scope tracking board...... anyone make one?

[mdewitt71]

Thinking of making a Scope tracking board scale to set up and try my scopes out to see how well they are actually tracking..... figure I could set it out in my backfence line and not have to fire a shot to test a few scopes out from the basement window.

Anyone build one or use em often?

Found this one on youtube and thinking of doing something like it-

[BCHunter]

I haven't used one usually just try and shot the box from same aim point. Shoot adjust 1" right, shoot adjust 1" down, shoot 1"left, shoot 1" up should be back to zero.

[Kswhitetails]

I just did that with my Athlon Ares BTR. Fired a 2 round group, about 1/2 inch apart at my natural zero for the "center". 10 MOA corners; went 10 up and right, 20 down and left, 20 up, 20 down and right, 10 up and left. Third round right about where the first two holes were. Perfect box, all impacts within roughly 1 moa of anticipated placement. 1 Moa discrepencies were me or ammo, as my groups of the day were all right around the 1 moa mark. I don't have a vise or led sled, so best I can devise.

I'm hoping to get to 1000 soon, so I wanted to see if tracking went well when really spinning the dials. I should probably do this again with 40ish moa up 20 left/right corners as so far my best load with the Scenar L 120gr seems like it's going to require about 40ish MOA of dial at 1k. We shall see.

[mdewitt71]

Yea shooting the box method is the preferred way I suppose.
I have done with with a box target before but, I am talking a plywood board rather and strap or vise scope or rifle in place and track.
No firing required and I can do it from my basement garage door to my pasture fence line on a crappy day.

[Sticks]

I would think that the windage tracking is worthless. I have yet to see anyone dial for wind. Zero it and use holdovers. Elevation tracking however...that has to be nuts on.

[Klem]

Yea shooting the box method is the preferred way I suppose.
I have done with with a box target before but, I am talking a plywood board rather and strap or vise scope or rifle in place and track.
No firing required and I can do it from my basement garage door to my pasture fence line on a crappy day.

71,
My thoughts are that the recoil and how it affects the repeatability of the scope is an important part of the box test. Firing live ammo also means you don't have to clamp the scope in a vise. Just aim at the same mark each time.

Sticks,
I dial for windage and then wait for the flags and/or mirage to be the same in a string. If it's just practise then I still dial what the Kestrel tells me and adjust for each shot using the reticle as the wind increases and decreases. If there's gross change in the wind I'll reach for the dial.

[mdewitt71]

71,
My thoughts are that the recoil and how it affects the repeatability of the scope is an important part of the box test. Firing live ammo also means you don't have to clamp the scope in a vise. Just aim at the same mark each time.

I agree fully but, If the scope doesnt track on a board when I first get it, it wont track from being fired.....
This actually gives me something to check the scope out when I first get it without firing a round.

[Klem]

You're quite right...Not as if we can go firing bullets into the wall of a gun shop when checking out scopes.

On this...has anyone else noticed that on some scopes with strong erector springs (like the Mk4) that sometimes when you dial small increments (e.g. 1/4MOA or 0.1Mil) the MPI does not change until the next shot? The recoil jolts the erector mechanism and the lash holding the reticle on the last position frees the reticle to move to the next position. I remember being advised that if you want to shift dials small increments to over-shift and then come back; i.e. go two clicks and come back one. Like an extension of the old lash fix...when dialing, go slightly past the spot and come back to it.

[mdewitt71]

You're quite right...Not as if we can go firing bullets into the wall of a gun shop when checking out scopes.

On this...has anyone else noticed that on some scopes with strong erector springs (like the Mk4) that sometimes when you dial small increments (e.g. 1/4MOA or 0.1Mil) the MPI does not change until the next shot? The recoil jolts the erector mechanism and the lash holding the reticle on the last position frees the reticle to move to the next position. I remember being advised that if you want to shift dials small increments to over-shift and then come back; i.e. go two clicks and come back one. Like an extension of the old lash fix...when dialing, go slightly past the spot and come back to it.

Yep, have come across that with a few models.
I think grease/ lube along with interior component make up on each scope plays into it as well.
You can really see this on a tracking board and the one of the reasons I am building one for home use.

[Randy99CL]

You're quite right...Not as if we can go firing bullets into the wall of a gun shop when checking out scopes.

On this...has anyone else noticed that on some scopes with strong erector springs (like the Mk4) that sometimes when you dial small increments (e.g. 1/4MOA or 0.1Mil) the MPI does not change until the next shot? The recoil jolts the erector mechanism and the lash holding the reticle on the last position frees the reticle to move to the next position. I remember being advised that if you want to shift dials small increments to over-shift and then come back; i.e. go two clicks and come back one. Like an extension of the old lash fix...when dialing, go slightly past the spot and come back to it.

When I was learning in the '60s and '70s scopes weren't as precise as they are now and I was taught to tap the adjusting screws after moving them. Using something like a cartridge or a coin and a couple of light taps, the idea was that if the screw was adjusted to a slack position you had to bump it to get the adjuster to move and take up the slack.
I learned the couple-marks-past-then-return method too.

My 1979 Redfield Widefield 1.75-5x, still a great scope. No click-adjustments, no calibrated markings. Coin slot operation.Redfield 002A.jpg