Dang It!

[Tikkamike]

Ok I put a Leupold VX-3 6.5-20x 50mmLR sitting on a Badger 30 MOA Base... So last night I finally was able to get my gong set up at 1 mile, I wasnt planning on shooting last night because it was pretty windy (11mph) but I decided what the heck lets try it. So I got everything all setup, checked the wind, input it in my ballistics program had everything ready. Now it is my understanding a 30mm Leupold had approx. 90 MOA total adjustment which if everything is centered I should have roughly 45 MOA to play with plus the 30 I added with the Bases which puts me at 75 MOA +/- ... well I needed 63.7 Minutes so I started dialing and 62 I ran out! Didnt expect that.. which left me about 50 yards short of my 1 mile goal. Now I realize if your not centered windage wise you wont have full range but im not too far from center.. Anyway long story short I decided to just make it an even 1700 yards and try it out, which I did hit it on my third shot after I got the wind doped. dialed about 10.5 MOA of wind.( I would have kept playing and tried to get more hits but my phone was blowing up the wife wanted me to come get the grill going.) Anyway does my scope have 90 MOA and the little off of center left /right just used up that much range? or am I misinformed about how much elevation I have?
Target is 24"x24"

Here is my first bullet that missed (300SMK)

 

[trebark]

According to Leupold, your scope should have 94moa elevation and windage.

Leupold || VX-3 6.5-20x50mm Long Range Target

Once you land on the page, click on 'specs'

If everything is lined up just right in your set up, you should have about 75moa of 'up'. You might want to give Leupold a call as they may have an explanation/solution.

 

[Tikkamike]

hmm so i wonder what the deal is... maybe badger sent me a 20 moa marked as a 30 moa??

 

[SBruce]

Sorry to hear you didn't quite have enough elevation left, bummer.

But congratulations on getting 1700! Thats still waaay out there!

 

[trebark]

hmm so i wonder what the deal is... maybe badger sent me a 20 moa marked as a 30 moa??

I think there are multiple variables that could be causing the problem.

• your action might not be level/square on top
• screws holding base to action could be deforming/torquing base
• rings could have slight variations in their height
• Have you checked your scope to varify that there is 90+moa of travel in it? 94 is what they advertise, but not necessarily what you get.

The list could go on and on.

 

[Tikkamike]

I think there are multiple variables that could be causing the problem.

• your action might not be level/square on top
• screws holding base to action could be deforming/torquing base
• rings could have slight variations in their height
• Have you checked your scope to varify that there is 90+moa of travel in it? 94 is what they advertise, but not necessarily what you get.

The list could go on and on.

no I havent checked it, that was the first time I have ever reached one end of the spectrum, to be honest I am a little afraid to push the limits, or will it be a solid stop when i hit bottom like there was at the top?? all of my screws should be good its all badger ordinance torqued to reccomended specs and its brand new so I would think they wouldnt be stretched or anything yet. rings are same height I measured them both before I installed them, so that leaves me with: maybe the action is not square on top?? and maybe my scope doesnt really have the 90ish MOA or maybe my base is a 20 and not the 30 MOA that I ordered.
To be honest I am not that bummed about it like I was last night I would like to say I have shot a mile but I guess you cant have everything, becides my geovids only range 1400 on a good day anyway, so I guess I have conquered the max range of my set up... I still would like to know about my scope though. if someone knows about dialing to the top and bottom of a leupold please let me know. I dont want to mess anything up because when i start getting close to the bottom it gets harder to turn,, maybe its just cause its never been dialed that far before?

 

[trebark]

I would attempt to dial it all the way to the bottom, then dial it back up to the top to see just how much travel you have. If you have any concerns about doing this, call Leupold and get their advice.

In terms of the other things that could be screwing things up, remember that it only takes a few thousandths to take away a few minutes of travel in your scope.

 

[Tikkamike]

I think I will give it a try

 

[Ridge Runner]

my mark 4 6.5x20 has according to loopy 70 MOA total, 35 up and down from center, so with my 20 moa base I have 55 moa of up and 15 down, for a total of 70 moa.
ok, just checked, it says 94 for your scope, are you sure its a 30 moa base? the figures say 20, just something else to check.
RR

 

[Tikkamike]

Well good news. I counted the MOA adjustment in my scope and I have 94 just like I am supposed to. SO that means 1 of 2 things, Remington messed up or Badger messed up. I am guessing the top of my reciever isnt square and thats where I lost approx. 10 MOA Maybe Badger sent me a 20 MOA rail marked as a 30 but I dont think so. I havent measured it but it appears to have more taper than my other 20 MOA bases. I still cant shoot out to a mile without getting a new base so thats a bummer, but I am going to leave it as is because I can only range to 1400 on a good day so Why spend the money on another rail when I could buy a bunch of bullets with that 150 bucks! So all is good here in Basin Wyoming again now that I know my scope isnt messed up.

 

[Camshaft]

Is the base bedded? Bedding it properly should take out any stress induced by the receiver not being true. You would could try shimming it also to get a few more moa out of your base, if you find a shim height that sets it up right, bed it in.

 

[lamiglas]

is your scope actually zeroed at exact center? when zeroing your gun at 100 yards or ??? yards maybe you had to come up a few minutes from center to get it to zero?

if this was already addressed, i apologize that i missed it. breaks over and had to type fast!!! have a good one.

 

[Ridge Runner]

try a set of burris rings with the inserts, you can add a bunch of up to your scope with them but you may lose the ability to zero at closer ranges.
RR

 

[bigngreen]

I've had a rifle that seemed to gobble MOA, even with a 20 MOA base it was always short, when I chambered a new barrel for it I timed it so the barrel muzzle was up when on the action and it gained me just over 10 MOA. Just a though.