Hey guys I need some advice. I took my new rifle out today to try and sight it in. With my elevation adjustment all the way down I'm still almost 3 feet high at 100. It has a 20 moa base on and I thought maybe it was the problem so I took it off and measured it. The back was .305 tall and the front was .267 which seems right. The rifle is a savage 111 lrh 338 lapua with a vortex viper 6.5-20-50 in burris xtr low rings. Even with a 0moa base I would still be high or right at the bottom of my adjustment.I don't know what else it could be. Do I need taller rings? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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hitting way high
- Thread starter mmk
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westcliffe01
Well-Known Member
If you are hitting the target high, it means that your point of aim is too low. So you need to adjust the turret in the opposite direction to what you have been doing. The way you currently have the turret configured is with maximum "up" shift since your bullets are going high, not low. The 20MOA base will point the scope down 20MOA, which will result in the barrel pointing HIGH 20MOA right off the bat. The scope has 32.5 MOA of adjustment in both directions so you should have more than enough adjustment to get on center.
The easiest way to make sense of what is going on is to ignore the up and down markings on the turrets. Put the rifle on a support/sandbags and pull out the bolt completely so you can look down the bore. Now get the rifle pointed at an aiming point that is small enough that you can center it in the bore at the front and back by simply looking down the bore. Pack the rifle in such a way that it is pointed with the bore centered on the aiming point and stable so it won't move. Then without touching the rifle, look through the scope.
Where are the crosshairs relative to the aiming point ? Rotate the elevation knob so the crosshairs move towards the aiming point. Check that the bore stays aligned with the aiming point, then keep moving the crosshair to the aiming point. I have got scopes (bore sighted) out to 160 yards like this, but 50 yards will be easier to get on paper. Once reliably on paper, then the "down" and "up" direction markings will move the point of impact in the indicated direction.
If you really can't get the reticle centered with 32.5moa of adjustment then something is way off.
The easiest way to make sense of what is going on is to ignore the up and down markings on the turrets. Put the rifle on a support/sandbags and pull out the bolt completely so you can look down the bore. Now get the rifle pointed at an aiming point that is small enough that you can center it in the bore at the front and back by simply looking down the bore. Pack the rifle in such a way that it is pointed with the bore centered on the aiming point and stable so it won't move. Then without touching the rifle, look through the scope.
Where are the crosshairs relative to the aiming point ? Rotate the elevation knob so the crosshairs move towards the aiming point. Check that the bore stays aligned with the aiming point, then keep moving the crosshair to the aiming point. I have got scopes (bore sighted) out to 160 yards like this, but 50 yards will be easier to get on paper. Once reliably on paper, then the "down" and "up" direction markings will move the point of impact in the indicated direction.
If you really can't get the reticle centered with 32.5moa of adjustment then something is way off.
SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
Keep in mind that a 338 is climbing all the way out to 500 yards.
I quit sighting in rifles at 100 yards after I built my range. Now it's 250.
First time I fired my 338, I bore sighted it (like Westcliffe ststes) and it still shot way high, off the paper (at the club at 100 yards, had to crank it down about 30 clicks just to get it on the paper.
It's really not a 100 yard rifle.
I quit sighting in rifles at 100 yards after I built my range. Now it's 250.
First time I fired my 338, I bore sighted it (like Westcliffe ststes) and it still shot way high, off the paper (at the club at 100 yards, had to crank it down about 30 clicks just to get it on the paper.
It's really not a 100 yard rifle.
SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
I like to use a Caldwell Fire Control rest. I dislike strapping any rifle down in a 'Lead Sled' type shooting rest. The laws of physics say that the recoil has to be absorbed by something....your shoulder and the decellerator pad. An immobile rifle absorbs the recoil in the stock, bedding and elsewhere and a firearm isn't designed to do that, at least in my opinion.
With the Caldwell Fire Control, you still take the recoil but the rifle is situated in a 2 point rest thats adjustable with a 'joy stick' arrangement. I find it to be the 'cats meow' for shooting a load ladder, takes the wiggle out of shooting groups for placement.
The only firearms you cant boresight by sighting down the tube at the target is a semi automatic and a pistol. I use a laser boresighter on my black guns and my revolvers.
With the Caldwell Fire Control, you still take the recoil but the rifle is situated in a 2 point rest thats adjustable with a 'joy stick' arrangement. I find it to be the 'cats meow' for shooting a load ladder, takes the wiggle out of shooting groups for placement.
The only firearms you cant boresight by sighting down the tube at the target is a semi automatic and a pistol. I use a laser boresighter on my black guns and my revolvers.
Laelkhunter
Well-Known Member
If you can't get a small enough spot to "bore sight" as stated above, insert a deprimed cartridge case in the chamber. This will make a smaller hole to look through, and the "bore sighting" will be more precise.
snowpro440
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure I understand the first statement you made ?
Ok so I double checked and made sure my base, rings, and action screws were all tight and re-boresighted my rifle at 50 yards. I had 11 moa of down adjustment left so I fired one round and hit 22 in high. So I adjusted my elevation all the way down and shot another round and hit 17 inches high. I moved back to 100 to see how high I was and hit 30 inches high. i then dialed my turret 30 moa up just to make sure and hit about 2 feet above the target. I dont know what to do, maybe take the muzzle break off and shoot a few? Maybe the bullets are hitting it? I don't know. Thanks.
do yourself a favor quit trying to sight this in at a 100yrds or less. pace your self off a target at 300yrds. get a 4x8 sheet of plywood and set it up at the 300yrd mark. paint yourself a 3in circle for an aiming point. then use the same method sidecar explained. when you set up to shoot use a shooting bag to shoot from. do not use long shooting sessions or you will tire yourself then you will begin creating other problems. good luck.
snowpro440
Well-Known Member
Set the gun up at the bench with the bolt out and look down through the bore without touching the gun , then look through the scope to see if its even close to were the bore is pointing . If not adjust the scope till it is. If your out of travel in the scope then maybe you should have a smith look at it. I have the savage .338 with a nightforce benchrest scope and a 20 MOA rail and I still can sight in my zero at 100 and run a drop chart with adjustment to 1400 yds.
SidecarFlip
Well-Known Member
Read post number 10....
A 338 Lapua 250 or 300 grain pill climbs to 500 yards and then levells off. Plain and simple. You cannot shoot a 338 Lapua at 100 yards (let alone 50) and hit a target without an extreme amount of MOA or MIL adjustment. It's not a 100 yard rifle. If you want to shoot 100 yards with out an extreme amount of elevation adjustment shoot a lesser caliber like say a 223.
To the OP, don't take the brake off and expect to survive more than one ignition without serious shoulder brusing. The 338 Lapua unbraked is one of the most abrupt and hardest recoiling ronds out there.
I'd never pull my brake. Thats insane, but it's your shoulder, not mine.
