scope for developing loads

pete evans

Well-Known Member
just changed the scope on my 308 from a 6.5- 20 x44 vx111 to a 6x42 S+B. The schmidt is a more suitable scope for my needs ie close to med range lowland stalking however with the same loads i was getting 1/2 inch groups with the leuopold wound up to 20 and 1 inch with the S+B.
I will probably put the leuopold back on when developing loads and change back to the 6x when done. What do you guys do? or should i be able to group the same with both scopes?
 
I've been thinking the exact same thing! I use a 6x42 but I dont find it ideal for shooting tight groups. Im thinking of maybe putting a cheapo variable mag on just for testing loads then swapping back when I've found a good one...or maybe I'll just be creating problems for myself and I should just learn to shoot straight :rolleyes:
 
thing is with the 20 power i can use a tiny aim point but with the 6 power i need at least oa 1 inch solid circle and the cross hair even obscures this.
 
I too use 6x42 scopes but the gentlemen who is helping me reload also uses a powerful 20x scope to remove all human error out of reloading.

A lot though does depend on the target and I prefer a target with either a diamond or four squares - see Target 2 or 3 on the downloads page of this forum.

With a 6 power scope I put my cross hair in the middle and balance out an equal amount of white around each hair. I find this more consistant that trying to put cross on a dot.

On my combo I am stuck with my fixed 6 x42 zeiss as it is on a claw mount rather than rings. On the 243, it has fixed Apel mounts and would be reluctant to switch scopes as am sure that switching scopes regularly is a recipe for problems.

I suppose the ideal compromise would be to have two different scopes in detacheable mounts.

Like everything it is a compromise, and I suppose it is a question of balance. For the combo I have a load that seems to shoot into 1 inch at 100 yds - that is acceptable to me and will put venison on the table. But I can see the staisfaction of getting a load to shoot much tighter than that.
 
Try using a square zeroing target and alignining the crosshairs with a corner. It's not a substitute for a highmag/fine crosshair but it can help.
 
All my scopes are of the variable type so all have the fine plex whitch can pose problems in poor light but my way of overcoming this is to use two scopes on one rifle the largest calibre one i have .308Win,for load development and open ground i use a leupold 6.5x20x44 and for the woodland and dusk i have a S&B 6x44(or 42) on a one piece leupold base and Q D mounts and have never had any problems with the zero on any of the scopes.
 
Back
Top