At limits of both elevation and windage. What now?

Status
Not open for further replies.
v35

v35

Member
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Messages
910
New Ruger American shoots straight with open sights. No problem there, so I was ready to mount a scope. It's a Leupold VX-2 and I am using Weaver #12 Base Top Mounts with Leupold QRW Low rings.

At 50 yards I miss the target completely, unless both elevation and windage are at their limits. Even then I'm still low and left by several MOA. Too many MOA to count.

Obviously I did something dumb, but what? The Weaver mounts don't have any adjustments. They just attach with two screws in fixed locations. I also followed Leupold's ring instructions to the letter, including torque requirements. The groupings are consistent. The scope is level, though I did that to the best of my ability (leveling the rifle, then rotating the scope to align the reticle with a plumb bob and string hung in the distance). Everything seems perfect, but I am hitting ridiculously low and left.

What's wrong?

I suspect the Weaver Base Top Mounts only because they're the only thing that isn't Leupold. Surely my expensive new scope is perfect... ?

Using the same technique and a Leupold Mark 2 IMS I had no trouble at all mounting a Nikon scope on an AR. I thought the Ruger would be just as straightforward.
 
You might want to try changing the base and rings. Swap them out one at a time to see if you can isolate the problem.

Another option is to shim the rings. I had to do this once and used folded pieces of aluminum foil. Some use cut pieces from an aluminum can.
 
New bases. I always start sighting in rifles at 25 yards, and with big targets. You need to get on the paper before you can zero, and it saves rounds doing it that way.
 
I swapped the bases front / rear, and also tried rotating each of them 180° in place. Made no difference. Still low and left.

Didn't try swapping the rings though. I'll try that next.
 
I can actually see the scope isn't parallel with the rifle just by looking at it.

At this point I'm probably going to take it to a professional. I'm out of my depth.
 
Try YouTube for a tutorial on the subject. Should be an audio/visual one.

I would have started at 25 yds(as noted by other) Starting out......the closer the better. J s/n.
 
Have you tried bore sighting it visually? How I do my scope setups is get a target set at 25 yards, then I take the bolt out of the gun so I can fix the rifle on a table where it doesn't move and point it at the target looking THROUGH the bore at the target, I get the barrel lined up with the center of the target. Now without moving the rifle move your eyes up to the scope and see where it is pointing at the target. I've always had great luck boresighting this way. It will get you on paper at 25, then the rest is a few shots to get it in the bullseye.

It sounds like it needs a trip back to Ruger, and I would exhaust getting this fixed right by the factory before going with my suggestion below.

Another option when there is a misalignment between scope and receiver is the Burris Signature rings with their Pos-Align ring inserts that allows the user to adjust for misalignment. Each of the rings come with a plastic insert that has an offset scope hole that allows the user to align the scope with the receiver in the set of rings. This is a good option for guns outside of warranty that have issues, and people have had great luck with them.
 
Last edited:
I'm confused. The Ruger American rifles don't have iron sights and come with factory supplied bases?
 
Follow up: The gunsmith got everything mounted in about ten minutes. The scope now appears perfectly parallel with the barrel, whereas the angular misalignment before was pretty obvious. I still needed to make significant adjustments to both elevation and windage (up and left, this time) but they are no where near their mechanical limits as before.

How could I have screwed up so badly? I have no idea. The gunsmith just said everything was just way off. I suspect he didn't want to be forthcoming sharing his knowledge, and that's fine. Live and learn... except I really didn't learn anything other than the fact I need to learn something, like how to mount scopes.

Which brings me to:
<*(((>< said:
Have you tried bore sighting it visually? How I do my scope setups is get a target set at 25 yards, then I take the bolt out of the gun so I can fix the rifle on a table where it doesn't move and point it at the target looking THROUGH the bore at the target, I get the barrel lined up with the center of the target. Now without moving the rifle move your eyes up to the scope and see where it is pointing at the target.
Click to expand...

I'm embarrassed to admit that thought had not occurred to me. In fact Leupold even explains that in their instructions, but it did not make sense to me at the time. Look through the bore? Huh? :oops:

Can you tell it's my first bolt action rifle? Removing the bolt made sighting through the bore a little easier :oops:

That's why I come to THR :)

Still, I already disassembled everything and reassembled everything myself, and the obvious angular misalignment didn't change at all. That's what led me to suspect the scope mounts were not drilled properly. I would have found that hard to believe though.
jmr40 said:
I'm confused. The Ruger American rifles don't have iron sights and come with factory supplied bases?
Click to expand...

Iron sights yes, bases no, not on this model. The rifle shot perfectly straight when aligned with the fixed sights. I am using the bases Ruger recommended (Weaver #12). I measured them with calipers. They're identical so I couldn't find anything wrong with them. The rings are Leopold QRW, very nice rings.
 
With the weaver rings, at least some models, it is possible to mount them so that the screw plate is either misaligned or even rotated 180 degrees. (Not sure if the Leupolds are this way) This presumably may have caused the problem you were having. Your gunsmith may have thought that you would have taken umbrage at this, so he just glossed over it. Not a biggie. Main thing is you've learned something and have a good rig to shoot.

Cheers!
 
Note: OP's last post was generated while I was typing this post. Read at your own peril.

Your issue can be fixed by shimming and using Leupold Std. rings and bases or Burris rings. Someone mentioned shimming the front base which makes sense to me. But if you need more elevation you actually shim the rear base which is counter-intuitive to me but maybe not to someone else.

I also in the past would not shim two piece bases, only one piece because of the stress put on the scope tube. Last year Leupold customer service told me that at least with their scopes it is perfectly ok to use up to three shims with two piece bases. I did it on a customer's rifle that didn't like the looks of one piece bases and there have been no issues.

All that being said I would send the rifle back to Ruger if it is drilled and tapped crooked. I've found this issue to be most common on RAR's, Axis and Remington 783's.

On a side note I do not care for the look of a one piece base on a bolt action rifle, but started using one piece picatinnys several years ago because it eliminates so many issues that can arise with two piece bases. Scope tube lengths today are all over the place. With a one piece picatinny you can always set up a scope with the proper eye relief.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

P
  • Locked
Pre-64 Model 70 and Weaver K4 - base and rings question
Replies
11
Views
946
pgidley
P
B
  • Locked
Scope Adjustments; Zeroing and Limits
Replies
3
Views
782
Laphroaig
Laphroaig
G
  • Locked
Scope Mount Suggestions Needed
Replies
12
Views
828
Sniper66
S
F
  • Locked
Keeping Windage Screws Tight
Replies
12
Views
6K
Gordon
Gordon
J
  • Locked
Opinions on Mini-14 Optics
2
Replies
37
Views
5K
johnnydollar
J
Back
Top