How to check if your elevation adjustments are true, without a gun vise?

[punkwood2k]

I have doubts if my elevation clicks are true 1/8 MOA.. Is there a way to measure my clicks without using a vise to hold it still while spinning the knob? I assume I could always fire a group, do another group at +2 MOA, and repeat a couple more times and measure the vertical spread of the groups.. But that puts too much error into the system in my opinion, so I was looking for another way?

 

[seanhagerty]

Get a peice of brown painters paper 4 feet long and hang it at 100 yards. Long ways up and down. Then shoot a single round at a target point, then dial up 30 MOA. Fire this next round with the same point of aim. The bullet should impact 30 minutes high from where you aimed. (About 30 inches.) If its off, you can calculate how far off your clicks are.

 

[ShtrRdy]

I made a fixture which held the scope and allowed me to dial the turrets. If it wasn't steady enough I put some sand bags on the platform.

 

[punkwood2k]

Get a peice of brown painters paper 4 feet long and hang it at 100 yards. Long ways up and down. Then shoot a single round at a target point, then dial up 30 MOA. Fire this next round with the same point of aim. The bullet should impact 30 minutes high from where you aimed. (About 30 inches.) If its off, you can calculate how far off your clicks are.

Yeah, I considered that, but there's all kinds of human error that I would put into that equation..

 

[punkwood2k]

I made a fixture which held the scope and allowed me to dial the turrets. If it wasn't steady enough I put some sand bags on the platform.

huh.. never thought of mounting the scope to something without the rifle.. lol. nice idea!

 

[seanhagerty]

Yeah, I considered that, but there's all kinds of human error that I would put into that equation..

So shoot it twice to see if its repeatable.

 

[M40_A1]

Before you send your scope back to the manufacturer in a big huff.........

IF your scope's adjustments are in TRUE MOA (as opposed to inches-per-hundred-yards), 30 MOA at 100 yards will be 31.4", not 30".

 

[JEG]

I Have a scope that has adjustments that are closer to true moa than shooter moa.........
What I did was shot a group at 100yds, then cranked up to about 36moa held same poa and shot another group. It hit 37.25" up. Took 1.25"/36 to figure how much its off. Shooter app has a feature to input your corrected click value, and it automatically gives you corrected dope for your scope. Tested it out to 1000yds and "ding!" Hit.

 

[CoryT]

I use a laser rather that shooting groups, since that takes the shooter and ammo out of the equation. Set a tall target at 100, place a aiming point near the bottom edge. Set the rifle on the aiming point and then mark the laser position. Dial up some reasonable amount, like 10 MOA or 2 mil, reset the rifle on the aiming point, mark the dot, lather, rinse, repeat for the full travel of the scope. Measure the full travel, then divide by the total number of clicks to see the travel per click. Checking the distance between all the points will show if there is a 'jump' or other weirdness, a plumb line through the marks will insure the adjustments are vertical, at least as long as you set the rifle level to start.

 

[JEG]

using a laser makes sense.

 

[DCR]

You should be able to get the rifle steady enough to run the test with a front rest/bipod and some sand bags to hold her steady.

 

[M40_A1]

I use a laser rather that shooting groups, since that takes the shooter and ammo out of the equation.

Excellent! Thanks.