Just finished zeroing at 200 yards. Now I find I have just a quarter turn of elevation left in the turret. Kind of defeats the purpose of having custom turrets made. They take me from 200 to just 425yds.

Now my question. If I swap to a 20MOA rail can I simply crank in 20 MOA down and expect to be close? Will I need to go 10 or 40 when compensating for the 200 yard range?

Ammo is crazy expensive so if I can save $ with simple math I’m all in.

quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
If I swap to a 20MOA rail can I simply crank in 20 MOA down and expect to be close?

I would expect so.

I am curious, though, about the details of your load, the scope, and its mount. A 200 yard zero shouldn’t require a huge amount of elevation from the center position of your reticle, so I’m wondering why you’re so close to the maximum available at this point.

I’ve got to tell you I’m at a loss myself. Here are the stats as I know them.

Tikka t3 lite, 300 win mag, 180g Nosler Partition, ~2800fps.

New Leupold VX3i 3.5-10X40 Warne vertical split rings mounted into the integral rail as I recall .60 over bore. The base is flush with the receiver. There is a recoil pin in the front so I’m sure they aren’t swapped front to back.

Previous to this scope, the rings held a VXII 3-9X50. I didn’t have the CDS turrets then so I don’t really know if I was nearly out of elevation, I set it and didn’t touch for 12 years. I’ve run the usual box of ammo through per season to verify zero. Pack it around the bush rinse and repeat.

If I am looking at the right scope, specs show it has 52 MOA of total elevation adjustment. Which is 26 MOA up, if everything is working right, the base is flat, and your rings have not built in elevation.

Generally, it takes 2-3 MOA to get a zero at 100 yards. I didn't calculate your ballistics, but used mine for 6.5 Creedmoor at 5,000' density altitude. You'll need another 1.5 to 2.0 MOA to get a zero at 200 yards. Add another 7-ish MOA to get to 425 yards. So that's a total of 12 MOA used up, out of your theoretical 26 MOA.

Something is wonky. In theory your scope should get you at least 700 yards with a flat base and rings. Possible issues:
- your base isn't flat to the bore
- your rings aren't flat to the bore. This may be inducing negative cant.
- your scope has some king of locking mechanism which isn't allowing you to dial up elevation beyond the 425 yard mark.

Things to check:
- see what happens when you dial your scope all the way up and all the way down. Count/calculate your total elevation capabilities.
- confirm the rings are mounted correctly. See if they can be mounted the other way.

I got the old scope out of the box. For where it was set zero approx 260 yards (3”high at 100) there was still 1 1/4 turns of elevation left.

Using the same Warne mounts. I took it all apart a bit ago just for the hell of it. Everything seems correct. I’ve sent both Leupold and Warne messages this evening looking for their take.

I bought two of these scopes one on this Tikka the other is on a Vanguard 2 in .257 Weatherby. I checked it and it is worse yet I’m getting 9 clicks till it bottoms out. It’s damn close to zeroed still checking loads before I lock it in.

quote:

Originally posted by fritz:
- your scope has some king of locking mechanism which isn't allowing you to dial up elevation beyond the 425 yard mark.

This is what I’m wondering as well. Although it was a long time ago and I sold the Leupold scope in question because I didn’t like the reticle, I seem to remember some sort of elevation limiting issue with it.

And as a suggestion about dealing with Leupold, I recommend calling and staying on the line until you can talk to someone rather than depending upon email. I haven’t had perfect results doing that, but it’s generally been better than waiting for an email reply.

I’m 3/4 turn from reaching the stop. I can feel it beginning to bind as I get close, not the hard stop of the limiting ball.

I appreciate the responses and will let you know what the word is from the mothership in Oregon.

Spoke with a Leupold tech. It would seem the reason I ran out of elevation is I had used a lot of windage. There is a tube inside the housing and as it moves to the side there is less room to move vertically.

Now I’ve completely torn everything down and remounted the scope after centering the reticle. Payed attention to the way the mounts engage the dovetail. I think I put the windage into the mount somehow, then removed it with the scope.

I’ve liked the Warne rings in the past because they eliminated the separate mounts on a Tikka and are quite robust.

quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
Spoke with a Leupold tech.

Did he explain the trick to center the reticle in the tube using a mirror?

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by reflex/deflex 64:
Spoke with a Leupold tech.

Did he explain the trick to center the reticle in the tube using a mirror?

Of course not, I knew there was one but locating a small mirror etc was more trouble I decided.

I was quite frustrated till I figured out there were 15moa per revolution. 12 was the highest number printed so my feeble mind was adding and could not get 52moa to save my ass. Thought I was not finding the center.

Again thanks for helping me out. Calling got me the answer I really needed. Online was simply a suggestion to find a rail.

Please keep us posted.

Got out to the range this morning. From 50 yards it took 2 minutes left and 4 minutes up from center to zero

Went to 200 yards another couple minutes up and ran out of ammo. The wind was getting up a bit but the last 2 rounds were a bit wide and high. Far better than the first attempt.

Took it apart looked it over and reassembled same damn way this time it was correct. I can’t really say I know what was wrong. Best I can guess is I didn’t torque evenly during installation the first time