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Posted: 3/1/2003 8:19:45 AM EDT
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I am beginning to believe that I should have stuck to the less expensive stuff. Last year I decided to to pick up a Ferret upper with my tax refund. The upper arrives and it is awesome. Getting a scope to work on it is driving my frigging nuts. The first scope I tried was a Swift optics. After about 2 or 3 re-mounting attempts, the damn thing was shooting about 9 inches low and 5 inches left. I figure the scope was junk. No problem....Swift has an over the counter warranty. I exchange the scope and the new one shoots identicle. I then removed the cheap Simmons 3x9 off my deer rifle and stick it on. Finally, the damn thing hits where I aim. So then deer season arrives so I put the scope back on my deer rifle. I have a tasco sitting here so I stick that on the 50. 2 days ago I take the gun back out and try to sight it in. About the time I am getting close, the top turret decides to puke its innards out the top of the scope. SHIT. So before I leave I go inside and purchase a Bushnell 3x9 3200 series scope. I couldn't afford it but I stuck it on the plastic. I take it home, mount it up, and bore sight it. This morning I go back out to sight it in. The best I can do is get it where it is shooting 12 inches low at 100 yards. Damnit. I am telling ya, if somebody would have walked up and offered to swap me a pre-ban AR at that point, I would have probably done it. Pissed is a mild way of saying how I felt. So now I guess I will pull the cheap ass Simmons back off the .06 and hope it doesn't puke. We are having a fun shoot here in Michigan next weekend and I would like to be able to take this thing along but I don't see the point if the son of a bitch wont even hit where I am pointing it. This sucks because I live paycheck to paycheck and simply cannot afford a Leupold or Nightforce. And please, dont anybody spout off with that sanctimonious bullshit about only a rich man can afford a cheap scope. The fact is if I was a rich man, I wouldn't be here bitching now. I really like my Ferret and I love pulling the trigger on that monster but this scope issue is pissing me off to no end. Now I really like the Ferret but here is a question for you guys. Being that I am strictly a plinker, and that I have yet to find a place locally that is longer than 100 yards, and don't really need anything more than 10 power, can you recommend a scope (other than a Tasco Super Sniper) that is not $500 +, and will hold up untill I am in a better financial position? I am really starting to think I should have stuck to ARs. Sorry for the long post but I am really disgusted at this point. |
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Have you checked the rings? Are they off in any way, either in the way they're shaped or on the mounting surface? How about the scope rail, no burrs on it, straight and level? The reason I'm asking is just to make sure there's no tension being put on the scope body and causing it to torque. If it's being stressed in any way, when you fire the gun it will just make matters worse. Try checking Guns America, Gun Broker or any of the other auction boards to see if you can pick up a used Leupold. Might even be able to pick one up off of ebay if you don't get out bid. If your problem remains then I would say there's something wrong with the mount. |
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Lumpy223, I did not want to spend $1000 on a scope and did not. Try a Leupold VX-II or one of there fixed sight scopes well under $500. I put a Vari-XIII on mine Ferret50 and have had no problems. I mounted it as low as I could without it touching the barrel and I have it sighted in 1 inch high at 200 yards and have a lot of up adjustment left. And Leupold's have a life time warranty. I know the Vari-XIII is over $500 but the VX-II is around $325. Also mount the scope as low to the barrel as possible to give you more up adjustment. If your scope is mounted to high and you scope only has a little up adjustment you will never get on target. The reason a lot of the higher priced scopes cost a lot is because of the amount of adjustment you get as well as quality. Hope the helps. |
| .50 BMG has a nice way of saying screw you scope. I was in the same boat when I got my fifty. I put on a Tasco SS for it was the most expensive scope I could afford at the time, and figgured I'd just save for a more expensive scope later. Now being later, and the scope being chewed alive I wish I would have just saved up for a Leupold for I would of been half way there, and money ahead. I guess I learned another life lesson you want to play with the Big Dog you have to pay for what's needed to play.~Justin I know how you feel! Grimm |
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Have the rings been lapped? When I bought the scope for my BFG 50, Don said that I needed a lapping kit for the rings. I had never heard of a lapping kit before. I ordered one and will have my gunsmith lap the rings and install the scope when my BFG arrives. You can try contacting Don at [email protected] about a scope recommendation. He has great prices and is very helpful. HTH's |
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How about this. Since it seems you do not have enough vertical travel in your scope. Why not go by any machine shop, and ask for some small pieces of shim stock. Say .005, .010, .015. and cut a small piece to fit between the bottom of the scope and the rear scope ring. This will lower your scopes front a couple minutes of angle. Then try to see what that does. I'd start with the .005 and if thats not enough then try .010 etc. If you trim the shim stock carefully, you will not even be able to notice that it is there. JC |
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Thanks for the tip JC. I just finished remounting and bore sighting the scope. I am hoping I just screwed up the intial mounting job. Once I got it screwed on and went to bore sight it, I had to turn the scope down quite a bit to get it bore sighted (it was maxed out in the up direction). It looks like I may have it, at least I hope so. I will be attempting sight in again on Monday or tuesday after work. |
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Lumpy, a fixed power scope should be a bit more rugged than a variable. The sad thing is, by the time you have broken 3-4 cheapies, you could have had a decent scope. Check out Sableco for a Leupold M8 12x40AO for $338, or an M8 6X36 for $245. They have other lower priced fixed power scopes as well. Hope this helps... |
| I too have a Ferret50 i'm setting up. I was told by quite a few 50 shooters to try a BSA scope, So I bought one (6 - 24) x40) from SWFA, for $99, low HD Steel rings from Brownells for$79. I still need to do some shooting, But Dave from team Ferret even used one of these scopes on a Ferret50. ...... WE will SEE |
| My Tasco SS has crapped out after about 70rds of .50 through my Serbu. The crosshairs now rotate after each shot, though it still seems to be holding its zero. However, I recently noticed that the mount on my Serbu is angled slightly to the left. I need to take a pic and send it to Mark Serbu to see if there's anything that can be done to fix it. |
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Lumpy, pleae don't get mad at me for asking this but do you have a shock-proof mount? I'm only asking because a friend of mine has a similar set-up and had to but a shock-proof mount with a rubber padding inside of the weaver mount. Before he bought it he was buying scopes by the six-pack. |
| The kind of mount I am referring to has a small lining of rubber between two pieces of aluminum to absorb the shock instead of delivering the entire blow to the scope. I swear I have seen it before but I couldn't tell you who made it or where to find it. It is just my guess but it seems if any gun needs it, it would be a gun like yours. That being a .50. |
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Interesting idea if nothing else. As far as how the new scope is working out...Seems as if my last batch of ammo isnt much good. I was starting to get close on zeroing the thing but was experiencing a 50 percent rate of failure with the ammo. Repeted attempts at getting the rounds to fire didn't help. I finally gave up untill I get some more ammo. |
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I have been shopping these things so much, so long, I am getting a headache and becoming a little frustrated. grrrrrr BTT as this thread had some good info for me, and hopefully can help others. (leaning towards the Leupold Vari-X III- 4.5 X 14- 50- Illum-Mil-Dot) |
| Lumpy, before you write off the ammo as being bad, did you know that some of the Ferret50's have Firing pin problems? Dave, at Spider Arms told me to send back my bolt to replace the firing pin because they had problems with some of them not firing on the first pull of the trigger. |
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