Lots of good suggestions so far. When tracking down an unknown accuracy issue, definitely eliminate the long range stuff. The variables of hitting where you want at 600 yards just add difficulty to figuring out a problem.
If your gun shoots 1 MOA at 100 yards, lots of things can turn that into a 1.5 or 2MOA group at 600 (9-12") without there being a physical problem with the rifle or optic. Wind, inconsistent loads, form, barrel condition, etc. Combine a couple of these and the group can grow even more. If you can confirm that the gun and load shoot consistently at shorter ranges and the scope adjusts properly, it's capable of shooting well at 600 as well. For the guys on this site, 600 is normal stuff but its a long poke if you are getting started and have a new rifle thrown in the mix.
As stated above, I would scrub it well including copper removal and do some groups at 100 or 200 yards. If it shoots well, dial the scope a rotation up and back down, shoot again, right a rotation and back, shoot again and see if its coming back to zero. I would scrub some more during this process to get the barrel broke in.
We do hundreds of Leupolds and have almost no issues with scopes not adjusting and returning to zero correctly. Since they updated the VX3 a year and a half ago, we have sent 1 scope back and it was due to a tiny piece of black material floating around inside not an adjustment issue. Thats pretty good considering 100% of our customers are dialing. That doesn't mean you don't have a scope issue, but it wouldn't be my first guess.
The good news is the way to figure it out is more shooting!
If your gun shoots 1 MOA at 100 yards, lots of things can turn that into a 1.5 or 2MOA group at 600 (9-12") without there being a physical problem with the rifle or optic. Wind, inconsistent loads, form, barrel condition, etc. Combine a couple of these and the group can grow even more. If you can confirm that the gun and load shoot consistently at shorter ranges and the scope adjusts properly, it's capable of shooting well at 600 as well. For the guys on this site, 600 is normal stuff but its a long poke if you are getting started and have a new rifle thrown in the mix.
As stated above, I would scrub it well including copper removal and do some groups at 100 or 200 yards. If it shoots well, dial the scope a rotation up and back down, shoot again, right a rotation and back, shoot again and see if its coming back to zero. I would scrub some more during this process to get the barrel broke in.
We do hundreds of Leupolds and have almost no issues with scopes not adjusting and returning to zero correctly. Since they updated the VX3 a year and a half ago, we have sent 1 scope back and it was due to a tiny piece of black material floating around inside not an adjustment issue. Thats pretty good considering 100% of our customers are dialing. That doesn't mean you don't have a scope issue, but it wouldn't be my first guess.
The good news is the way to figure it out is more shooting!
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