I'm in NC for the weekend visiting my son. We took his new Howa .223 to the range to check it out. It shot patterns no matter what we tried. We went back to his house, took his Leupold 2.5x8 off another rifle and mounted it on the .223 and went back to to the range. Problem solved. The bad scope is a Weaver 2x10 he has had since 1991. Just one of those things. BTW,, his .223 does not like 62gr milspec ammo.