Broken scope? Or normal?

[PaBowHunter]

I just picked up a Rem 700 and had a Bushnell 3200 5 x 15 x 40mm mounted via EGW picatinny rail (no MOA adj), medium Burris Xtreme rings. Took it to the range today and zeroed it at 100 yards. I found that the windage was perfect. 17" left and 17" right once zeroed.
But the elevation was a different story. I only had 11.5" up and 32.5" down. Is this normal? I'm new to the shooting game, but I would think that you'd want your maximum adjustment available up, correct? So is it normal to mount a scope and have the majority of your adjustable travel be down?

Thanks for your help. And I apologize for my obvious ignorance.

 

[winmagman]

Ideally you'd want the elevation numbers reversed. Unfortunately you just never know what you're going to get until you mount everything up and try it.

In your case a 20 moa base would just about turn your numbers around, approx. 12 down and 32 up which is what you for when setting up to shoot long range.

Chris

 

[SBruce]

Another option, if you don't want to part with the rifle long enough for a smith to install a 20 minute base, is to get a set of the Signature series rings with the inserts, They should give you an additional 10 moa at least on your current setup.

I agree with previous post, mounting scopes is sometimes like a box o chocolates.........you just never know what you might get

Just as a sidenote, are you sure the picatany rail is on correctly, and not backwards? Stranger things have happened, I've seen it firsthand. Didn't even notice it till I went to boresight and there was little room left for up. Quick fix though, just swapped the base around 180 degrees, then boresight was centered both horizontal and vertical.

 

[PaBowHunter]

I'll try having it reversed. My buddy mounted everything. He's moderately experienced, so he may have made a mistake? How can I tell if it's been installed in reverse?

 

[tonyrem700]

Okay so I have a similar problem. Rem700 two piece bases. Bases were level, rings true with ring alignment tool, and then lapped. Installed the scope Bushmaster 4.5-14 40mm. Put on the bore sight and looked down the scope. To my suprise laser was about 1 mil dot right and 5 low at about 25 yards. The clicks are 1/4" so it takes a bit to move it. Got the windage set but the elevation is so far off I max out on the turret before getting the laser dot to the center of my cross hairs. Is it the scope? Please help.

 

[davewilson]

it's not the scope. the angle of the barrel is pointing downhill with relation to the direction the bases are mounted. just because the ring alignment tool is pointing at each other doesn't mean they're pointed in the right direction.the Burris rings with inserts really work nice as they take all the alignment stress off the scope and you can get up to about 40 moa slant with them.

 

[PaBowHunter]

Is it normal for most of the adjustable travel to be down? I mean it has 32.5" (130 clicks) down. And 11.5" (46 clicks) elevation adjustment? Is that normal? And It's supposed to have 50 MOA of travel. Does that mean in both directions? And it only has 44" travel up and down. And 34" travel side to side (windage).
Is it just pot luck? Or is there a problem with the scope?