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Posted: 3/17/2024 11:40:23 AM EDT
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Am I the only one that has very little faith in digital rifle scopes retaining zero? Between switching batteries, batteries going dead, and general electronic quirks, I have a hard time putting much faith in electric scopes. I have an Iray Rico mk1. I absolutely love the scope as far as image quality. Gun was zeroed at 100yds, dead nuts accurate. Friday night I completely missed a coyote at 75yds. Shot it yesterday to check everything was ok, and it was hitting 4" high at 100yds. I haven't messed with anything on the gun or scope. My hunting partner has a Pulsar Trail XP50. He's been battling a wandering zero all season. These are two pictures he sent me. Both groups shot 2 weeks apart with his gun and scope. No adjustments made to anything in between groups.  Even when I charge my battery pack, I take out one and stick a fresh one in right away so it's not sitting without a battery for any length of time. Is this just a common part of using these scopes, or are we doing something wrong? |
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Originally Posted By Tejas1836: I always check my zeros when I take them out, never had any problem with my Thermion 2 XP50 with multiple zero points. Might check your mounts, make sure rings are properly torqued When you say you check your zeros, are you actually doing a confirmation shot before you take them out, or just checking your X/Y zero settings in the scope? Neither of our scopes use rings, both are in ADM QD mounts, and neither had been removed and reinstalled. |
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Originally Posted By IwearMossyOak: When you say you check your zeros, are you actually doing a confirmation shot before you take them out, or just checking your X/Y zero settings in the scope? Neither of our scopes use rings, both are in ADM QD mounts, and neither had been removed and reinstalled. Originally Posted By IwearMossyOak: Originally Posted By Tejas1836: I always check my zeros when I take them out, never had any problem with my Thermion 2 XP50 with multiple zero points. Might check your mounts, make sure rings are properly torqued When you say you check your zeros, are you actually doing a confirmation shot before you take them out, or just checking your X/Y zero settings in the scope? Neither of our scopes use rings, both are in ADM QD mounts, and neither had been removed and reinstalled. Shoot some rounds at a target at set zero ranges |
| I've owned a couple of Pulsars that wouldn't hold zero. I don't care if they say the new ones are better I wont buy anymore Pulsar. I've had great luck with Bearing Optics, my Super Hogster has been virtually bullet proof. I currently have four zero profiles for different guns and ammo and it consistently holds and returns to zero when moving between rifles and loads. I did get a zero change about midway through last season on my primary rifle, but after I made the correction and tightened the mount it finished the season nuts on. I'm very happy with Bearings performance vs Pulsar. |
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A lot of people who make digital scopes and cheap thermals probably have no idea of the forces involved in firing a rifle. I recently reviewed a cheap chinese thermal that was rated to 800Gs... Yet the front lens assembly is around 200 grams weight and is fixed in place by 4x M2 bolts, so 200Gs is a reasonable maximum, and that's at the engineering limits of the fixing bolts without examining the flange as a source of issues. There's also the bolts inside, parts prone to lateral slip, even simple things like how the components are fixed to the PCB with metal legs that aren't accounted for. Not to mention room for lens distortion and optical paths to change shot to shot. These kinds of scopes are often fine for rimfires and PCP air rifles, which have relatively gentle weapon shock, but anything centerfire and any calibers are going to place the internals under significant stress. So you either get them as a cheap functional NV scope and you can check zero before you use them, or you spend some serious money and buy something designed for military use. And of course, if accuracy is critical, you avoid the cheap stuff altogether. IMO, that spread is way too high for a scope if it's POI variation shot to shot - forget the grouping shift vertically, that grouping alone is terrible. I would expect around inch groups at 100 yds, 2-4 inches at the most due to challenges with thermals and how they show images. The lower group looks OK, but the top one and the difference to the other suggests problems if you've eliminated the rifle and mounts as a source of error... I'd guess something has come loose inside. |
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I had the same issues with my Pulsar XP50. Wondering zero. They replaced it and it seemed to work, but I never used it much after that. Trijicon Reap IR 35mm rock solid after two years of heavy use and being banged around. I've thus far had bad experiences with iray products. New Bolt TX60C, dead pixel after a week of use. New M6 broke after a couple weeks. Replaced under warranty. The second one broke after 8 days 
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A lot of issues with lost or changed zero are due to the mounts. Where possible I use cantilever mounts (not QD) and tighten to the specified torque requirements, these are not only much more robust they give you much better optionality in regard to eye relief. Cheap QD mounts are cheap for a reason as are cheap conventional rings. The mounts that come with some of the PRC/BLR scopes aren't the best and the attachment points to the scopes are prone to loosing unless you use loctite blue. The other point pick your zero distance and confirm at a second distance, this is essential if you want to keep with in a tight target size < 4 inches. Obviously if you change ammunition for something spicier or heavy this become more essential e.g. understanding your ballistics to sight distance whether looking MPBR or preferred spacing. |
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I would trust .mil issued optics, such as the PoT, HISS, etc but I don't even trust Chinese trash to turn on. My aiming is either via mfal or passive. Here are two rounds fired at 100 yards. One via Raid Xe, one via P2 at 12 on my nx8. Zero verification tonight. POA COM. If you want thermal you can trust, I'd look into current issued systems. I don't shoot far enough distsnces to make it necessary. As you can see, mfal or passive is doing fine for me out to at least 100. Attached File |
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No issues with ALPEX 4K 50AEL or Panther 2 35 PQ35L. Both have LRF and ballistic calculators with in scope display of corrected aim point. I use good quality cantilever mounts with correct torque measurements, scope is correctly bedded with vertical cross hairs at 0 degrees and verified by level. Virtually all drift can be attributed to rings/mounting/ammunition change. On small game failure to hit is often related to height above bore Vs velocity of bullet issues. Always worth checking MPBR for the ballistics relative to mount height. Especially running hot loads e.g. 3200FPS e.g. 8 inch MPBR 2.5 inch above bore 39 yard zero 3200 FPS BC 0.29 100 yds +2.87 200 yds +4 300yds +.01 350 -4.3 PS another point ensure scope is finely focussed to minimise parallax problems PPS another common issue with clip on type thermals is collimation PPS check zero at two different distances (confirming zero and ballistics). |
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