Rifle Scopes NightForce Beast Reticle seems to shift as power is changed

[diverdon]

My brother bought his two sons each a NightForce Beast. So yesterday they are mounting the scopes to their rifles one of them noticed that when he was looking at objects roughly 500 yards from the house and changed power while looking through the Beast the reticle seemed to shift right to left zooming in and back the same amount left to right when zooming out. ( Or perhaps the other way around.)

1) Is this something that could happen because the ocular lens/paralax is out of adjustment?
2) Is there some other feature of the Beast that perhaps is not set properly.

I would like to know if this is something that anyone else has experienced, and if their is a cure for it. To my brother it does not seem like something that should be happening on a scope at that price point. I kinda have to agree with him.

 

[Clearlight]

Sounds hinky : if more than one pair of eyes confirms this issue send it back .

 

[diverdon]

Sounds hinky : if more than one pair of eyes confirms this issue send it back .

Thanks, The odd thing is that both scopes do exactly the same thing. My brother was going to call NightForce Monday but I just thought I would check here in case there was come combination of adjustments that could cause this.

They are at three pairs of eyes confirming.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

They will just tell you that FFP scopes do that. I went through this and even explained that none of my dozen NXS F1’s, 4-16 ATACR F1, other 5-25 ATACR F1, S&B FFP’s or any other FFP scope I’ve owned did it. Others have had the same dealing and all seems to be centered around the 5-25 models.

Your best bet is going to be seeing if the dealer can swap you out with something else if you haven’t mounted them yet.

 

[diverdon]

They will just tell you that FFP scopes do that. I went through this and even explained that none of my dozen NXS F1’s, 4-16 ATACR F1, other 5-25 ATACR F1, S&B FFP’s or any other FFP scope I’ve owned did it. Others have had the same dealing and all seems to be centered around the 5-25 models.

Your best bet is going to be seeing if the dealer can swap you out with something else if you haven’t mounted them yet.

Does the point of impact change unless you take the backlash out or is the shift just some kind of illusion? Thanks for the info. It sucks that NightForce would do something like this. I know that I had already decided on an ATACAR 1-8X but this incident has shifted my opinion of NightForce far more than the reticle is moving. I'll select a different manufactur from now forward.

 

[918v]

In a ffp scope the poi does not shift. This is caused by tolerance stacking. You need a certain amount of clearance between the moving parts else they will seize in extreme temperatures. Sometimes the tolerances stack in your favor and you don’t see the reticle shift. Sometimes the tolerances stack against you. NF won’t do anything about this.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

Does the point of impact change unless you take the backlash out or is the shift just some kind of illusion? Thanks for the info. It sucks that NightForce would do something like this. I know that I had already decided on an ATACAR 1-8X but this incident has shifted my opinion of NightForce far more than the reticle is moving. I'll select a different manufactur from now forward.

I wouldn't know, at the same point it started shifting was when something let loose in the parallax after 50 rounds of 300WM and the image went blurry. Parallax and a clear image would no longer match up. It went back to NF after they berated me saying I don't know how to adjust a diopter, ignoring the fact that the diopter was obviously properly adjusted prior to the failure that happened from one shot to the next. It came back to me with a note saying they adjusted something in the parralax, I reset the diopter correctly and the parralax was still off, I would either experience a parallax situation where the reticle would shift but have a clear image, or I'd have a blurry image but the reticle would be parallax free. They basically refused to take another look at it and told me "we will have to have a difference of opinion". I sold it to a friend dirt cheap who was going to attempt to get it repaired, therefor I never got to see if the reticle shifting when changing the mag would cause a POI shift or not but I was told it wouldn't.

I had a shitty CS experience and was basically told to get fucked on a $3K scope, but like a fool I still like NF stuff because for the most part their shit is super solid. I just suggest staying away from the 5-25 ATACR because I'm not the only one that's had an issue with the parallax and the reticle bouncing seems to be a flaw.

 

[Steel+Killer]

I wouldn't know, at the same point it started shifting was when something let loose in the parallax after 50 rounds of 300WM and the image went blurry. Parallax and a clear image would no longer match up. It went back to NF after they berated me saying I don't know how to adjust a diopter, ignoring the fact that the diopter was obviously properly adjusted prior to the failure that happened from one shot to the next. It came back to me with a note saying they adjusted something in the parralax, I reset the diopter correctly and the parralax was still off, I would either experience a parallax situation where the reticle would shift but have a clear image, or I'd have a blurry image but the reticle would be parallax free. They basically refused to take another look at it and told me "we will have to have a difference of opinion". I sold it to a friend dirt cheap who was going to attempt to get it repaired, therefor I never got to see if the reticle shifting when changing the mag would cause a POI shift or not but I was told it wouldn't.

I had a shitty CS experience and was basically told to get fucked on a $3K scope, but like a fool I still like NF stuff because for the most part their shit is super solid. I just suggest staying away from the 5-25 ATACR because I'm not the only one that's had an issue with the parallax and the reticle bouncing seems to be a flaw.

The OP said these were the BEAST models. I had a 5-25 BEAST and never noticed a reticle shift on it I sold it because I didn't care for the .20 MIL adjustments then needing to use the lever to get the .10 MIL adjustment if I needed it.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

The OP said these were the BEAST models. I had a 5-25 BEAST and never noticed a reticle shift on it I sold it because I didn't care for the .20 MIL adjustments then needing to use the lever to get the .10 MIL adjustment if I needed it.

I’m quite aware they’re beast models.

 

[diverdon]

Yes these are the Beast. I just got back from my brothers house and it definitely moves. I would call it more like six inches at 500 yards than the 10 - 12 my brother estimated. Yet the point is that it should not move at all.

 

[demolitionman]

I've got a FFP Bushnell DMR2 that does the same exact thing. At first it bothered me but soon as I shot it, I realized it didn't affect anything downrange, so I've since forgot about it and all is good. I too almost sent it back to Bushnell....I know different companies but I think this is common with FFP reticles shifting while adjusting magnification.

 

[diverdon]

I've got a FFP Bushnell DMR2 that does the same exact thing. At first it bothered me but soon as I shot it, I realized it didn't affect anything downrange, so I've since forgot about it and all is good. I too almost sent it back to Bushnell....I know different companies but I think this is common with FFP reticles shifting while adjusting magnification.

According to Redneckbmxer that is more or less what NightForce told him. We just finished going through several each S&B PMII's Vortex Razor Gen II's and a NF BR scope and an older NF 3-15 I have bouncing around. None of them do it.

 

[BCX]

I’m having the same exact issue with a Leupold Mark 8 1-8. I noticed it after about 300 rounds into it. I sent it in w detailed instructions on the problem as it wasn’t like that out of the box. Leupold inspected it shipped it back and same thing as before. I just called them and now sending it back a second time for the same issue. Not acceptable for a 3k Teir 1 scope. None of my other FFP scopes act like this.

 

[Clearlight]

Was at the range today instructing . This thread popped into my head , due to the vast
variety of FFP scopes there . To relieve the daily routine , I checked every clients optic ,
everything from Hennys via S&Bs and March’s , down to ( a hinky ) PST . None of them
displayed any reticle shift during zoom . The optic mentioned by the OP was not
present , to my disappointment . It’s on my mental to do list .

 

[BCX]

Was at the range today instructing . This thread popped into my head , due to the vast
variety of FFP scopes there . To relieve the daily routine , I checked every clients optic ,
everything from Hennys via S&Bs and March’s , down to ( a hinky ) PST . None of them
displayed any reticle shift during zoom . The optic mentioned by the OP was not
present , to my disappointment . It’s on my mental to do list .

I think once I get this scope back fixed it’s going up for sale. As far as I’m concerned Leupold wasted my time by just sending it back w no explanation...

 

[Msalas87]

Have the same issues with my ffp 5-25 atacr. Called nf and said unfortunately that’s normal, could send it in but prob won’t get fixed. Said if the whole image moves with the reticle, it’s not a prob

 

[BCX]

Yeah that scope of mine is long gone! Almost forgot about it lol

 

[BCX]

It never effected accuracy