Michael70
AH senior member
- Joined
- May 29, 2009
- Messages
- 83
- Reaction score
- 251
- Location
- Darwin, Northern Territory Australia
- Member of
- SSAA
The question I am asking involves the magnitude of impact required to affect the movement of POA in a variable scope mounted on my M70 373H&H.
The background to this story commenced on a regulation meat hunt where we had gone for the afternoon to roll over some young scrub cattle for the freezer. We were targeting the youngsters and eventually caught up with a few that I laid the crosshairs on.
The first was a young bull probably 60-65 metres away, standing side on with a fellow young bull. His head and neck were above the grass line (which is about chest high in this place), he obliged and held still for a moment. Not wanting to waste any meat with a body shot, I took aim between the eye and the ear. Boom!!.......and he raced off with his mate none the worse for wear.
Shocked, I followed the departing animals with the movement of the vegetation, but they had been swallowed up before a follow up presented. Ego bruised, we hunted on.
We found a small herd on the edge of a billabong hiding behind some trees and the ever-present grass, which is uncontrollable this time of year. Not going to mess this one up.
Crawling through the grass, (yes, it is useful for something) I closed the gap to about 50 metres and placed the crosshairs on the forehead of the youngest animal facing us. I could almost taste the back straps and rump steaks that were coming off his small but fat frame when, boom went the bangstick again……as before, he bucked, spun around and raced off……. none the worse for wear!! Another clean miss.
I sat there in disbelief, my mate stared at me like I had just kicked a puppy, horror and disbelief etched in his face. We had hunted hard for these two golden opportunities, and I had fluffed them both!! I was ready to go home, confidence shattered I contemplated another hobby, too young for lawn bowls I thought.
The scope was out, that’s it…more in hope than with any certainty. It had to be it (or lawn bowls it was going to be) but I needed a visit to the range to confirm. Contacting my mate and fellow AH’er Avon_7 a date was arranged at the range and the future of my hunting career to be determined.
Not trusting myself entirely, I wanted to take my competence (or lack thereof) out of the equation with Avon_7 doing all the shooting. He is a gun target shooter as well as hunter and the gold standard to use if there is any question regarding the nut behind the butt. First shot at 100 metres, five inches high. Vertical, horizontal on bull, second shot same vertical distribution but moved an inch to the right. The gun was shooting high.
Scope adjusted, twenty clicks down with no lateral adjustment. Boom went the third shot and now we were five inches low from the bull. Was the scope cooked? A quick check confirmed that the scope is regulated in ½ minute clicks therefore we overshot the mark. Ten clicks up and the third shot was taken, bull!! I jumped behind the gun and loaded the next round, bang, right on bull but an inch to the right of Avon’s beautifully centred bullseye. Yep, this was done.
Now to the question for my learned friends on this site, how hard is too hard when bumping the rifle around in the car or in the field to move the adjustment? The culprit here is the gun-rack on the front of my quad (or ATV for our non-Aussie friends). This is how I carry the rifle in the field and all I can assume is that the constant and significant movement and knocks affect the zero, along with the ability for the scope to maintain this long term.
Granted the shots taken were at small targets (by virtue of brain shot targets) at ranges under 100 metres, with the scope being high already and allowing for in field variability it would have been easy to miss the brain box so the only way to confirm is to take it back on the bike back in the field and see what happens.
If the scope moves again, I am ripping the bloody thing off and going for open sights only. Ranges are usually well under 100 metres and body shots on buffalo and scrub bulls will be taken. Some wasted meat for sure but I can be assured I will have some meat for the freezer (which is currently empty).
The scope is a 1-6x24 Meopta, brilliant glass and fits the rifle like a glove. No complaints but maybe not strong enough to take the rigours of the quad and rattling on the floodplains. It is a hard gig and I wonder if anyone has successfully used a scope that puts up with this treatment long-term?
Please let me know your thoughts and thank you if you have read my tale of great woe this far.
The background to this story commenced on a regulation meat hunt where we had gone for the afternoon to roll over some young scrub cattle for the freezer. We were targeting the youngsters and eventually caught up with a few that I laid the crosshairs on.
The first was a young bull probably 60-65 metres away, standing side on with a fellow young bull. His head and neck were above the grass line (which is about chest high in this place), he obliged and held still for a moment. Not wanting to waste any meat with a body shot, I took aim between the eye and the ear. Boom!!.......and he raced off with his mate none the worse for wear.
Shocked, I followed the departing animals with the movement of the vegetation, but they had been swallowed up before a follow up presented. Ego bruised, we hunted on.
We found a small herd on the edge of a billabong hiding behind some trees and the ever-present grass, which is uncontrollable this time of year. Not going to mess this one up.
Crawling through the grass, (yes, it is useful for something) I closed the gap to about 50 metres and placed the crosshairs on the forehead of the youngest animal facing us. I could almost taste the back straps and rump steaks that were coming off his small but fat frame when, boom went the bangstick again……as before, he bucked, spun around and raced off……. none the worse for wear!! Another clean miss.
I sat there in disbelief, my mate stared at me like I had just kicked a puppy, horror and disbelief etched in his face. We had hunted hard for these two golden opportunities, and I had fluffed them both!! I was ready to go home, confidence shattered I contemplated another hobby, too young for lawn bowls I thought.
The scope was out, that’s it…more in hope than with any certainty. It had to be it (or lawn bowls it was going to be) but I needed a visit to the range to confirm. Contacting my mate and fellow AH’er Avon_7 a date was arranged at the range and the future of my hunting career to be determined.
Not trusting myself entirely, I wanted to take my competence (or lack thereof) out of the equation with Avon_7 doing all the shooting. He is a gun target shooter as well as hunter and the gold standard to use if there is any question regarding the nut behind the butt. First shot at 100 metres, five inches high. Vertical, horizontal on bull, second shot same vertical distribution but moved an inch to the right. The gun was shooting high.
Scope adjusted, twenty clicks down with no lateral adjustment. Boom went the third shot and now we were five inches low from the bull. Was the scope cooked? A quick check confirmed that the scope is regulated in ½ minute clicks therefore we overshot the mark. Ten clicks up and the third shot was taken, bull!! I jumped behind the gun and loaded the next round, bang, right on bull but an inch to the right of Avon’s beautifully centred bullseye. Yep, this was done.
Now to the question for my learned friends on this site, how hard is too hard when bumping the rifle around in the car or in the field to move the adjustment? The culprit here is the gun-rack on the front of my quad (or ATV for our non-Aussie friends). This is how I carry the rifle in the field and all I can assume is that the constant and significant movement and knocks affect the zero, along with the ability for the scope to maintain this long term.
Granted the shots taken were at small targets (by virtue of brain shot targets) at ranges under 100 metres, with the scope being high already and allowing for in field variability it would have been easy to miss the brain box so the only way to confirm is to take it back on the bike back in the field and see what happens.
If the scope moves again, I am ripping the bloody thing off and going for open sights only. Ranges are usually well under 100 metres and body shots on buffalo and scrub bulls will be taken. Some wasted meat for sure but I can be assured I will have some meat for the freezer (which is currently empty).
The scope is a 1-6x24 Meopta, brilliant glass and fits the rifle like a glove. No complaints but maybe not strong enough to take the rigours of the quad and rattling on the floodplains. It is a hard gig and I wonder if anyone has successfully used a scope that puts up with this treatment long-term?
Please let me know your thoughts and thank you if you have read my tale of great woe this far.