Leupold VX-3 Elevation Limit After New Rings

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7amoose

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Morning!

I've been using my Tikka T3 Lite in .300WM with a Leupold VX-3 4.5-14x50 (older glossy model with the Boone and Crockett reticle) for a long time with good accuracy. I bought the rifle used with tall Burris rings pre-installed. I had assumed this was a choice based on the size of the objective and the ability to clear the barrel.
Over time I have realized that this scope height is uncomfortable for me. It was difficult to get a good cheek weld and I would find my head wandering to get a good sight picture.
Last night I finally installed the Leupold standard medium 1" rings that I bought to hopefully improve this condition. This lowered the scope and improved ergonomics considerably.
However, after centring the reticle using a bore laser I found that the elevation knob has bottomed out at dead centre. By bottomed out I mean that I can no longer raise the reticle to adjust for longer shots.
I have not test fired the rifle yet but I am worried I am out of elevation adjustment with this setup. Are there adjustments I can make to keep this scope height while having more up/down reticle movement?
The turrets do not have set screws.

Thanks
 
Perhaps?? Were the Burris rings the Signature kind with the nylon inserts - they often have built in off-sets - I just installed a set with +10 MOA at rear and - 5 MOA at front - I believe that gave me 15 MOA "tilt" from the normal bases. Your Leupold rings will not have that offset - just a guess???

I actually have had minimal "luck" with bore sighter units - your experience might be different - visual look down the bore compared to what the cross hairs are pointed at. Start with BIG cardboard / target at 20 or 25 yards - shoot pairs - walk pairs so about 1/2" to 1" below aiming point - then to 100 yard target and refine - then to whatever final range you want to sight in to.

The reason to shoot at least pairs - they should touch - or nearly so, at 20 or 25 yards - if they do not, something else very wrong with scope or mounts or shooter - no point to continue until that is figured out. Can waste a lot of ammo just shooting once and trying to adjust scope based on that - need to keep a running "check" going that all is still as it should be - usually want more than one shot to "prove" an adjustment is needed.

Might as well plan that you will be using up pretty much most of a box of ammo to sight in a new-to-you scope installation - 15 to 20 rounds by the time you have got it dialled in and fired one or two confirmation groups. Not really a place to try to "cheap out" - unless you are good at fooling yourself about whether you are actually dialled in or not.
 
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That's great info. Thanks.
I am admittedly a casual firearms owner and not very diligent when it comes to practice. Yes, I know... But my level of training and discipline suits my needs for my hunting and the risks that I am willing to take in the field. When I get around to sighting things in this week I plan to shoot at least 30 rounds to make sure both the rifle and myself are functioning properly. I don't think my shoulder will be happy, but that's the cost of doing business.
The old rings did not have any inserts. I have read in to shimming rings, but I am not too confident in my ability to make that work properly. I think for this season I'll try for touching pairs in the 25 and 100 yard distances, but if that's not working I might go back to the old rings until I can source something or someone to do it right.
 
I have used the Burris Signature Zee rings as Potash suggests and they work very well to put some cant in the scope to give you the elevation you want for your setup. I don't recall which plastic inserts they come with besides the 0 offset, I think it might be +/-10 but you can also pick up a set of various size offset inserts from Burris as well. The Burris website should give you all the info you need. They are really useful rings and have the added benefit of being really easy the scope tube finish and don't leave any marks.
 
I hope that you did not mis-understand - I meant pairs touching or nearly touching at 20 or 25 yards - is actually moderately high end to have pairs touching at 100 yards!!! So, do not have to really expect that, but is sure nice when it happens two or three times in a row!!

As far as shimming - so a scope tube is made and wants to be straight - so all the lenses line up inside, besides other bits. And rings are almost always made in pairs to be same height. So want your scope bases - the places the rings sit - to be on a dead flat plane - so when rings installed and tightened, the scope body is not getting bent. Was a thing to install shims under bases to get them properly lined up on a plane - in "old" days, could have been some variation in scope base depth, but more commonly in the amount of polishing grind done on receivers - so not all were precisely "drop in" - might have needed shims underneath to make exactly parallel - really want to use good straight edges, etc. to verify that the scope base is actually dead flat one to another - if tilted or canted that can cause the rings to be not concentric, which can play hell on the scope guts. One piece bases are not actually a short cut - if not ground correctly (base or receiver) then can be "humped" or "twisted" when torqued down and have same result. Partially a reason why some of us often "lap" the lower ring halves - to verify in our minds that the rings are truly installed concentric with each other and not going to be bending that scope.

Was a thing by some to attempt to shim a rear base to gain more tilt to the scope for longer ranges. Is a bit complicated because that "tilt" needs to end up with the rings concentric - so rear base and front base actually need to sit on little "slopes" that line up. Was an advantage of the one piece rails with that machined in "tilt" - if they fit properly on the receiver to start with. Never want to put a shim inside a scope ring, at all. Ring is made 1.000" diameter, or 26mm diameter or 30mm diameter or whatever to match the scope body - just no room in there for any shim without distorting or bending something.
 
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7amoose said:
Morning!

I've been using my Tikka T3 Lite in .300WM with a Leupold VX-3 4.5-14x50 (older glossy model with the Boone and Crockett reticle) for a long time with good accuracy. I bought the rifle used with tall Burris rings pre-installed. I had assumed this was a choice based on the size of the objective and the ability to clear the barrel.
Over time I have realized that this scope height is uncomfortable for me. It was difficult to get a good cheek weld and I would find my head wandering to get a good sight picture.
Last night I finally installed the Leupold standard medium 1" rings that I bought to hopefully improve this condition. This lowered the scope and improved ergonomics considerably.
However, after centring the reticle using a bore laser I found that the elevation knob has bottomed out at dead centre. By bottomed out I mean that I can no longer raise the reticle to adjust for longer shots.
I have not test fired the rifle yet but I am worried I am out of elevation adjustment with this setup. Are there adjustments I can make to keep this scope height while having more up/down reticle movement?
The turrets do not have set screws.

Thanks
Click to expand...

So, if I understand you correctly, you switched out rings for lower ones and now you can't raise your elevation past center? Is that correct? - dan
 
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