Is your scope tracking properly? Is the reticle truly level? One quick and easy way to answer these two questions is to conduct a “Tall Target Test”.
What do we mean when we ask “is a scope tracking properly?” Simply put it means when I dial my elevation turret up 3.5 mils (12.0 MOA) is the reticle actually traveling what the turret says it’s traveling? And what about a level optic? What does that have to do with my shooting? A level optic, or more precisely a level reticle will ensure that when you do dial your elevation turret for a long-range shot your reticle is traveling in a perfectly straight line up and down (with relation to gravity) anything less than vertical travel will induce a windage error in our point of impact downrange.
A tall target test functions as a tried and trued way to answer these two questions in one simple test, when made out the right material, the target can be re-usable as well.
To start:
Locate a target or target backer that’s roughly 3 feet tall or taller. Mine was an old piece of paneling I had laying around that was already 48” tall.
Draw a horizontal line at an arbitrary distance from the bottom of the target. I drew mine approximately 3” from the bottom
Next, and arguably the most important is to draw your vertical lines. You can draw as many as you like, I chose to draw 3 because I wanted to repeat this test 3x over for more data. These lines either need to be drawn perfectly square to a known straight surface or drawn perfectly in line with gravity. More on that later. What I did was nail my target to a wall in my garage in a perfectly level state. Then I drew my vertical lines using a 4ft level as a straight edge.
Next, draw point of aim (POA) dots at whatever size you feel you can comfortably see/hold at 100 yards. Mine was a 1” circle.
Congrats, you’ve done the hard part. Now head to the range and do some testing
Once at the range you’ll want to set your target up at a known distance. In order get the best accuracy out of your testing, I’ll recommend doing this test at 100 yards or greater. Actual distance to target is very important. Whatever the distance is, it must be known, checked and double checked. This can be as simple as measuring with a landscaping tape measure and/or multiple range finders to verify one isn’t giving erroneous readings.
Once the distance to target is known you can hang your target. Grab your 4ft level (that you hopefully didn’t leave in your garage) and align the straight edge of your level with one of your previously drawn vertical lines. Once lined up, maintain this position and align your entire target as a whole with gravity then secure to the target stand.
Next, the fun part. With your previously zeroed test rifle perfectly level fire a 3 shot group at your circle (POA) target. Make note of the group location in regards to the left or right of your vertical line. NOTE: A rifle level either mounted to your optic or rifle is necessary for this test and should be standard equipment on a precision rifle.
An important note is that during this testing it’s not important if the group is in the dead center of the POA circle when shooting the initial group. As you can see from the pictures my first group was .25” left of center. That’s okay.
Next, pick an amount to dial your optic that should place your impact in the bottom 1/3 of the target. In this case I went with 4.3 Mils up, which translates to 15.48” at exactly 100 yards. Important – Keep your same POA at the circle and fire 3 shots. Repeat this once more at double your first dial. In my case, 8.6 Mils up (30.96” @ 100yds).
Repeat the test as many times as you want. If your extremely confident in your rifle, and your shooting ability, once will likely provide as much data as you need. If you want to be absolutely sure, run it through a couple more times.
Now let’s dissect the data from my testing so you can dissect yours. As you can see from the picture my first dial up from POA was 4.3 Mils, which would translate to 15.48”. My actual group’s mean point of impact was 15.5”, and exactly .25” off the left side of the vertical line…a good sign! Move up to 8.6Mils up (30.96”) and my group’s mean POI was a nearly perfect at 31.00”. An interesting note with this first group at 8.6 Mils is the jump across the vertical line. This was caused by me not doing my job keeping the rifle level. I forgot (3 times in a row) to pay special attention to the level while shooting the second group. Time to repeat the test to see if it was a fluke or not. A bonus of repeating this test more than once is you get to check your scopes ability to return to zero, that is, after dialing the turret large amounts a quality optic should return to your original zero.
After paying close attention to the rifle’s level on each and every shot for two more cycles my testing was complete, with near perfect results! This a testament to quality scope manufacturing & also mounting
