There’s no question that one of the tasks that most frequently frustrates me is zeroing a riflescope. Since I’m fortunate enough to get my hands on lots of new rifles in advance of their actual release, it means I’m frequently moving riflescopes from one gun to another.

Moving them’s not all that complicated, because I have good tools for the job (more on that another time) and it’s rare these days that I receive a gun without a Picatinny rail. That means if the scopes are solid and square in their bases, all I should have to do is move the entire unit from one gun to another.

That’s simpler in theory than practice. As an incurable scope twiddler, I’m always adjusting something. With some rifles, it seems I have a natural cant. What’s unnatural about it is the cant can go left or right. At least if you use my scopes as the standard.

A scope that’s delivering tightly centered groups on one rifle may deliver tightly-centered groups several inches above, below, left or right of the bullseye. While the tight groups are one goal, the ultimate goal is those centered groups in the center of the aiming point.

So, I wind up re-zeroing my scopes. And that means I have the potential to waste ammunition.

Having the opportunity to test new rifles - especially in newer calibers- means I don’t have the quantities of ammunition I have accrued in “standard” ones.

That’s why I was excited to see a release cross my desk recently regarding the Absolute Zero one-shot sight in system from Axeon sport solutions (and Umarex). According to their release, it would save “ammo, time and money” while delivering “cold barrel accuracy.”

OK, that sounded too-good to be true. I’ve been down the one-shot zero road before. By old-school bore-sighting, I’ve gotten shots almost where I’ve wanted. The problem came with the confidence shots that followed. They always seemed to walk around the target. As a result, lots of shots were wasted chasing a zero I really hadn’t located.

But I have become a better shooter because of technology, not despite it. So I requested a test unit.

Its arrival coincided with a planned trip to PASA Park in Illinois for a roundtable event that would involved shooting some new rifles. And new rifles and scopes meant the opportunity to put the Axeon to the test on a strange rifle, unknown scope and unfamiliar range.

The prefect recipe to try a new gadget, right?

Mounted atop the TRUGLO scope on the Remington 700 rifle, the Absolute Zero looked a little ungainly (above). The secret for the effectiveness is -apparently- the repeatable zero you get with the two lasers (below). This was an image recreated for the feature, not the actual zero on the scope. It was hard to see in the daylight- and impossible to photograph accurately.

After properly aligning and mounting a TRUGLO Intercept 4-12 x44mm riflescope atop a Remington 700 American Hunter rifle, I headed out into the swelter to see if I could get a high-tech 25-yard zero.

Extensive details aside, I followed the instructions, aligned the dual sighting lasers with a reflective strip mounted above my zeroing target and squeezed off a round. As you’ll see in the image, it was OK vertically, but just under 4 1/2 inches right. I did the correction math (8x4.5=32 clicks), dialed in the correction, aligned the scope (and the dots) and fired a second shot.

At first, I didn’t see it. Deciding I’d already messed up my experiment, I fired a third shot.

Then a spotter told me I had produced a pair of shots touching about 1/2-inch from dead center. A quick third shot produced a three shot group within my acceptable variables (1/2 inch for a rifle rested on nothing but a bag).

With that, I removed the device, cased the rifle and moved out to the long range area. From there I fired rounds out to 600 yards. When I passed through 500 yards, my zero was solid. Beyond that, the zero might have been solid, but the shooter wasn’t.

That having been said, I would have no qualms about taking the rifle/scope combo out hunting based on a quick zero obtained via $79.99 device.

I nearly forgot to shoot the results. The dots cover the touching three shot group. The shot to the right was where the original shot hit.

Plenty of shooters will tell you they don’t care for all the new technology, preferring the old methods to mounting lasers, sensors or other gadgets to their guns in hopes of diagnosing problems. Since I suffer the shortage of available practice time, I’m all for using sensory feedback from “gadgets” to more quickly help me get into a solid routine and repeatably accurate shots.

If you’re the same way, you should check the Absolute Zero out. The ammo you save may be your own.

—Jim Shepherd