GreyGhost85 Report post Posted September 17, 2016 Okay. I have a doozy here. I have a rifle that USED to shoot unbelievably well. 1/2" 200 yard groups consistently. I let a buddy borrow it on a pack trip and it spent around 100 miles in a scabbord. I can't get it to shoot now. 2-3" groups at 200 and they seem to be stringing diagonally up and right. No, it isn't a vortex but it is a higher end, reputable brand scope. Everything is torqued, load hasn't changes, barrel only has maybe 200 rounds through it, etc. for all of you that have had scope failure, what were the tell tale signs you got? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted September 17, 2016 Have you cleaned the piss out the barrel since that trip? I'd look at cleaning the barrel to bare metal (jb bore paste rejuvenated my 257 wby) and then check the crown. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PRDATR Report post Posted September 17, 2016 Move the scope to another rifle and see what happens. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dse Report post Posted September 17, 2016 The only time I've had a scope break it was pretty obvious, the cross hairs would tilt a couple degrees every shot. I would give it a good cleaning and check the torque on rings & mounts as well as the bedding screws. I would also check the crown, I have had one rifle with a small chip in the left side of the crown, every group I fired would be one in the bull and every shot after would be a 1/2" further right. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tac Report post Posted September 17, 2016 My 338 Lapua had the same problem till I cleaned it it shoots great clean so I keep it clean. I use wipe out accelerator and foam it took 4-5 treatments to get it completely clean Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ernesto C Report post Posted September 17, 2016 Like PRDATR said, try the scope on another rifle or another scope on that specific rifle. It looks to me that something happened to your scope. Had the same problem with a Zeiss Conquest scope once. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted September 17, 2016 Ps, you're gonna piss off the Vortex fanboys! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
L Cazador Report post Posted September 17, 2016 It's simple you don't have to take your scope off. Shoot a square. You zero at a hundred then shoot two shots on new target with the original zero, now move the windage adjustment 4 moa to the right and shoot one shot, it should move four inches to the right. Next move the elevation adjustment 4 moa down and shoot one shot, it should move 4 inches down from the last shot. Now move the windage adjustment four moa to the left and shoot one shot, it should move 4 inches to the left. Then shoot your last shot by moving the elevation adjustment up 4 moa, it should place your shot back in the original group where you zeroed in at. You should have a square formed by the six shots. You didn't mention what caliber you're shooting but it isn't unusual for a scope to fail after a couple of hundred rounds in a hard recoil caliber. Most of the rifles I work on because of loss of accuracy are usually badly fouled or have loose scope mounts! Very rarely is it the scope. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GreyFox Report post Posted September 17, 2016 Do you have access to another scope - no matter the brand or quality: Replace the scope, sight and shoot for consistency. FWIW I have a few extra scopes that I know are good and reliable to test on customer's guns. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thegunsmith2506 Report post Posted September 17, 2016 Another thing to check is the rings. I have had 2 sets of high end rings that when torqued to spec would let the scope move during recoil. Neither set would hold the scope tight enough. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost85 Report post Posted September 17, 2016 The rifle is a 338 Lapua. Rings and base are tight. I shot it and even tried different torque settings. Whatever the problem is just happened all at once. It wasn't something that slowly happened like i figure a dirty barrel would do? I would try the "square" trick but it's all over the place. Hard to make a 4" square shooting 3" groups Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DesertBull Report post Posted September 17, 2016 Was there a rodeo your friend didn't tell you about? 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Benbrown Report post Posted September 17, 2016 Have you checked to see that the action screws are tight and torqued to specs? Can you tell if the action has shifted in the stock? If the groups are consistently 3" at 100 yards, I would suspect a bedding problem. But if all of the above check out, I would contact the scope manufacturer's customer service folks and arrange to have your scope checked. It's usually free except for shipping one-way. My experience with Leupold and Swarovski has been ten days to two weeks for the turn around, but it may be longer with hunting seasons starting up everywhere. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big or Bust Report post Posted September 17, 2016 Mounts, rings, scope, crown, or bedding in that order. All easy to check. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WHT_MTNMAN Report post Posted September 17, 2016 My first guess was vortex scope.. 2Nd like others have said is needs a great thorough cleaning. I've seen them open up to giant groups 4-5" groups at 100 yards and shrink back down after the cleaning... 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
