ive never shot long range just played around out till 300 yards. but i was wondering if i was to buy a nightforce scope with 100 moa vertical adjustment would i need a slanted rail to say shoot out to 800-1000 yards? this is on a .308 rifle. the other nightforce scope i was looking at only has 65moa of adjustment. would either work?
scope adjustment range
- Thread starter Gopher Slayer
- Start date
they say 100moa, 65moa, etc, but I never get that. That said, there is little chance that you will need a sloped rail to get a nightforce out to a kilometer. My 308 LTR will do a kilometer with a Leupold m3lr and a flat base. The NSX that I had on there had way more then enough.
Go to an on-line ballistic calculator and enter in your bullet data to find out what your drop will be based on your load and your bullets. When you see how much drop there is, you will have a pretty good idea of how much internal adjustment you need. I personally opt for a 20 MOA base on all my guns; I never shoot closer than 300 and I never want to limit out on elevation.
Nightforce BR 12-42x56 with 65 mins of adjustment on a 20MOA Farrel base may or may not let you zero below 300M. On my XR-100 Action I can zero at 100 and still get out to 1100m.
Two others that I know cannot zero below 300 with theirs which will let them reach out further with their scopes. 1 is an XR action with Farrel base and Burris Tactical Rings and the other is a Barnard with Ian Robertson's 20MOA scope rail and TPS Rings.
These are on F-Class rigs so zeroing under 300m is not an issue. And having the scopes zero near the bottom makes sure that there is plenty of adjustment to reach out there.
Two others that I know cannot zero below 300 with theirs which will let them reach out further with their scopes. 1 is an XR action with Farrel base and Burris Tactical Rings and the other is a Barnard with Ian Robertson's 20MOA scope rail and TPS Rings.
These are on F-Class rigs so zeroing under 300m is not an issue. And having the scopes zero near the bottom makes sure that there is plenty of adjustment to reach out there.
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you need to buy a base either way, so get the 20. i have a 20 on my rem action and my 32x NF is approx 16 min up from bottom. a partner of mine has a NF 40 MOA base on his rem and the closest he can 0 at is 400 yards, this is with a 32x NF scope as well. my next build will have a 40 base on it. the way i see it is the guns are built for going long, if i wanted to shoot at 100 yards the R1 reticle will allow an accurate "hold under" using the reticle. do it right the first time, it is cheaper in the long run. as well by having the 20 base on your 308 will ensure you are closer to the center of your scopes vertical adjustment, which in turn lends itself to more as well as more accurate windage adjustments. my 2 pennies worth.
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The choice of the 20-minute base makes life easier. With any luck at all with the vertical adjustment set to zero, you will be zeroed at 100 yards. With a flat base, you could loose half or more of your vertical adjustment. If you choose a 20 minute picatinney rail with multiple mounting slots, if you begin with the rear scope ring attached to the most rearward slot, and the POI is too high at 100 yards, moving it forward one or two slots will lower the rear of the scope relative to the bore and and allow a 100 yard zero, yet optimize your long range adjustments.
To shoot 100 to 1000 yards, all you really need is 40 minutes.
But, that assumes that the 100 yard zero is near the bottom of your adjustment range. If 100 zeros at +25 minutes, you will not have enough elevation left in the scope.
Bases are cheap. You could test your rifle with any kind of scope and see how the receiver lines up with the barrel. If you use up a lot of elevation at 100 yards, order a 20 min base with your scope. I doubt there is a target scope made that would lack sufficient elevation if the 100 yard zero is near the bottom of the adjustment range.
My 1" tubes all have 20 minute bases. My 30mm scopes don't need them.
But, that assumes that the 100 yard zero is near the bottom of your adjustment range. If 100 zeros at +25 minutes, you will not have enough elevation left in the scope.
Bases are cheap. You could test your rifle with any kind of scope and see how the receiver lines up with the barrel. If you use up a lot of elevation at 100 yards, order a 20 min base with your scope. I doubt there is a target scope made that would lack sufficient elevation if the 100 yard zero is near the bottom of the adjustment range.
My 1" tubes all have 20 minute bases. My 30mm scopes don't need them.
