Scope ring height suggestions?

roadwarrior

roadwarrior

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Hey guys, wondering what height rings to mount a 30mm tube with a 50mm objective scope over a rimfire bull barrel?

Edit: Forgot to mention, the rifle will have a factory installed scope rail, but I may change it to a 20 MOA version down the road.
 
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To get proper ring height, measure the diameter of the objective bell. The 50mm refers to the glass it holds. The figures can be entered into an online scope ring height calculator such as this h ttps://www.scopedout.com.au/ring-height-calculator/

Alternatively, once you know the diameter of the objective bell, it's basic math to figure out the minimum ring height needed for the scope to have enough clearance. Scope ring manufacturers usually provide ring height on their webpages.
 
Just to make the task interesting - most scopes have two ends - front and rear - and on bolt action, the bolt has to clear the rear end. I recently installed a Leupold Freedom rimfire scope on BRNO No. 1 - thought that I had front end nice and close to barrel - I did, except the rifle's bolt would not fit past the eyepiece - so I either had to bend that bolt handle and re-inlet the stock for the re-shaped bolt handle, or get higher rings - I ended up with the higher rings. Might not be an issue, at all, if your rimfire rifle is not a bolt action.
 
The calculator provided by Grauhanen is a good option. Here is another. Although it references Schultz & Larsen rifles, it can be used for any rifle and scope. Scroll down to "Mounting Height Calculation," and use the diagram and instructions to get the height of the mount that will be needed. You are calculating "BH" in that piece. BH will be the total height of base + the height of the ring from the bottom of the ring (where it attaches to the base) to where the bottom of the scope will sit.

(Since it is referencing a particular S&L mount that has no base, BH refers to just the height of the ring in that presentation, but, in your case, you will probably have to incorporate the height of the base into the calculation.)

https://www.greatdanerifles.com/technical-scope-rings.html
 
I should mention that the Ruger Precision Rimfire, specifically, needs a lot more ring height that conventional rifle designs, because of its receiver and fore-grip arrangement.
 
adamg said:
I should mention that the Ruger Precision Rimfire, specifically, needs a lot more ring height that conventional rifle designs, because of its receiver and fore-grip arrangement.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'm actually on the fence between buying a bull barrel for my 1022 or just purchasing the RPR.
 
most target shooters prefer a heads up look when addressing the scope

or at least they would if they tried it

remember the leopold scope with the cutout in it to get the scope closer to the action and barrel
they don’t make it anymore do they. Mmmmmmmmm

heads up makes yiur neck ache less or none at all when shooting for all weekend or a long day or a 7 or 10 minute session
when you watch tv you don’t tilt your head a lot and same with shooting

most would not understand the limits of the brain when cocking the heads sideways with a low scope mount so,that will not be discussed here
 
Jefferson said:
most target shooters prefer a heads up look when addressing the scope

or at least they would if they tried it

remember the leopold scope with the cutout in it to get the scope closer to the action and barrel
they don’t make it anymore do they. Mmmmmmmmm

heads up makes yiur neck ache less or none at all when shooting for all weekend or a long day or a 7 or 10 minute session
when you watch tv you don’t tilt your head a lot and same with shooting

most would not understand the limits of the brain when cocking the heads sideways with a low scope mount so,that will not be discussed here
Click to expand...

That's interesting, Jefferson. You may well be right with respect to target shooters. However, with scopes on hunting rifles, the most usual preference is the lowest possible mounting. This has certain advantages: (a) the overall profile of the rig is lower and less likely to catch on things out in hunting terrain and (b) it enables a tight cheek weld that mitigates recoil to some extent. That's certainly what I aim for with my hunting rigs. Perhaps with light-recoiling target or BR rifles, a higher stance (seen particularly with many European shooters) might make sense, but having the stock resting against the chin, rather than the cheek, causes pain with heavy-recoiling rifles.

As for Leupold, they do still have the cut-out on the bottom of the objective bell in the VX-3L series. See video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nINRa6HV3-k
 
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