How to PROPERLY mount a scope... help please

[Recce21]

This is a dumpster fire that I am going to just steer clear of.

The amount of "fudd science" floating around about how to mount scopes is frustratingly immense.

 

[BigUglyMan]

Do whatever you want, but I find that to be ridiculous.

You don’t require the rifle to be level.. so long as the reticle is plumb with gravity there won’t be an issue. If you try to keep the rifle level after doing what I suggested, then yes you will put yourself off at a distance. But why fight the position in which the rifle sits naturally in your shoulder? Would you rather not comfortably have the rifle lined up with your body? And then have the reticle plumb with gravity? So it’s not a constant fight to maintain that rifle at a level state?

Have a plumb reticle, and having one off 3 degrees is not the same thing, but again do what ever makes you happy. Dealing with all these levels and stuff is ridiculous.

This is why there is such things as adjustable butt plates. So that the recoil pad sits comfortably with your body, then allowing the rifle to maintain its “level” status. Then go ahead and level that reticle with the rifle.

You are, again, incorrect. For the trajectory of the bullet to be predictable you need it to rise and fall in line with the vertical crosswire of the reticle. If you are not then you will see the POI track off to one side or the other as the range increases, depending on what direction the rifle is "leaning". The higher the scope, or the sights, the more pronounced this will become.

If you doubt me, get someone that shoots BPCR to illustrate on a 500 yard target. There's a reason that those rifles have a level inside the front sight.

 

[P of PDent]

Going back to the OP's question...this is for a 12 gauge slug gun. While I agree that lapping and aligning the rings would be beneficial, keep in mind that recoil will be of concern in keeping the scope in place. Remember the bigger and heavier the scope, the possible movement of the scope in the rings is of concern. I personally would use a smaller scope (good eye relief)of lower magnification mounted with steel rings that have been torqued correctly. Concerning the statement that the only important factor is having the reticle level and square to gravity doesn't take into consideration any adjustment of windage and elevation down the road. As already mentioned not all flat elevation caps are square to the the scope body itself or even the reticle not square to the scope. I know this last statement sometimes is hard to believe but with our experience of mounting over a thousand scopes over the years this occurs more often than you would think. Even in higher end scopes this can still occur but to be fair we seldom see this in new scopes these days. Phil.