[BigMike]

I bought myself a Socom II for Christmas and have been fooling around with it ever since. I put a Sadlak industries Airborn Scope mount on it with a Leupold VX-2 1-4 scope. Wednesday afternoon I was attempting to zero the rifle at 100 yards shooting ZQI 147 gr ammo. My groups were good ( about a inch and a half, 3 shot groups) until I made what I thought was my final adjustment on the scope to get it in the red and everything fell apart. It went from the 1.5 inch groups to 4 inch groups to groups that were barely on my 12 inch target. I brought it home, gave it a thorough cleaning ( its only had about 150 rounds through it since I cleaned it last), removed the scope, checked all the mounting hardware with my fat wrench. I reinstalled the scope, torquing all the screws per the instructions. Back to the range this morning and I am stretching to get a 6 inch group with at 100. Thoughts or suggestions or anything I can do? It was shooting so well and all of a sudden it went crazy. Thanks, BigMike

 

[noob14s]

That sounds like your scope took a dump.

 

[Hobo Hilton]

Shoot it with iron sights at 50 yards...... If it's OK, move out to 100 yards.

Get back to us with the results and we'll go from there.

Hobo

 

[Whiskey11]

That sounds like your scope took a dump.

This. M1A/M14's need a robust scope capable of handling the recoil impulse. There are A LOT of good threads here that talk about the types of scopes that are durable enough for this action. Leupold Mark 4's, Viper PST's, and the hyper high end optics (NF, S&B, etc) are all capable enough, otherwise look into the airgun scopes for the durability required.

 

[BigMike]

So yall dont thing the VX-2 Leupold is enough scope to withstand the recoil? I will yank it back off and try with Irons and see what it does.

 

[KurtC]

The way we mount scopes on an M14 often require that the scope adjustments are on the extreme of either elevation or windage, sometimes both. When this occurs, recoil plays hell with all but the most robust erector systems. The VX-2 is mediocre in that respect.

The way to test the scope is move closer so that you can recognize a group. Change you windage at least 16 clicks in the same direction and see if your group moves accordingly. Move everything back and shoot again. Try the same with the elevation. If your groups aren't following your adjustments, then your erector system took a dump. I believe Leupold has a lifetime warranty.

 

[BigMike]

The way we mount scopes on an M14 often require that the scope adjustments are on the extreme of either elevation or windage, sometimes both. When this occurs, recoil plays hell with all but the most robust erector systems. The VX-2 is mediocre in that respect.

The way to test the scope is move closer so that you can recognize a group. Change you windage at least 16 clicks in the same direction and see if your group moves accordingly. Move everything back and shoot again. Try the same with the elevation. If your groups aren't following your adjustments, then your erector system took a dump. I believe Leupold has a lifetime warranty.

Very good. I will take my tools and rifle and go back to the range and see what its doing. I appreciate all yalls help. I will test and report back.

 

[nf1e]

Upgrade the scope. I have a bunch of Leupold VX-R patrol 1.25 - 4s on M-14s and they have been holding up great. Thousands of rounds and no troubles yet.
Everyone that shoots them think they are the cat's meow for the short range.

 

[Hank Dodge]

Upgrade the scope. I have a bunch of Leupold VX-R patrol 1.25 - 4s on M-14s and they have been holding up great. Thousands of rounds and no troubles yet.
Everyone that shoots them think they are the cat's meow for the short range.

I'll vouch for that scope as well. I have used one on my Daniel Defense AR and it it a super slick scope. I know a few guys who are running them on the M1A and have had no problems at all. I think I'll put one on the M1A at some point myself, but still running the irons at this point.

 

[Mindfield]

Try irons, if groups are good its your scope putzin out

 

[biped]

Scout Rail

I had a similar problem. Same VX 2 scope on a Scout. The forward screws that fasten the rail to the barrel were coming loose. This is an odd happening and resulted from an overly aggressive doping of Hoppe's #9 and CLP wipes following a 40 minute rain storm that caught me and the rifle in the open. I swear that's the cleanest that rifle has been since leaving the factory. Unfortunately, the lubricant and the recoil of the next couple outings shook those screws loose. Something to check.

 

[BigMike]

I talked to the tech and Leupold and he told me to send it in. I dropped it in the mail today. Hopefully it wont take forever to hear something back. I will keep the thread updated. Thanks for all yalls help. I am going to upgrade the optics to the VX-R 2x7, just not sure when. I just bout the vx-2 about a month ago.