Scope mounting question(s)

[alexs2006]

So I’m playing with my Tikka T1x to shoot some long distance rimfire. 215yards being the max. It sits in an MDT XRS chassis I have a 452 guns 20MOA base, Burris signature Zee rings with 0MOA in the scope inserts +10 on bottom and -10 on top front and back. I was just getting used to everything at the 25yd mark and it was a tack driver. My windage was dead nuts in the middle of my windage on my turrets, perfect. My elevation was bottomed out on my turret shooting 3.5” high, me being a ditz thought something was wrong, I tear the gun apart, order a set of rings with no inserts from Warne, still 3.5” high. So I send those back and put my Burris rings back on and accidentally over torqued the clamp screw. (I looked up the wrong torque spec) and it broke(Burris is sending me new clamp screws). Well ****… I ordered a set of XTR rings, I put the +5 on the bottom rear, -5 top rear and 0’s in the front. Which should give me 25moa total between the base and rings. Now for whatever reason, I’m dead on at 25 with the elevation turret bottomed out and had to bottom my windage turret to the left. I took the rings apart and put my level on the base of rings. The rear is canted so the bubble on the level touches the line on the right, but is still in the middle. The front ring is canted so the bubble is touching the left line but is still in the center.

In a last ditch effort I put shims under the base’s to shim them in the direction to get them level with the scope rail. Is this the right thing to do?

I’m going crazy trying to figure this out

 

[wolfmanrogers]

Buy better components and you won't have to jerry rig it.

 

[alexs2006]

Buy better components and you won't have to jerry rig it.

Better components?

 

[1006]

It was hard for me to get a clear picture of your situation, as I have never used the rings with inserts. But, it sounded like you might be able to swap the front and rear rings to get them in alignment, or flip one ring around in its current location. Other than that, check that the base sitting correctly, then move up to checking the rings.

 

[Rusty Shakleford]

Throw away the Burris rings with inserts and purchase a quality base and rings nightforce kelbys, talley, badger,etc.

 

[BigMike]

I'm so confused. Chunk the rings with inserts and get the correct moa base to match your scope max elevation to get to the range you need. Correctly mounted quality parts is the recipe for success.

 

[Openspaces]

Ok so I’ll be the outlier here and say that you can get a decent setup with the Burris signature rings. I’ve used these a few times. Mostly on 22 and they have worked well for elevation and windage limitations. A few have been on for years and have been nothing short of fully reliable on my .22 and Ive thrown a set on a .308 to check out a scope quick and it seems to be fine

I’ll assume your base is installed correctly (up to you if removing/checking that would help.

My suggestion would be the following

1) fully remove the rings and check your “level” on the same surface to eliminate/confirm any mounting to base issues and to see if the rings have been tweaked in some way.
2) mount your rings the same orientation. (Screw heads on same side)
3) Use a torque wrench
4) place the bottom inserts in and get your scope eye relief setup
5) place top inserts on scope and then place top rings on
6) tighten everything in at the same rate alternating sides to keep the gap pretty much even (again torque wrench))

Watchouts:
- don’t use shims… let the inserts do the work
- the inserts can be a bit finicky and can move a little prior to getting the screws started.
- any twist of non zero inserts will move your scope. I’ve intentionally used them to adjust left- right but anything that is not up down will change some amount left-right and up-down
- the moa adjustment will be impacted by the distance between rings so don’t assume it will be exact based on the offsets you pick
- don’t forget you can use insert in both front and rear and if needed use one for elevation and the other for windage.

Lastly, I bought a full set of inserts for when I was playing around with these a lot. I forget the moa adjustment but I have some with more than 15 moa. Message me if you think they’d help and I can send you some.

 

[1006]

The only other thing I can think to suggest is to make sure you are placing the level exactly perpendicular to the base. If it is sitting at a angle that is different each time you place the level on the bubble will move around unless the base is level from front to back as well as side to side.

 

[alexs2006]

Hey guys, I spoke with Burris. The XTR rings were out of spec. They’re replacing the screws for the signature rings. All is well again.

They had a bad batch of XTR rings being milled even across the surface that sits on the base.