Pulsar Trail

Let's talk about it. Who here is experiencing poi shifts? I know it doesn't get as cold for you boys as it does for me. I don't know if that's the issue or not. Every time I go to shot mine at 200 it's moved. Still trying to figure out why when the factory can't replicate the issue.

I have one that still hasn't been properly wrung out due to decisions to change up the rifle, time constraints, this past deer season, etc. and a passle of other excuses...but it WILL happen soon. I'd just ask you this: how sure are you that the mounting is rock solid?

I’ve got some as loners that get used heavily. Have had no problems with them. Several guys that hunt with us on regular basis use their own, Ive not heard anybody mention any problem.

"Every time I go to shot mine at 200 it's moved. "

What do you mean by this? How do you know it has moved?

Does it happen only in extreme cold?

How do you know your ammunition holds up to extreme cold and isn't the cause of what you're experiencing?

I've sold a lot of Trails this year, some to guys up north who tell me they are hunting in 0 degree weather and so far I haven't had a single one report a problem with any point of impact shift. I've seen it mentioned in a few FB groups but no one first hand has mentioned it to me.

I'd love to know more, I don't even see how it's possible with a digital reticle. Not saying it's not happening, I just can't figure out exactly what could be the root of the problem?

- Jason

Gotta wonder if people are using this POI shift as an excuse for missing lol

I would do my testing at 100 and not 200. Less chance for wind and such to affect the bullet in flight.

Cold weather certainly can cause a chance in POI if you zeroed in much warmer weather. Velocity will be off as well.

What mount are you using?

I’ve had zero issues with mine. Owned the xq38 and xp38.

I had to read this a couple of times and then it sank in.....

The original poster has issues with zero

And you have zero issues

just wondering what my friend in Texas were experiencing after all the talk I see on Facebook.

What group are you reading, Fred?

I don't spend much time on FB nor in the FB groups but there was one huge thread in one of them groups....I can't remember which and it devolved into nothing but a Pulsar bashing IMO. Everyone and their brother was talking about missing hogs and "it has to because of the POI shift....". And no one that I've seen has credibly claimed more than a 2-3" shift, so I'm thinking, even on a head shot on a hog, 3" any direction shouldn't cause you to completely miss on a normal size hog head.

And to be clear, I'm not saying it might not be happening and I'm not saying it might not be the scope but there are a lot of guys throwing around a lot of stuff that is extremely speculative. I spoke with the Pulsar tech dept about it today while asking another question and they said they have been made aware of it and are absolutely trying to re-create the problem to determine if it's the scope or not.

From a couple conversations I've had with some serious reloaders, they think it's more likely the ammo than the optic. I'm not a reloader or an ammo expert, so I'll leave that to someone smarter than me. It will be interesting to see how it pans out. I talked to 2 customers in Illinois who both said they were hunting in 0 to 8 degrees and they experienced no problems.

That seems like an easy to replicate problem. Put rifle in vice and shot it. Record the outcome, make note of coordinates . Put rifle in freezer for 20min. Repeat process. Wouldn’t surprise me if whole thing was started , by somebody that was getting paid, by a pulsar competitor. I’ve watched this kind of stuff for a good while long before I came here . I assume there’s a good bit of money in it, and people get funny about making money . All of these things can have problems. So not out of realm of possibility. I would look at problems in following order.

Shooter
Mount....using cheap, non QD, just like an high dollar QD
Ammo. Luck gunner, ect, sells cheap ammo, results are identical
Shooter
Software problem

Seems like it would be very easy to document problem in today’s high tech, record everything world .

Also worth noting, there’s really no possible way to have a QD mount, that is an absolute return to zero . Very very close for high quality machining, but not absolute.

If anybody could point me to the conversation I’d like to read it. Don’t have a Facebook, but my bride does. I assume you have to look for a certain person/group on there

ATN would never resort to such tactics, I'm sure.

Not the factory. The guys in Dallas are just distributors. Good people, but often non-hunters.

Go re-read your Pulsar manual.
In the back, in the troubleshooting section, it says POI shifts due to large temperate charges are normal and should be expected.

I haven't experienced any issues. I've sold tons of them and also our hunting group has about 5 we're running. They all hold. Hunted with a buddies rifle in Florida the other day. It was zeroed in the summer and then when I was down there it was 35 degrees. Still was on just fine. All optics need occasional adjustment of some degree. I've yet to see anything to say there is anything abnormal about the trails.

I run the largest thermal hunting group on facebook (17000ish members)

There have been some reports on there but usually it works out that the person's rifle was to blame, also ammo and other factors. It's very difficult to isolate an optic from all the other variables present in a ballistic equation.

Also it's important to note that by their nature, thermals are digital optics. They will never be as precise as fine glass optics.

Additionally, anytime you think an optic isn't holding true, check all the mounting surfaces first. That's the culprit 90% of the time.

Its on there somewhere. It hasn't been talked about in a while so it's probably down the page aways. You'll have to request to join before you can see the page content.

Facebook: NV & Thermal Hunter's Club

I have noticed a point of impact change two times on my Pulsar Trail XP38. They both resulted in a 2" low and 2" to the right shift. This last time was just after the newest firmware update. I was beginning to think that the QD mount by UNV was causing a problem so I decided to leave the scope on the gun and made three hunts before returning to the local gun range to check POI. The good news is that the scope was still on zero at 100 yrds. To check the QD mount I decided to take the scope off and back on the gun three times. The POI was dead on all three times.

Here is the crazy thing about all this, before and after the last firmware download to ver. 3.0.6, my x coordinate was 8.50 and y was 4.50. To get the POI back to center of target at 100 yards I adjusted the y coordinate to 3.50 but now the POI was 2" high. To get everything back to center of target my final adjustments were x = 9.00 and y = 4.50. Almost right back where I started !

Long story short I am beginning to think that something is happening after a new firmware update at this point.
Moral of the story, I will be rechecking my POI after the next new firmware update.