Rifle scope question

I would fire a few more rounds. Not that NC Star are good scopes, but my First scope I put on my 223 was a NC Star 6-24 x 56. Once it was zeroed it was zeroed. Never had to re zero it. For 4 years it held zero just fine. Now mind you. Once you get it zeroed do not mess with it. Those suckers track like a car with no tires or steering wheel:D. 3 clicks up could put you 10 inches to the side and 5 inches low. Mine was mil dot, so I just shot it at different distances and learned where I needed to go. Flawless for 4 years.
 
Do you have iron sights for the rifle?

Try them.

OK,maybe your groups open up to 1 1/2 or 2 in.No big deal.

Do you get a consistent POI/POA result?

I'll take 3 in groups that hold still over .75 groups that move 6 in.

If the rifle is stable with iron sights...the dubious scope is obviously the answer.

Everybody has their own priorities.

IMO,the rifle and scope are a team. I suggest they should both be in the same league.
 
>I would fire a few more rounds. Not that NC Star are good scopes, but my First scope I put on my 223 was a NC Star 6-24 x 56. Once it was zeroed it was zeroed. Never had to re zero it. For 4 years it held zero just fine. Now mind you.

*Once you get it zeroed do not mess with it.* Those suckers track like a car with no tires or steering wheel. 3 clicks up could put you 10 inches to the side and 5 inches low. Mine was mil dot, so I just shot it at different distances and learned where I needed to go. Flawless for 4 years.<

A while after I zeroed my Ncstar 2-6 at 6x at 100 yds, I decided to see how it did at 200,300,400 yds. I wanted to leave it unadjusted to see what bullet drop was for those ranges, and to see what groups I could get. But, at 400 yds w/ some wind at my 3, I had to do some clicking to stay on paper.
After I was done, I adjusted back and went to the 100yd bench and rezeroed; after that, I started doing offhand shooting at 100' at 2x, and eventually figured out there was a COI problem.

I'm hoping adjusting clicks is the problem, versus adjusting mag power. Next range trip I'm going to get 100yd zero at 6x, then test it up and down power and see what happens. I'll post what I find.

>Do you have iron sights for the rifle?<

No, I learned to shoot at Parris Island w/ iron sights and qualified as Rifle Expert, but glass works best for me nowadays - or adjustable glass that holds COI *will* be best......

This Ncstar 2-6x allowed target acquisition of a closeup target very fast and easily at 2x, and allowed some very nice accurate shooting all the way out to 400 yds.

I'm just going to have to sort out what the hell is going on with this big COI change.

I guess it has to be:
1) click adjustments causing COI to go haywire or,
2) COI changing with mag power adjustment or,
3) a combination of both?
 
RA- Must have been a good wind?. 100 to 400 should not drift enough to cause you to miss paper all together ( unnless it was a good wind ). I don't by any means want to trash NC Star, but I don't want to endorse them either. As i said- Mine was a MIl dot 6-24 x 56. I could zero it very easy and it stayed there till I moved it. Mine was zeroed at 100 yards as well, but I could use hold over ( Mil Dots to reach out to 300 plus yards. Still right in line with bullseye, just very low.
Glass was good, not great. To tell you the truth- I would still have that scope, but later for the heck of it I put it on my 308. After about 10 or so shots a chunk of paint ( Inside the scope ) broke loose. Did not affect the scope at all other then now and then it would fly up on the glass inside and cover the crosshairs.
I shoot most time in the very early morning ( set up bench with flashlight) because as soon as it bacame even some what light the benches were full. Not once did I have any issues seeing the target. Just for those that want to say the light gathering is bad in early morning. I shot it as early as any deer hunter would have. It was my Yote scope for 4 years also. Shot it in dark ( midnight ) with just moonlight to see by- Still was able to see very easy with it. They are OK scopes, but with out a doubt the worst tracking scopes ever made:D
 
>
RA- Must have been a good wind?. 100 to 400 should not drift enough to cause you to miss paper all together ( unnless it was a good wind ).
<

Not heavy wind, about 10-15 w/ gusts when I shot at 400 (200 and 300 was earlier in the day w/ minor wind).

The 400 shooting is on the right target:
The blue was my first 5 shot group and I lost 1 rd. off paper, so I adjusted windage.
I came 6" right from my first group, which had 1 missing; the paper is 2'x2'.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=99843&d=1439941976

I think tomorrow will be good weather for shooting so maybe I'll figure out what's going on.
 
Last edited:
I've bought lots and lots of budget Chinese scopes (yeah--some people never learn, I know)--and one by one they ultimately all have failed--some immediately--some after a while. Nikon is as low as I go usually--even had my first one of those fail recently.
 
This Ncstar 2-6x allowed target acquisition of a closeup target very fast and easily at 2x, and allowed some very nice accurate shooting all the way out to 400 yds.
Click to expand...

I have a very clear Bushnell 4x. For closer objects, I am thinking of sticking one of these, a SeeAll open sight, on top of it.

th


Just another option for skinning the close up v. far away cat.
 
I'm the OP, I went to the 100 yd range (bench, sandbags, good ammo) this morning and tested the scope, expecting bad results.

The last group I shot before this, was way low and right of center. I click adjusted to get it to about where it should be, and shot a few 2 rd. groups, got good results, did some more clicks to get just right at 6x. I tapped it to get it to adjust and ran the magnification up and down after each 2 shot group to see if that would mess it up.

The scope performed fine. At 6x it hits good, at 4x it hit about the same as 6x, and at 2x it hits about 2.5" above the 6x center, which isn't great but is acceptable for my usage.

I would assume that I had messed up the click re-adjustments a couple months ago after I had altered the scope for 400 yd shooting, but after I did that, I went back to the 100 yd range and verified that it was hitting ok.

I'll just leave it on the rifle. I do offhand practice at 2x with it every week and if my offhand groups COIs shift I'll dump the scope.

Past that, I don't know what to think

11/20/15 Keeping the Ncstar on this good shooting AR didn't sit right w/ me - I bought a Leupold Rifleman 2-7x33mm for $183. It's compact enough, it's variable, and nobody seems to complain about Leupold quality. It'll be fun to zero it and see what groups I can get with it.
 
Last edited:
A number of years ago I had a Redfield 2-7 scope that seemed to change POI with changing power.

Wrapped a towel around the rifle, clamped it in a Workmate so it was stable. Put the crosshairs on the intersection of a fence post and wire at about 100 yards. Turning the mag up and down, the horizontal crosshair moved up and down.

Sent it to Redfield, they fixed it on warranty. It worked fine and I traded it off.
 
Scope is the likely issue

In my opinion, it's much better to put a $1,200 scope on a $30 rifle that the other way around!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top