Thread: Scope running out of elevation adjustment (Shooting too high)

Not a fan of shimming rings. Yeah, I know, everyone has successfully cut up a coke can and shimmed.

If changing the slope of the rings is required, and I have never needed to reverse the slope and it is 99 times out of a 100 done to get more elevation, I use a tapered rail or Burris bushed rings.

Ok team, back to revive this thread again.

Today I tried a different scope, VX3 3.5-10x40, on the same Tikka 223, using the same rings.
To my surprises the scope ran out of elevation adjustment and was still shooting about 40cm too high at 25m, even worse than the Weaver Grand Slam!

This shows it is highly unlikely to be the scope's problem, but not sure what I'm doing wrong. It feels like it could be something very simple. I am certain the elevation and windage are the correct way round, ie. the scope isn't out by 90 degrees.

To make it even more confusing, I've set up my other rifles in the past the exact same way and they worked perfectly fine.

Any suggestions? Taking it to a gunsmith?

Sorry to keep dragging this on, but I'm really running out of ideas apart from feeling stupid.

do as has been suggested..swap rings from front to back and see what happens.

First I would check the height of the rings and measure from the bottom of the ring base to the recess for scope and make sure height is the same. Are they dovetail or weaver? Does the rifle have a rail on the receiver and who fitted it? Is the rail 0 moa or 20 and is it fitted the right way around? Might be worth reversing the rail maybe....
And not knowing your experience the down adjustment moves the impact point down , not the target.

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

do as has been suggested..swap rings from front to back and see what happens.

I've tried this with the Weaver but didn't make a difference.
Haven't tried it with the VX3 yet, but will give it crack.

Originally Posted by Ftx325

First I would check the height of the rings and measure from the bottom of the ring base to the recess for scope and make sure height is the same. Are they dovetail or weaver? Does the rifle have a rail on the receiver and who fitted it? Is the rail 0 moa or 20 and is it fitted the right way around? Might be worth reversing the rail maybe....
And not knowing your experience the down adjustment moves the impact point down , not the target.

The Tikka has Warne rings. No rail fitted.

Standard sort of calibre with no trick mounts or rails and a standard scope, shouldn’t be a problem. Is the Tikka a “lite” barrel, and is it also fluted and maybe, just maybe...bent?

Originally Posted by ishoot10s

Standard sort of calibre with no trick mounts or rails and a standard scope, shouldn’t be a problem. Is the Tikka a “lite” barrel, and is it also fluted and maybe, just maybe...bent?

It's a 1:8 twist rate 223 standard barrel. Not fluted.

Originally Posted by Synthetic

It's a 1:8 twist rate 223 standard barrel. Not fluted.

Okay, can you run a sheet of paper between the barrel and the fore end uninterrupted all the way from the front to the receiver? If not, you might have excessive fore end tension pushing the barrel up, or something got stuck in there when it was last put back in the stock.

Starting to sound like rifle rather than scope if you've tried two scopes with same issue. Has the scope got zero stop turrets.?

Greetings Synthetic,
Reading through your posts you seem to have ruled out everything other than the rifle itself. Changed to a proven scope (I assume the second scope has been used successfully on another rifle). Tick. Reversed the rings (I assume that this was moving the front ring to the back and vice versa). Tick. All that remains is the rifle. If the rifle is new to you and you have not successfully put a scope on it in the past then something is likely bent. Still it would be a good idea to get someone who mounts a lot of scopes to look over your installation before going to the next step.
Regards Grandpamac.

Greetings Again,
Just checked your first post again and spotted that you had mounted the scope on a different rifle with the same results. Hmm. It could also be that the rings are miss matched. Still would be good to get someone to look it over and go through what you have tried step by step. Trouble shooting is best done by changing only one thing at a time.
Regards Grandpamac.

yeah I went back and read that too......seems bizzare that a different scope would do same thing on rifle in question unless its mounts or rifle itself issue.....anybody in hamilton got a collimetre/boresighter that can go and stick it in muzzle and see what gives??????
MOST retail shops will have one...if you zero scope using one you SHOULD be on A4 bit of paper at 100 yards 99% of the time....using collimetre will also enable you to see in a jiffy if scope is tracking properly.

Are you using high rings?

At close ranges the angle difference from the scope to the bore is a lot more
Ie 1 inch movement (assume 1/4) is 4 at 100 but 16 at 25m

Try to bore sight at 50m - I normally do that with every rifle and get pretty close so can do a 100m straight after
Just about fell over the other week laughing - 1st shot was right next to the 1 inch dot ...

I’ve learn to do bore sight at home - saves the wasted day - off to range up north tomorrow but that’s a long drive for you even with the boarders gone

@Synthetic, listen closely, I am going to repeat this 3 times

BURRIS (signature zee) rings
BURRIS (signature zee) rings
BURRIS (signature zee) rings

If the rifle has a dovetail, you may need to look for a rail or mounts that convert dovetail to picatiny.

If you need any 25mm offset inserts let me know, I have a box of spares.