Quote from: slicksbeagles1 on March 12, 2023, 08:46:44 AM
What is a tracking test?
I talked about a simple way in post #2. You can easily do it at
home at the kitchen table. If you don't have a gun stand or vice
just use whatever you can to get it in a solid, no movable position.
Having the paper only a few feet away works great for magnified
or non-magnified.
You can think of a tracking test as a way to confirm that all the
little micro gears inside the optic are working properly & holding
the adjustments. For every click adjustment, it's either moving
a laser or reticle depending on the style scope or red dot. More
times then you'd expect, those little micro gears are not aligned
properly, damaged teeth, or just out of spec.
Always good to do it, before anything, when getting a new one,
or to verify on an older used one.
Feel free to pm me if you would like more of an explanation or
some assistance in how to do it.
Another benefit of doing it with the plumb bob & paper is when
the optic has a cross hair. During your initial installation of the scope,
when you get the firearms level in whatever method, you can
then just line up the crosshairs with the string. Then you know
your reticle is exactly level. Which is really important.
Another good trick if it's a crosshair style scope is to shine a flashlight
through the front. Make sure it is magnified to the max. You can
then see the actual crosshair shadow & line it up to the plumb bob
precisely. If it's a bolt action you can also look through the barrel,
make a dot & get a measurement of height over bore & set you center
that far above the dot. Then you're also bore sighted & will be
really close during the zero process.
It's a lot to read, but really easy in practice.
