Halo effects on Scopes cheap or something wrong??

bullets

I have a Nikko Stirling Platinum Nite Eater 6-24x56 AG IR 30mm
On my 452.

I reckon I made a newbie mistake by buying something that just looked cool!!!
http://www.opticswarehouse.co.uk/proddetail.asp?prod=NSP62456AGIR&cat=93

My rifle was fireing 6.5 inchs to the right and 3.5 inchs low.
After a buddy did a little bit or work on the mounts It still fired low and left
I needed to do a full 360 turn of the windage turret to get it to
fire on target.

I thought the optics were OK until I compared it to two-three other scopes
which were Tasco brand. The clarity on the tascos was great and made mine
look crap.

When Looking at targets I am getting a orange-ish halo effect between the
black of the target and the white backgroung. Also sometimes I see a blue
halo effect when looking at the edges of the field of view. I did not notice
this before with the dull weather.

I know real cheap and nasty telescopes/optics suffer from this and it can
range from cheap optics to crap coatings. Anyone with the el-cheap
Aldi spotting scoped may see similar effects that I am trying to describe.

I tried adjusting the eye piece that lets you adjust the reticle so
its focused at the same time as the target but that did not help.

Anyone know if there is anything I can do to remove this issue,
or to I need to goto the extremes of buying a new scope in the future.

Cant afford a new scope at the moment as I gotta save for
driving lessons and insurance and need to get some work done on my house.
If I did have some spare cash then I would try go for a good brand without
any bells and whistles.

~B

Umiq88

To get the best out of lower end scope its better to keep the magnification down as low as your comfortable with i leave mine on 10 and even going up to 14x you notice a slightly significant difference in brightness not nessecarily clarity though.

If its paralax adjutable to set this up you want a flat plain surface maybe then at a known distance 50yards would be good because its clearly marked on the AO look through the scope and adjust the eyebell till its clearly in focus then lock it.

The scope being off is more than likely a mounting problem or a rail problem my rifle was also off by a good bit to the right so maybe a rail problem might check a few other forums to see if this is an issue.

Might be a good idea to save your money the scope you have now is more than accurate and unless its not holding zero and producing consitant scopes i'd leave it on and save up and buy a really decent scope.

When comparing with other scopes you have to compare like to like comparing a €250 nikko to a €800 loopy the loopys always going to be much better in every way you get what you pay for.

CJhaughey

I think you may have a dud scope, Nikko Stirling while not in the top flight of scope makers are very well respected scopes in the shooting world.
I have had several Nikko scopes over the years and all have performed flawlessly, I have a Nikko special 4 x 32 with fine crosshairs and it is perfect for a scope that is no longer made.
I would return the scope as faulty goods.
edit:
I had a look at that link and that scope is supposed to have an illuminated reticle, are you sure that it is functioning correctly? New Batteries? that may account for the some of the problem?

ArthurJ

The colour fringing effect you are describing is called Chromatic aberration, the bane of astronomers. It is common on cheap optics. Have a look on the net. It, by its self, will not affect the accuracy of the scope, try and ignore it or buy a good scope. Good optics are expensive.

As for the mounting and zeroing of your scope.
Firstly keep your “buddy” and his angle grinder away from your rifle. If he hasn’t made a complete mess of it yet, he soon will. Think of it this way, if he had a clue he’d be able to sort the problem out for you. That’s not meant to be smart, just a fact.

Now one of two things is happening, either the scope will not hold a zero i.e. its drifting or you are knob twiddling.

Zero your scope, fire off fifty rounds and see if it will hold that zero. If it doe’s, your in, go shooting and leave the knobs alone. If not, as pointed out by CJ, the scope is faulty so return it.

As for knob twiddling, on a cheap scope don’t expect to able to adjust it say twenty clicks right then twenty clicks left and end up where you started, it doesn’t work like that on cheap scopes. Having said that even some very cheap scopes can provide excellent service as long as you accept their limitations.

Finally every club is full of blokes that will set up your scope in a few minutes. Just ask, then follow their advice.

Best of luck

bullets

ArthurJ wrote:

The colour fringing effect you are describing is called Chromatic aberration, the bane of astronomers. It is common on cheap optics.
-
As for the mounting and zeroing of your scope.
Firstly keep your “buddy” and his angle grinder away from your rifle. If he hasn’t made a complete mess of it yet,
-
Now one of two things is happening, either the scope will not hold a zero i.e. its drifting or you are knob twiddling.

I replied to this thread earlier but when I looked again my reply had disappeared!

Chromatic aberration was the phrase I was looking for thanks! The Buddy
is also into astronomy and mentioned same issue with cheap telescopes.

The Buddy who went at me mounts is a shooter and has done work on his
own rifle over the years so he did not start hacking away at the the mounts
blindly. We did have a very elaborate set up and a cunning plan
where the rifle was held in a jig, with laser pointer, vernier calipers
and calculaters all at the ready. The amount of metal removed was only
tiny and done very carefully with a very fine oil stone.

(I stood there looking dumb all night)
Crazy I know but I do not mind if the mounts get wrecked as I am planning
on getting a better set. I did not want to shim as I wanted to get the mounts right so I did not need to dial in so many clicks.

The scope holds the zero ok I just dont like the idea of the windage turret turned
over 360 degrees to get it zeroed. It does not leave a lot too play with if I ever
do need to use it to adjust for actual windage.

Also changed the trigger spring to a lighter one but its not light enough.
am waiting on a brooks kit in the post so I can get a lighter spring again.
we did not change the tube yet and the idea of knocking out the front pin
is a bit daunting as its flared like a rivot at the ends we were worried that the process of knoking it out and then trying to put it back in may shorten it too much.
(been using the remains of his trigger kit but I ideally want the same spring in
his rifle)

thanks for the help.
~B

ArthurJ

bullets wrote:

The Buddy who went at me mounts is a shooter and has done work on his
own rifle over the years so he did not start hacking away at the the mounts
blindly. We did have a very elaborate set up and a cunning plan
where the rifle was held in a jig, with laser pointer, vernier calipers
and calculaters all at the ready. The amount of metal removed was only
tiny and done very carefully with a very fine oil stone.

bullets

I can’t resist.

Exactly, from what part of your mounts did your “buddy” cunningly remove the metal from. How much did he remove.

Is your “buddies” own rifle zeroed , with his scope optically centred.

bullets

ArthurJ wrote:

bullets
Exactly, from what part of your mounts did your “buddy” cunningly remove the metal from. How much did he remove.

Is your “buddies” own rifle zeroed , with his scope optically centred.

why am I sensing a Homer Doh! coming up or a gandalfs
fool of a took comment...........

Removed some metal from the botom of the front mount and some
from left hand side of the back mount where the claws grabbed the rail
in an effort to align the scope with the bore a little better.
Dont know how much.

I really dont like the idea of putting negative film or thin sheet metal
in/under the mounts would prefer to try and get the mounts themselves altered.
so I dont have to do that. If they get ruined in the process so be it. I only got them
in a hurry to get shooting but had not planned on keeping them long term.

So far from talking to people on the range their solution is Shim or get new mounts.
I dont know if a qualified gun smith would do to fix the issue. Would they goto
the bother of altering the mounts or just fire different ones onto the rifle.

His rifle is zeroed but not optically centred as far as I know it fires ok.
I get better groups with my own rifle than when using his, but he gets better
groups than me when using his. So tis me and not the rifle.

I would also like to get a better scope in the future after seeing how rubbish
mine looked compared to others. But only after my shooting improves.

~B

Vegeta

bullets I cant see anything wrong with what you did.

What is the job of the mount? Attach the scope to the rifle and keep the scope on zero.

So as long as the mods you have made to the mounts do the above without damaging the scope then jobs a good one.

Now back on topic, I think you have come to the right conclusion, if the scope is keeping zero and you are happy with the view of the target then hold on to it until you become more competitive.

ArthurJ

Vegeta wrote:

if the scope is keeping zero and you are happy with the view of the target then hold on to it until you become more competitive.

That’s the exact point I’m trying to get across to him.

As for going off topic, the mount modifications are very much on topic.

The real danger is that with a rifle like the 452 the rail is part of the gun and if it gets damaged it’s an expensive repair.

Bullets has started several threads about the same subject, and he keeps getting the same advice, zero it, check that it holds zero, then go shooting. I get the impression that he thinks the scope should zero without adjustment.

bullets

ArthurJ wrote:

I get the impression that he thinks the scope should zero without adjustment.

I dont think that at all.

Its where you do the adjustment is what I was questioning.

What I do think is that your mounts should be adjustable (as standard)
so you can align your scope to the bore using the mounts
BEFORE you need to resort to using the Windage/elevation turret.
So its all aligned up as best as you can and you do the final tweaks with the turrets.

I was under the impression that the primary purpose of the Windage Turret was
to adjust the scope to compensate for Wind.

Even after reading all the good advise and doing just that
I had to do a full 360 revolution and then some to the turret
that spooked the hell out of me
and it felt just wrong as if dialing up the turret was Hiding a problem with
the mounts rather than the scope itself having a problem.

if you need to use all or most of your clicks on Zeroing alone when the time
comes to actually needing those clicks to adjust for Wind then it makes the
turret useless and you end up aiming off for wind. Kinda defeats the purpose
of the windage turret.

I know when it comes to shooting I'm a clueless newbie but I will learn
better if I question the why's and why nots.
(Sorry if I am anoying people)

~B

Vegeta

ArthurJ wrote:

That’s the exact point I’m trying to get across to him.

As for going off topic, the mount modifications are very much on topic.

The real danger is that with a rifle like the 452 the rail is part of the gun and if it gets damaged it’s an expensive repair.

Bullets has started several threads about the same subject, and he keeps getting the same advice, zero it, check that it holds zero, then go shooting. I get the impression that he thinks the scope should zero without adjustment.

Well he has a very real problem, it hasn't happened yet but what if some day the wind is very bad and he needs to adjust and runs out of windage clicks. I don't think he wants to zero without adjustment but after zeroing he wants to be able to adjust it which he is correct in doing.

agreed damaging any part of the rifle or scope is a big no no.

I am advising him to keep the current scope but by all means get it set up as efficiently as possible until he can outshoot his gear. Nothing wrong with that

Kramer

Your best bet is a set of Weaver adaptors, some Burris Sig Zee rings & insert kit.

This will allow you to "align" your scope physically before resorting to windage/elevation etc.

There are other options but that mentioned is the best IMX.

As regards running out of adjustment on your scope, given the effective range of the HMR is, at max, 200 yards, I doubt that would ever happen unless something is seriously wrong with your mounts/rail/scope.

I'll throw up a few pics of the Burris/Weaver setup later if I get a chance.

rrpc

Lads

The primary purpose of the windage/elevation screws is to align the scope for the conditions, whether that's the range you're zeroing for or the wind, or the fact that the scope has been remounted you'll always need to adjust.

360 degrees is not excessive for a first installation. If you think you'll run out of windage adjustment, check how much farther it will go in the same direction. The scope will never be properly aligned 'out of the box'.

How many MOA (minutes of angle) is each click worth on the scope?

Find that out and you'll be well on the way to working out how many you'll need if the wind pulls your shot off the target.