BTM

Vapodog and Noway: Thanks again. Maybe I' m too idealistic expecting to not have to re-sight a rifle before every shooting session, but I have guns that never change zero (as do my friends). Plus, even if I did have the luxury of sighting in before a hunt (which usually impractical and noisy at hunting camp), it still doesn' t explain why the rifle changes during the same day. I have a friend who' s a police sniper, and he says he' d chuck any rifle that did what mine was doing. (His duty weapon is nothing fancy, either; just a heavy barreled .308 M700).

Larry338: I' d also pondered how I rested the rifle (great minds think alike, right?), but I kinda doubt it for the following reason: I often alternate rifles when to let the barrels cool. I' ll shoot one shot out of the .300, then lay it aside while shooting something else, then repeat for a five-shot group out of both rifles. (I know that' s not proper benchrest procedure, but it eases the boredom of waiting for a barrel to cool.) If anything, such a practice would lead to large groups, but it still shoots tight groups. But later in the day (no temp change) or after I' ve zeroed for a different distance, it' ll shoot several inches off.

Right now, I' d rather have a 2 MOA rifle that holds zero day in and day out that my sub MOA rifle with a wandering sero.

Thanks again for all of your input. A mechanic buddy has a great saying: " It' s alway' s something simple." When I find the answer, I' ll probably kick myself.

LARRY338

Yeah, that sounds like a mighty perplexing thing your rifle is doing. To get one acting like that I would think something is moving. Not sure what though since when things move typically, they dont produce good groups in different places. I give up. Its like your buddy says, the answer is easy, you just dont know what it is yet.

BigBore1895

I would recommend a new scope for that sucker. Even with BOSS, that rifle has some recoil, and the main complaint about those Leupolds is that they cannot hang on to rifles that kick. They have their guts busted out by thumpers. Got a Burris for my 45/70, that thing kicks like a mule and that scope is one tough nut. Dead on all the time.

bigcountry

Guys, for a Vari-X III, it should come back to zero every time. I use them with target knobs at long distances. And if it doesn' t go back to zero, it gets sent back to leupold. Which I have done. Here is a test i did suggested by some benchresters.

Shoot a group, move up 6MOA and to the left/ (or right) 6MOA. Shoot another group. Move down 12MOA, another group, to the right (or left) another 12MOA and another group, up 12MOA, another group. Then put back to the original position over 6MOA and down 6MOA. It should be a box, and come right back to zero. But it takes around 18 or so bullets. But its fun to test out your scope.

I already sent one back over this. If your getting close to the end of adjustment of your scope too, it can fail this test. Thats the reason I try to center the scope to get the most adjustment.

NorthJeff

Have you tried a different, proven, trusted scope on the rifle, so you could at least rule out the rifle or the scope? It would be a shame to send the scope back twice and later find out it was the rifle, or something else.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan

BTM

NorthJeff: I' ve been thinking the same thing, but I don' t have a non-Leupold scope to check it with. But that may change: I' ve been eyeing one of those Kahles 3-9 scopes with the hashmarks for different distances (DPS or something like that). If the problem turns out to be the scope, Leupold owes me a lot of money for wasted ammo!