Rifle Scopes Rifle-Mount Rig To Test Scope Tracking On-The-Gun?

[vh20]

I'm piggybacking off of LL's thread on return-to-zero-failures:

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 posted the following in his thread, and then decided it may be better to start another thread:

"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..."

So, what have you guys done in this regard, and if you haven't, what ideas come to mind?

 

[Veer_G]

It sounds like something that should already be on the Sinclair site. Hyskore makes a product that should fulfill your needs, in theory, but gets crap reviews. I'm kind of surprised that Ransom never took their concept and applied it to rifles.

 

[phlegm]

Use a green laser that's bright enough to see at 100 yards. One person sits behind the gun and is responsible for watching the reticle go, while a spotter verifies that the laser is on.

Otherwise, if you trust the subtensions of your reticle, dial and hold the same increments, then shoot using the reticle. If you can avoid shooter error, there shouldn't be a down side to this.

 

[kansas]

I have the Hyskore vise and it works fine...not great but it has a decent clamp to keep the rifle tight, a strap to hold it in the vise tight and some leveling legs so you can zero the rifle/scope. It needs a solid bench to sit on. I've successfully tested 2 gen II razors, 1 gen I razor, two Nightforce Atacrs, 1 Nightforce SHV, etc...it works. An I beam like the humbler would be better but this works fine and gives me the confidence that the travel is good and returns to zero. Besides I hate to remove a scope to do a TTT then have to remount and zero again. I've had bad days at a match where I was trying to figure out why I missed so much and it was nice to be able to screw the rifle into a rest and test the scope without taking it off the rifle.