Scope mounting

hi all, just after a little advice if possible. first time mounting a scope and im either missing something super obvious or i might have a gammy scope.... the reticle does not seem to be aligned with the tube body, its most of a bubble out, enough to spot without even using a level. i can either get the reticle level or the body level, but not both. ive tried lining it up with horizontal level, plumb bob, and even turned lights out and shone torch through it and same result.

any insights?? its a brand new vx5, so surely its me and not the gear??

pic is mainly a cry for attention...

overthinking it?.......... close your eyes shoulder the rifle open your eye , is it in focus? , eye releif ok?...... does the reticle look level ? if not turn the scope till it does , forget about it

the best way ive heard of doing it and do it now is set up in front of a mirror and get the verticle crosshair to pass through the center of the barrel when looking through the scope at the mirror

does the top of the reticle line up with the Zero mark on your turret if you look at it centered ? Ive never worried about using a level and all that funny business, just put the scope on, line it up so it looks right then go shooting, its never affected my ability too shoot out real far and the couple of times I have had a store mount a scope for me using a level its seemed so obviously out of alignment that ive loosened the rings and re centred it anyhow

If you're still having no luck with getting your scope aligned I'm more than happy to help if you wanted to bring your rifle to the range.

If you're a normal person, follow the advice above. If you're OCD like me, buy a scope levelling kit.

Its not impossible that the reticle is out of alignment - have heard of it with Leupold before and as recently as in a VX6.

Hard to tell if you've set it up that way but you want the scope level front to back too or any slight angle in the bubble will put it off.
Quite often if I'm doing it quickly I just use something parallel and align the machjned flat on the bottom of the scope with the rail

First I get the scope set so that I know how far forward or back I need it to be for eye relief, then I mark the scope and ring with tape so I can mount it in the correct length later.

Then I remove the scope.

Personally I set the rifle up in a vice or clamp so that it is held securely and so that you will be able to see a wall or fence through the scope when it is refitted.

I remove the scope and make sure to level the rifle itself them clamp that so that it cannot move.

I fit the rings and scope so that is can be rotated but not moved rearwards or forwards (So I dont alter the eye relief I had earlier)

I look through the scope at a vertical line on the fence / wall. And I check whether the cap is horizontal. The cap is only so if I have to check in future, I know whether the cap is suitable to use with the level.

Most people end to hold the rifle on a cant so that when the look through it they "tilt" it slightly without realising it, but the eye will naturally counter that IF the cross hair is actually vertical.

When leveling I ALWAYS use the level in both directions (left / right) so once I have the rifle level I spin the level 180 degrees and make sure it is still level. I have had a couple of cheaper levels that were out slightly and doing this highlights whether the level itself can be trusted.

The offer from @Sasquatch would be a good offer to take up and well worth the effort.

you have to first make the rifle sit flat and level by removing the towel.

If you intend to shoot with accuracy past medium distance then everything needs to be plumb. The adjustments need to move parallel to earth if you want to dial, properly. It is possible that the scope cap is not seated perfectly level, but if its enough to notice by eye then its probably a warranty job. The best thing to do will be get a plumb bob and level the reticle off that, then run the adjustments through their entire movement range and see if they track true with the plub bob. Try to do it from as far distance as you can. If its a dud, then it happens. Im sure you will be looked after.

Attachment 119372
Attachment 119373

I would find this really off-putting, and if it was me I'd get it repaired. The lens with the reticle etched on it has possibly been fitted rotationally slightly out of alignment with the turrets in the way Tahr mentioned it might have.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scotty

...... does the reticle look level ? if not turn the scope till it does , forget about it

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The problem with this is that if you set the rifle up and use it with the reticle aligned vertically and horizontally, but the turrets then out of alignment, when you dial on elevation you will be dialing in some windage too. It will be the same as using the rifle with some cant. It would be much less of an issue if it wasn't a dialing scope as you'd just align the reticle and deal with the out-of-alignment turrets when sighting-in.
If you want to live with it, set up a bubble level aligned with the turrets and use the reticle canted. As mentioned elsewhere though, there is a natural tendency to rotate the rifle for what you perceive to be true vertical and horizontal based on the reticle.

Edit: and what Chris says above while I was posting.

On the bright side, the bipod will be an easy fix. ;)

How are you determining that the rifle is level and not canted before you start aligning the scope ?

Theres no guarantee that the top cap on the scope is dead level. Mine wasn't on my VX6 when I tried to do exactly as you have, so I just eyed it up as I would normally do and all is good.

Had the same issue with a vx6 a year or two ago that got repaired after fogging up an when it returned the reticle was badly out of line relative to the turrets. I contacted nz Asia and they were excellent an replaced the scope with a new HD model vx 6. Like you tho I spent a fair amount of frustrating time trying to get it mounted using levels etc before finally giving up an after one simple email it was all sorted.

Do as timattalon says. The first vital step is to get the rifle completely level and lock it down so it can't move. Easy to do with the Sako you have because of the flat surface on the action. Use a good reliable level, many aren't. Then mount the scope and check the vertical reticle with a plumb line.

As mentioned Leupold will look after you if your reticle is out of plumb.

cheers for all the replies, especially detail provided by @ChrisW and @Puffin. generally good suggestions all round. @Moutere, the bipod is borrowed for the purposes of scope mounting, it weighs as much as the rifle so i have no intention of carrying it around the hills!

i have levelled the rifle lengthways too, tried different surfaces, different levels, different plumb lines, had the stock in a vice, and levelled every flat surface on the scope, the underside, under turret caps etc. it is half to 3/4 of a bubble out every time. spoke with leupold nz, and they are happy to replace. turns out they even have a bit of a reputation for it in states, but as the leupold team here point out, people only generally rant about the bad experiences. he said the last one they had in nz was a year ago (a vx6, so maybe the same one you mentioned @Tahr).

Very kind offer, thanks @Sasquatch, if I have trouble with the replacement too, I will get in touch.

@bang I would leave the rifle out of the equation for now and concentrate just on the scope. From your posting you have probably already done the right things to determine as per @ChrisW posting that the reticle is well out of wack with the elevation turret.

Ensure reticle is optically centred. It should have come from the factory centred but check using the counting click method or mirror method (google).

Then, just to confirm, I would again set up a plum bob at a suitable distance (out of the wind), hopefully in reasonable focus. With the scope held very steady, off the rifle, align the vertical reticle element with the plum bob line. Do level check on top of turret, turning level ½ turn to confirm.

If bubble is as bad as you say in your first posting I would take scope back to supplier. Don’t be put off by rumours that Leupold make perfect scopes. Those days seem to have gone.

Of my many scopes I only have one scope that the top turret is absolutely level with the crosshair and that is an NXS. My 4 Leupolds are not 100% perfect, nor my SIII Sightron, Burris Black Diamond etc etc. However, the errors in my scopes are nowhere like you describe in yours.

I always align using the vertical element (some of my rifles I shoot to 1000yds) as some scopes are also slightly on the piss between the horizontal and vertical elements in the reticle. Have not experienced this, yet, with glass etched reticles.

@bang woops, too slow with posting.....

what this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-lp...uX97n0&index=7

For the maths shooters,if your scope height center is above barrel center 1.75 inchs.Say your scope is 8 degrees off plump which is about .25 of a inch at the circumference of a 1.75 circle.So if your rifle is zeroed at 100yds,you are only .25 of a inch at 200yds.Zero at 200yds,your shot at 400yds is only .5 of a inch off center.
8 degree cante in your scope would be very easy to see if you got your rifle dead level.So if you got your scope even half that,say 4degrees off plume.You shouldn't have to much to worry about shooting out to 400yds on a deer.Check U tube on the above.
For my scope I screw on a rail bubble each side of my scope rail,Rifle gota be very close to level.Then line up plump bulb rope about 50 yds away.Look thru barrel for rope with rifle level.Then gentle plump up recticle with plump bulb rope.And screw off scope gentle and check rifle is level as I screw off scrope.Then go to the range and fire a couple of shots from 100yds to get zero.Draw a vertical line off zero,check scope at bottom of elevation and top of elevation.Shots should be touching plump line top and bottom if all you have done is good.

Had a canted reticle in a vx5. Replaced, no worries now.

I assume you intend to mount a level on the scope, so you know you are level when at the range or hunting ?