Thread: No 8 wire dialing scope question

Okay so I have a tikka 308 with a Burris full field 2 scope on it. To keep from losing zero I have placed bits of masking tape on the dial to mark 100, 200, 300 and 400m zero.

My question is; is this reliable/repeatable? If i constantly dial on this type of scope (which it wasn’t really made for?) will I possibly lose my zero? I’m assuming this type of scope was only made to be dialed every so often when sighting in or changing ammunition

Cheers

Not sure I understand the question, but yes, it should be repeatable. If it isn't, there is something wrong with the scope.

Hi MB. I guess if you imagine a normal dialling scope turret with numbers on the turret, my turret has pieces of masking tape instead of those numbers. I think I am too new on here to post photos, which would help explain better

Just Googled the scope and it looks like it doesn't have turrets as such, just an elevation dial. It could be used in the way you describe, but it's not ideal because you wouldn't know if the dial had been turned all the way around and would be a bit fiddly. Either way though, it should be repeatable.

It doesnt matter if its a dialing scope or not. If its good quality it should still be repeatable just depends on how accurate the marks are that you made

Thanks for the input MB and blip. It only needs to do about 1/3 of a turn to get to 400 so shouldnt get lost in the rotations

Unless the masking tape moves theoretically it should be all good. A tiny spot of white paint would probably be better if I'm understanding this correctly.

not familiar with that particular scope but a lot of them have markings or a scale of some type on the turrets some can be set to zero as well

I've seen a Weaver Grand Slam used as a dial scope for a 2 day training weekend. Dialed as far as it would go and back again......a lot! And always returned to zero. But dont forget how many clicks you've dialed and always return to zero immediately after shooting.

I did something similar by sticking a socket on the finger adjusting cap then using a label maker and a vivid to have a play at dialing before commiting to a scope with an exposed dial

It worked for the trial but it would never be something id rely on for hunting and such

its always good to know how many revolutions and clicks it is to the bottom of the adjustment incase you dial the wrong way or think you did and need to double check to get you back to your 100m zero

One way you can test it without burning through any ammo is to use a bore sighter and dial up and down several times, check at the limits of your adjustment (the markers not the true limit of scope adjustment) if the scope is consistently landing on the same place.

The other option is to clamp the rifle in a shooting cradle or or even an adjustable engineering vice on a portable bench or back of a ute. Get it lined up on a target before locking down the vice or cradle. Whilst locked in, dial in the elevations while looking through the scope. If the crosshairs dial to the correct holdover and then back to the original zero then you can have reasonable confidence in the dial accuracy of the scope.

I had one scope that I could not zero. I mounted it on a spare rail which I clamped in a vice. I tried dialing while looking through the scope. Generally the crosshair would stop moving at about 1/3 of the way from the dial limit and then release and jump as soon as the other dial was dialed out. Dialling and shooting at the range it was impossible to recognise what the problem was. Watching the resultant crosshair movement while dialing gave a very obvious picture in about two minutes.

That's not unusual and will occur if your scope mounting is on the piss and you've used almost all your windage to correct. When the elevation is adjusted it will reach a limit sooner. Instead of being able to adjust to 12 o'clock in the circle the erector tube will hit its upper limit at say, 10 o'clock. And as you say adjusting the other dial (moved in the correct direction) returns some of the other dial's adjustment.

I had it happen on an old Leupold. I had used quite a bit of windage to line things up vertically at 100yds. I then went to a shoot at 400 yards. My shots were low so I cranked up. My elevation ran out but just before I ran out my shots as well as going higher as I'd hoped went sideways as well, without touching the windage. At the time I couldn't work out why the shots went sideways when adjusting the elevation and why I had run out of elevation earlier than expected.

That's why its important to find your scopes optical centre before mounting and if you have windage in your mounts, use the windage adjustment to get somewhere near to vertical. Fine tune using the scopes windage turret.

Interesting zimmer, so effectively the reticle has a sort of circular area it can move within as opposed to being able to move the full distance on both axis like a square?

Well, the erector tube. Yes.

If in the second image (already adjusted a fair way over) the windage is adjusted too far the vertical elevation is restricted.