Scope Zero Check Thread

[sargent]

Tikka T3X Lite .223, SWFA 3-9, Talley rings
I shot the four AAC 77TMK rounds that were left in the clip after hunting season.
Not the best group ever, but still zeroed (2" dot)

The zero on this rifle hasn't been touched since early October of 2023. Since then the rifle has ridden thousands of miles in the truck, shot around 750 rounds, and killed an elk and five whitetails.

 

[morgaj1]

Tikka t3x .223
Swfa 3-15x
77 tmk : 25 gr lever'
Was having issues hitting at 350yds last time out. Zero check this session quickly confirmed a loss of zero.View attachment 812541
This rifle has been degreased and torqued but never paint penned. The front action screw was slightly loose. Also, when I went to slip my turrets I noticed the cap set screw were loose and had scratch marks where they didn't quite grab while adjusting (I have 2 different practice loads that I adjust off my 77 tmk zero)
Adjusted once... not quite there
View attachment 812545
Adjusted once more...
View attachment 812548
Perfect now.
Gonna do some stock work to this rifle now. When I reassemble everything will be paint penned, even the turret caps...

What rings?

 

[Moose83]

What rings?

Burris tikka direct mount rings

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Rifle: Tikka T3X Chambered in .260 Rem. Factory 22” Stainless Fluted Barrel. Stockys VG2. Shooting 143 ELDX hand loads.

Scope: Maven RS1.2 SHR MIL.

Scope Mounting: UM Tikka Low Rings and Bases (using the provided threaded pins).

Shooting Position: Seated at portable “bench”. Plastic table and folding chair. Heavy front bag, light weight low fill rear bag.


Time/Activity Since Last Zero Check: Gun was last zero checked in mid August when I made a small correction in the scope when I switched from factory 129 SSTs to 143 ELDX hand loads. It’s since been used on dozens of field shooting days, 2 round trip flights, and bounced around in my jeep and pickup back seats like all my guns.

Zero Check and Target Results: I fired and chrono’d two 3 round magazines back to back for a 6 shot group at 100 yards. Nothing surprising. This gun has always been an absolute hammer, it’s never been cleaned since 2021 and “should” be nearing the end of its barrel life

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Rifle: Tikka T3X Chambered in .223. Rokstok. Factory 20” 8 twist blued barrel chopped to 16” and threaded. Shooting factory Black Hills 77 TMK ammo.

Scope: SWFA Fixed 10x42

Scope Mounting: Sportsmatch T084s.

Shooting Position:




Time/Activity Since Last Zero Check: I can’t find photos of the last zero check. It’s been at least 6 months. This gun was recently fully cleaned other than the barrel, scope and gun wiped down, glass cleaned, throat and action rinsed with brake clean, bolt oiled. As per usual, many field days of use and vehicles ridden in. This gun is waiting on a dedicated 5.56 suppressor to arrive but figured I’d give it a quick zero check this morning.

Zero Check and Target Results: I fired and chrono’d a 4 round mag plus 1 group of 5 at 100 yards. Looked at my strelok app and saw that I had 2680 in for my calcs. Neat!

 

[eoperator]

Defiance/bart 6cm
Baby atacr nf rings

Do not save previous zero target but it had a near perfect zero. The rifle has 4k+ truck miles 5 kills and a significant impact from slipping on a snow covered rock (with a scope coat on) since it's last on paper zero check.

3 disappointing 5 groups had me thinking something had shifted. The rail is epoxied and pinned everything has been thread locked and torqued so i decided to clean the barrel first before changing zero on the scope.

While the barrel was soaking with foaming bore cleaner I noticed the brass had dents and abnormal powder residue on the shoulders. Willing to bet when I wiped out smacking the scope on a rock it dislodged some big chunks of carbon from suppressor that the first round pushed up into the neck/shoulder of the chamber forcing the brass off center a bit. The bolt face had chucks of carbon squished into it also.

After cleaning 1st round went a bit high right and the next 9 pounded the center out like these 108eh's usually do.

 

[Jimbee]

Two Tikka 233s with SWFA 6X and Sportsmatch T084. One is a stainless superlite cut to 18" with a YHM K2(?) Supressor and Stocky's VG. Second is a stainless lite cut to 17" with a JK solvent trap turned supressor, factory stock, vertical grip. Both have Waters Rifleman mags.
Superlite has 2k plus rounds and the other has 500+ and neither has ever been cleaned. Shot prone off sandbags. 77tmk with 23.7 8208xbr and ADI brass.
Edit: the gun that grouped high had the elevation turret dialed up .2 and taped to shoot some practice rounds I have loaded up.

 

[Tanner]

Those are slick!

Two Tikka 233s with SWFA 6X and Sportsmatch T084. One is a stainless superlite cut to 18" with a YHM K2(?) Supressor and Stocky's VG. Second is a stainless lite cut to 17" with a JK solvent trap turned supressor, factory stock, vertical grip. Both have Waters Rifleman mags.
Superlite has 2k plus rounds and the other has 500+ and neither has ever been cleaned. Shot prone off sandbags. 77tmk with 23.7 8208xbr and ADI brass.View attachment 814095

Those are slick. I’m dying to know more about the solvent trade turned suppressor.

 

[Jimbee]

Those are slick!

Those are slick. I’m dying to know more about the solvent trade turned suppressor.

I don't think it's allowed anymore but it actually works great. With the current short wait times I'd just buy a real one.

 

[KickinNDishin]

My goal is to go from 0% two years in a row for Cold Shot Challenge to 100%. The graph paper is 1/2" squares, and I think practicing with these three rifles will help me reach my goal.

"Someone" switched scopes around and I had 5 loaded cartridges left from last year. So this is to track my zero for when I load more. After those five, I adjusted .5 up and .1 left.

Weatherby 7-08 Vanguard in a Bravo chassis with a Nightforce.

This is the Tikka 22br in a Bravo chassis that @sndmn11 uses for scope writing. We put the other Nightforce on this so it's like my deer gun above. The dot by the writing is where we left the zero.




This is a T1x with a third Nightforce and normal stock. The top right dot we adjusted down .1 and left .1. The bottom left dot was the next group and where the zero was left.

 

[FLS]

12/30/24
Semi custom Remington 700 25-06
Razor LHT 3-15 in Hawkins rings
110 Tipped Game Kings over RL23
I noticed a pretty good ding in the objective end so I shot a few rounds to check zero. No idea when it happened, been hunting since Sept here in SC, NC and a week in WY. All good. Killed a doe at 275 a couple of hours after checking zero.

 

[FLS]

12/30/24 Zero check doe.

 

[Tanner]

6mm Creed and 115s on the left and 22-250 with 88s on the right. Still working up loads for these and had minimal 115s left. So far very happy with how both are shooting.

 

[SouthPaw]

Tikka .223, SM lows, SWFA 3-9 allcproperly assembled. This rifle hasn't been mechanically altered or cleaned for almost 2 years and nearly 3k rounds.

the past 1200ish rounds have been the same load, and zero hasn't been adjusted since starting. Actually took a pic on yesterday's hike after seeing this thread. Almost had a coyote but he buggered as I built position. Layed down in the dirt and shot 10 rapid fire over pack.



Gun is zeroed. Another 5 kneeling over upright pack with two hitting same hole.



Then shooting 2.5ish moa rocks at 692 and 712 yards, dope is still good.

 

[KY_coop]

My solus 6.5cm w/ athlon ares 4.5-27 took a tumble off a sawhorse onto some packed gravel today. Fell on stock then on elevation/ parralax turret. Put it on paper and it was .7 mils high and .4 left. Went to adjust and the turret must of shifted .2 during the impact. So I adjusted .5 down and .4 right. Also broke my vortex flip cap.

 

[mddat]

Recently put new scope on

Rifle: Howa 1500 mini 6arc
Scope: Burris signature HD 2-10
Mounts: EGW rail and Warne MT rings
Position: Prone

Got on Paper then shot centre group, went to top left and forgot to adjust sights first, after adjusting shot 2 more. Top right and bottom right are zero checks while at the range different days

 

[Castle Rock]

Tikka lite stainless in 243 with the supposedly unreliable 2-12 Athlon
Rifle is zeroed at 100 and I have my data down pat for this gun, 7 mils to 900


Dialed my elevation and shot 8 rounds for fun after an f class match, with a bit of boiling mirage

 

[morgaj1]

My solus 6.5cm w/ athlon ares 4.5-27 took a tumble off a sawhorse onto some packed gravel today. Fell on stock then on elevation/ parralax turret. Put it on paper and it was .7 mils high and .4 left. Went to adjust and the turret must of shifted .2 during the impact. So I adjusted .5 down and .4 right. Also broke my vortex flip cap.
View attachment 815119
View attachment 815120

What rings?

 

[KY_coop]

What rings?

Mt tech. torqued correctly.

 

[lhbackcountry]

Agree! I think most have done a great job posting up details so far. I think some detailed information like the following would be helpful...

Rifle: Tikka T3X Chambered in .223. Rokstok. Factory Tikka barrel. Shooting 77 TMK Factory Ammo.

Scope: Maven RS1.2 SHR MIL.

Scope Mounting: UM Tikka Low Rings and Bases (using the provided threaded pins).

Shooting Position: Prone from a Walmart sleeping pad (everything is rocky/sandy and sticks to clothing here). Heavy, lightly waxed front bag. Very low fill, lightweight rear field bag. Off hand controls the butt stock, bag used to "fill the void" is all.

View attachment 807740


Time/Activity Since Last Zero Check: Gun was last zero checked on 10/13/24. It has since shot hundreds of rounds and rode in backseat of my Jeep on a mix of highway and desert washboard/farm roads. It's also ridden around for hundreds of miles on off road trails and canyons getting to shooting and scouting spots here in Arizona. It's also been on two plane rides since then as well.

View attachment 807738

Zero Check and Target Results: The idea for this morning wasn't to "shoot for a group"... The point was to lay down in a very stable position and fire 10 shots in a row at a 1" square at 100 yards. If I was "checking zero" for a new load, or new lot of ammo, or if the gun took a bad enough spill that I thought something may be "off", the process would be similar; but each shot would be very controlled with more "care" put into each trigger press.

Today was literally lay down, put the reticle dot in the middle of the square, and fire back to back shots for 10. I was fighting the sun pretty badly to my 9 o clock and had my hat in a weird position to try and block it. You can actually hear the bolt hit my hat off my head and I had to put it back on before the last shot of the second magazine. Winds were light and variable with gusts up to 8MPH from the 10 o clock position.

Sorry for the poor photo quality, it's a screen shot from a video of the shots. See video below.


View attachment 807739


Live Video of the Shots:

Results:

There is nothing concerning here at all. Gun is ready to keep on killing coyotes and rabbits here in the desert and ringing steel in hunting terrain all Winter.

I’m stealing this backseat molle and bag strapped in truck. Might make me be organized through hunting season