Mk 4 CQ/T
I just picked up my Mk 4 not to long ago and took it to the range. I zeroed it at 1x power and felt comfortable with my zero. I switched it to 3x to see what kind of groups I would get there. My zero completely changed and I was off the paper. I read the manual to see if it had any specific zeroing instructions and didn't see any. Can anyone here tell me why this may have occurred? This is my first variable power scope for an AR, so I wondering if anyone here has pointers. Thanks
I believe your supposed to zero it on the highest magnification.
Zero should not shift with magnification change, on a quality scope. I would contact the manufacturer.
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I have the cqt, it doesn't do that. You still should zero at maximum magnification though. What direction was it off the paper? And did you happens to zero at, say 25 yards and then pull out to 100 yards to test the 3x? That'd give you a significant shift
Thanks for the replies. I thought that maybe I should have zeroed it initially at 3x. Also yeah, I had some old military zeroing targets and used them at 25m to zero at 1x and then moved the target to 100m and fired at 3x. I will try it out with a 3x zero this weekend. I guess I am just used to the ACOG.
Virtually all scopes have zero shift with power change. It is my understanding that with 2nd focal plane scopes such as the CQ/T this is actually unavoidable not a function of poor manufacture and that the magnitude of the shift will change depending on how far away from centered the erector of your scope is when it is zeroed. Do some testing shooting at the same range with each power to determine the magnitude of the shift. I have found 2MOA shifts to be about the average. I am not sure how big a shift could be considered the upper limit of normal but I wouldn't worry at all about manufacturers defects until probably 4 or 5 MOA of shift. At that shift you might start thinking that defects could be the problem. You could test this by centering the adjustments and shooting at two identical targets that are large enough for you to be on the paper even though the optic isn't zeroed. With the adjustments centered the zero shift with power change should be very small indeed.
Originally Posted By Stairwayto7:
Thanks for the replies. I thought that maybe I should have zeroed it initially at 3x. Also yeah, I had some old military zeroing targets and used them at 25m to zero at 1x and then moved the target to 100m and fired at 3x. I will try it out with a 3x zero this weekend. I guess I am just used to the ACOG.
This might have caused your shift, the 25 yard zero corresponds to a 300 yard zero, so you're shooting pretty high at 100 yards
Yeah, for some reason that did not occur to me until last night. I completely forgot about the ballistics off the 5.56 round as well.
