Any Other Pulsar Trail Owners Losing Zero?

[diggler1833]

Howdy,

I ran into a rather interesting situation over the past few nights, I am hoping that someone with more knowledge than me can shed some light:

-I zeroed my Pulsar Trail XP38 at 100 yards on 24 September (not using a QD mount). Shot a boar at 114 yards 27 September, it was a well-placed shot in the neck right where I aimed and dropped the animal without so much as a kick.
-29 September I shot another boar at 48 yards...It was facing from my left to right, and when I squeezed off on it's neck, I hit it in the face.??? Had a pissed off boar charge me that I managed to kill with about 40 feet to spare.
-2 October (this morning) I shot a sow at 47 yards. She was facing from my right to left this time (opposite the boar), and when I squeezed off while aiming at her neck...I dropped her in her tracks with an impact right behind her front shoulder.
-When I initially zeroed the optic, it was ~5" right at 25 yards...and now I'm guessing my last two shots were ~10" right at 50 yards. It would appear that the optic returned to default zero. At least I can stop questioning my first shot on the boar from the other night.
-The rifle/optic has in no way been dropped or hit on anything.
-I have not been in any significant temperature changes during this time.

I have been lurking in the precision rifle game for well over a decade, and shot many matches as well as deployed many times...I know how to mount an optic and use a rifle. A little internet research has shown that the Pulsar shift problem has occurred to more than just me.

***However, I am a thermal newby and have no clue what is going on here. I had the battery removed for ~24 hours at one point...would this cause the problem or default reset? Or do I need to cut my losses now and send it in for warranty before I'm back out in the pasture throwing dirt and cussing a storm?

Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Brian Shaffer]

The Pulsar POI shift problem was due to temperature issues, which you should know if you have been reading up on the issue. That issue has been addressed and corrected with a firmware update. I don't know where you are and under what conditions that you zeroed your rifle, but if there was a significant difference between when you zeroed your rifle and when you hunted, have you updated your firmware?

You say that it would appear that the scope returned to zero. Did your scope actually return to zero or not? Are your X and Y settings back at zero for each?

Your scope takes video. Did you video your hunts. It is most helpful to actually see what is going on when diagnosing issues. That is the beauty of being able to record.

Your scope should not return to zero with the battery removed. You can test that be looking at X and Y on the zero screen and noting your settings and then removing the battery. You can try for a minute or for 24 hours. Put it back in and see if the settings are still as they were. If not, the scope needs to go back to Pulsar. If so, then the issue isn't the settings resetting

 

[Fredhorace77]

Just a side note, the other night I sighted in my thermal by using a incense stick instead of the normal hot hands that I use. And I was extremely impressed at how much more accurately I could aim and hit and get the rifle to group by using a really small aiming point. You might try this and see if it will help you get a very good solid zero that you can count on.

 

[whitehotmist]

1st, do the update if you haven't already... I was having 5+" of drift before the update. Now I can swap between 2 rifles and change the profile and be within an inch at 130yds every time. This is with the DLOC mount, always torqued to 45 in lbs..

Just curious.. where are you? Did you zero in 80 degree temps and shoot in 40 degree temps (or vice versa)?

 

[diggler1833]

Thank you for the replies!

There was only about a 15-20 degree weather change from zero through all hunts.

Brian - thank you for alerting me to the x and y settings on zero. In my haste to zero and get out that night into the pastures, I had not noticed any actual adjustment indicators when in the zeroing process...like I said; thermal newby.

Fred - thanks for the incense stick idea.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

As stated above make sure its updated to the latest firmware. Also use a piece of aluminum foil cut to a one inch square angled toward the sky for a very precise zero. It should not be loosing zero.

 

[Green Swamp]

I have an apex xq 50. How do I check to see if I have the latest update and if not how do I update it?

 

[whitehotmist]

This is what I have on mine.. Trail Firmware Update 3.0.23

To check, what you have, look on the General settings on the scope, or the 'My devices' on the Stream Vision app.. to update you have to use an iphone or android and download the update with StreamVision (from app store). Once you have the app, hit check for updates. Then I believe what you do is make sure the phone is connected to your Scope via wifi, and then hit update on the phone. It's pretty easy to figure out when you're looking at the app.

 

[brent smith]

Recently having my zero shift several inches. Using a zero delta QD mount. Took my trail XP50 off and tested rifle with regular scope. No issue with rifle. So it’s either my mount or scope. The mount should be solid. I installed per instructions. Granted I only hand tightened (very firmly) the mount knob on the qd mount bc I broke the knob previously using a wrench. Zero delta emphasized only to hand tighten. Temps were very similar. And mounted on same precise place on rail. I mark location just in case. Any suggestions?

 

[erForman]

Recently having my zero shift several inches. Using a zero delta QD mount. Took my trail XP50 off and tested rifle with regular scope. No issue with rifle. So it’s either my mount or scope. The mount should be solid. I installed per instructions. Granted I only hand tightened (very firmly) the mount knob on the qd mount bc I broke the knob previously using a wrench. Zero delta emphasized only to hand tighten. Temps were very similar. And mounted on same precise place on rail. I mark location just in case. Any suggestions?

I've owned an XP50 trail for three years and have always had to re-zero three or four times a year. I chalk it up to all the rough handling in the field and the fact that it is an electronic device that needs recalibration from time to time.

 

[gshock]

Recently having my zero shift several inches. Using a zero delta QD mount. Took my trail XP50 off and tested rifle with regular scope. No issue with rifle. So it’s either my mount or scope. The mount should be solid. I installed per instructions. Granted I only hand tightened (very firmly) the mount knob on the qd mount bc I broke the knob previously using a wrench. Zero delta emphasized only to hand tighten. Temps were very similar. And mounted on same precise place on rail. I mark location just in case. Any suggestions?

If you installed the latest firmware then do this each time you re-mount the scope. Clean the rails on the rifle and make sure there is no debris or dust. Even some dust can throw it off some. Also clean the scope mount as well. Same thing with the mounts, a little bit of debris can throw it off.

When you tighten the mount, try to use the same force even if hand tightening. IMO qd mounts will have some +/- when removing and putting back onto the rifle. We wrestled with this at work on a program. One Weapon Sight we built needed to return to zero when removing and re-mounting. There wasn't much +/- that we could work with.

 

[Fla_dogman]

I don't have the pulsar but was having issues over a long period of time. It wasn't until it got much worse that I found the culprit. One of the screws attaching the base to the scope was loose. Hope you find the issue soon.

 

[TEXASLAWMAN]

The new trail 2’s also are made from different materials that also helped fix the problem. I got to visit pulsar and watch them test multiple brands under temperature changes. They all had point of impact changes. The also put the new Iray on their recoil machine after 50 rounds of .308 it had a windage shift of 4 inches and elevation shift of 6 inches, that is just .308 recoil no temperature change.