For our PR 2 we do a tall target test and I on the ride back from Talkeetna we spoke about creating a fixture to mount the rifles in so we can speed up the process in order to check scopes. We want a "bench rest" style mounting fixture we can strap a student's set up in and test. The boards are easy enough, but securing the rifle tight enough is always a challenge in the field. So we came up with a new plan for this.
I am gonna address it as I said and may do a new tall target video in the very near future as I have another block of classes happening in July.
I, for one, am keenly interested in this. As said, the target part of the test is easy to come up with. And, it's easy enough to come up with something solid, heavy and even adjustable, with a rail on it to mount a scope like KSE's rig, but not quite as easy to do it for the entire rifle. I've always hated actually shooting a tall target test, because I can't get past the feeling that it's wasting ammo and barrel life to test something that, with a proper rig, can be tested mechanically while also eliminating shooter error.
I've got a bunch of sandbags made from old blue jean legs, creek sand, and double zip ties on each end. They're really heavy. When I test a scope mounted on a rifle, I set it up on the bench on the bipod and rear bag, then pack these heavy bags around it as tightly as possible, and then nudge and push and squeeze on them until the crosshairs line up on the target zero. Then I carefully turn turrets and check the tracking. If I'm not careful, it will slip in the bags and not track. But, if I get it just right I can get it to go up and down, left and right several times with a consistent return and feel confident the scope is tracking. Having said all that, I HATE this method and want a better one. First, loading, unloading and moving around a half dozen 20 lb. bags is totally obnoxious and un-necessary. But the main thing is that it still isn't stable enough to be completely reliable - there's some art to using it. Every time I do one, I keep swearing I'm going to come up with a rig before I have to do the next one, but then I get the current one tested and the idea goes on the back burner.
Having said all that, I am really surprised that, amongst a group of guys with so much collective talent, and seeing how accurate tracking is (at least to me) the MOST important function a long-range scope has to have, that we don't have any discussions or sharing on how to make a test rig that you can solidly strap a rifle in. Maybe it needs its own thread and we can brainstorm some ideas...
