Shaking the dust off

[gotboostvr]

So I've been posting alot of questions and doing some soul searching regarding bolt action rifles over the past year.

It's never been exactly my area of expertise.

Mostly been a revolver guy, but with plenty of shotgun and lever action experience, being those were the main hunting tools where I lived back in Ohio.

Having our first kid, and then moving across the country didn't really have much time to shoot, especially for non-hunting/self defense related practice.

Well, we've been here for about a year finally got the house mostly squared away and found a place to shoot (for free!) near by.

I put some time aside, and for the first time in about three years, pulled the trigger on my stick shift.

I like my new glass, Leupold VX-Freedom 4-12X40 CDS, but eye relief is a little too long, or my LOP on this stock is a little too short (probably both).

I put my target out at a lazered 110yrds and set up shop though.

Struggled just getting comfortable prone, I'm 100% sure my form could use some work.

My last three, three round groups of the day though, weren't too shabby for being so rusty and struggling a bit with my eye box.



0.8", 1.25" & 1.4" groups, exactly 2" high at 110yrds. Averages out to 1.15", or 0.998 MOA. I'LL TAKE IT! Not too bad for three year hiatus and my "plinking" loads (165gr SGK HPBT, PPU brass and RL15)

The eye box issues, aren't bad seated or standing, but shooting prone put my face too far up the stock. Scooting back for a good sight picture made it hard to get tight on the stock. So it was either good sight picture and get beat up by a loose grip on the rifle, or a poor sight picture.

I've got a set of picitiany bases and mounts I'll swap back to, and maybe add a thicker recoil pad to get some extra length. But for right now, I'm leaving it until my next range day.

It was beautiful out, 75° with a pretty good breeze and had the area all to myself.



And of course, the rifle itself:

 

[danez71]

Nice shoot'n

Is that in the general PHX area?

 

[gotboostvr]

Nice shoot'n

Is that in the general PHX area?

A little south east, but not terribly far from PHX.

 

[jmr40]

.308 I presume. But I don't recognize the rifle. What do you have? I like the looks of it and it appears to be a good shooter.

Never heard anyone complain about too much eye relief. You have the scope mounted too far forward. Loosen the rings and slide it back at least 1/2", or maybe as much as 1". This may not change your zero at all. If it does it won't be by much. You'll still be on paper and may need to make minor adjustments next time out.

I don't think you'll need to, but you could remove the rear ring and reverse it to be able to move the scope back even more. I think that will position the scope better for you.

Remember, eye relief changes as magnification changes. With most scopes anyway. Some do not, but Leupold does. Be sure to try the fit at different magnifications. On 4X you have the most, on 12X the least. I like to mount the scope so eye relief is perfect for quick snap shots off hand on the lowest scope setting. As you move up in magnification you'll need to slide forward on the stock to get a better view.

 

[gotboostvr]

.308 I presume. But I don't recognize the rifle. What do you have? I like the looks of it and it appears to be a good shooter.

Never heard anyone complain about too much eye relief. You have the scope mounted too far forward. Loosen the rings and slide it back at least 1/2", or maybe as much as 1". This may not change your zero at all. If it does it won't be by much. You'll still be on paper and may need to make minor adjustments next time out.

I don't think you'll need to, but you could remove the rear ring and reverse it to be able to move the scope back even more. I think that will position the scope better for you.

Remember, eye relief changes as magnification changes. With most scopes anyway. Some do not, but Leupold does. Be sure to try the fit at different magnifications. On 4X you have the most, on 12X the least. I like to mount the scope so eye relief is perfect for quick snap shots off hand on the lowest scope setting. As you move up in magnification you'll need to slide forward on the stock to get a better view.

Sorry, it is a 308win. The rifle is a Rem700 that's had a fair amount of work done.

The scope needs to go further towards the muzzle for my eye relief to improve.

As it is, it's actually better on 12x, than 4x while prone currently as the relief shortens as magnification increases. It's OK from most field positions, but prone is when it's at its worst from what I can tell.

I'm a pretty big lanky guy, at 6'4" so I have a hard time not going "nose-to-charging handle" as it were.

 

[z7]

Best practice for setting up a scope with eye relief is to position the scope for proper eye relief at max power in the position you will shoot the most, or consider most important. We you demonstrated, head position changes quite a bit from standing, kneeling, sitting and prone,

if you plan to shoot prone often, set it up for prone, max power.

 

[Laphroaig]

Best practice for setting up a scope with eye relief is to position the scope for proper eye relief at max power in the position you will shoot the most, or consider most important. We you demonstrated, head position changes quite a bit from standing, kneeling, sitting and prone,

This is my experience as well. Your head will be further forward on the stock in prone than the other positions. The places that I hunt do not offer many opportunities for prone shooting mainly due to ground clutter vegetation. Sitting is probably my most useful stable position.

 

[gotboostvr]

I'm fully aware how to mount a scope. I've got it as far forward as the current mounts will allow, and it's not quite far forward enough.

I'm going to leave it as-is until the next chance I get to shoot, at which point I'll put my old EGW base and Warne rings so I can push it out further. Unless adding a thicker recoil pad fixes the issue completely.