Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Had a weird day at the range with the Finnlight.

I removed the scope and tried a different one since my last range trip. I left the Optilock Ringmounts on the Zeiss 3X9X40 Conquest and I thought it would be on or very close because of the way the mounts go back on the dovetail.

I shot 20 rounds today and shots were scattered all over at 100 yards. Two would be in the same hole then one 6 inches off. Then another 4 inches from that one. No groups to speak of, low, high, left and right. Several times I got two in the same place but never 3 or more.

My last outing it was shooting 3 shot dime size groups very consistently.

I checked mounts and action screws. I'm going to mount another scope and see if this Zeiss has gone tits up.

I did the same thing on a 1 whole gun it turned out to be the rings weren't tight enough which would be best case scenario. Hope it's no the scope. Tighten everything up base n rings and see what happens. Good luck!

You better send it to me for a complete evaluation. I will pm you my address....grin.

Scope issue of some sort or you were just having one of those days.

Dink

I had a conquest take a crap last month and do the same thing you are describing, a trusted scope is the way too go.

Plus conquest reticles are kind of thick which makes it harder to group as well.

Sounds like a scope issue to me...........Good luck..................Hb

Good Greaf.

Experienced this a few times in the past and only once was it the scope. The others were due to not getting the mount seated and tightened up properly.

Mount seems tight to me. I'll change the scope and report back. The factory ammo seemed different chambering. This particular Hornady ammo has always seemed tighter when closing the bolt. It has always been a little harder to close the bolt on. It doesn't show any signs of pressure or anything but it just gives a little more resistance closing the bolt than some other brands. This time it didn't.

Put a Leupold on it.

I'm going to mount the VXII 4-12 AO back on it, that was on it before the Conquest. It was my rimfire scope when I first got it and it has fine cross hairs but it served duty for 2 years on the Finnlight before I bought the Zeiss. I killed several deer with it despite the fine reticle. I don't think it ever really hindered me in low light.

The newer ringmounts, with the torx screws (which are same head size as the action screws), are spec'd to be torqued 45-in/lb. The action screws are spec'd to be torqued 55-57-in/lb. I have found my action screws hold torque and stay put when set same as the ringmounts at 45-in/lb. I take my scope off fairly often for travel and to use the fixed sights. Keeping things simple, I picked up a compact Felo torque screwdriver which I use to remove the ringmounts, remove the action, reassemble and re-torque. Doing so, the rifle has proven repeatable shooting back into the same groups. Not sure if this is your issue, vs something broken, but it is something to consider.

In additon to the above, I tend to keep a proven test lot of ammo along with a target if things appear askew down the road. I then can come back and bench the rifle with the test ammo to compare groupings. This eliminates some of the guess work.

Good Luck