Remington 700 scope mounting problem

[WCL]

I've got a problem with a gun I recently had built. It started as a 700 ltr. I had a Leupold 6.5-20 mounted in Talley steel rings. The gun shot very well, but I wasn't satisfied with the .308, so I parted out the barrel and stock and used the action to have a rifle built. I now have a scope mounting problem. My scope mounting screws do not appear to be aligned with the bore. Before the build, I had left and right windage adjustment. Now I don't. I would like to use my Talley rings and bases, but I run out of windage adjustment. I've shot the rifle around 50 times while sighting in and it appears to group well, but I haven't tried to ring it out until I can get my scope aligned with the bore an take advantage of my windage adjustment. I've tried three scopes and run out of windage adjustment. I don't want to use leupold bases with windage adjustmentn screw, but I may be forced to do so. How hard is it to drill and tap the receiver to align the bases with the bore? What about Burris Signature rings with the plastic inserts, do the inserts shift poa as much as they claim?

 

[James Jones]

seeing that you have the money invested in building the rifle up to meet your accuracy specs you may as well have the base hole alighnment problem fixed correctly rather than try to ship your scope over.

Most any smith with a decient size mill can set the barreled action up and indicate it strait with the bore and just redrill the scope base holes to larger
8-40 screws from the typical 6-48 , the drilling needs to be done with an end mill so that the drill doesen't just follow the old hole but actualy cuts a new one then its tapped in the same fixture.

Now if they are so far out of wack that the new bigger holes won't fix it then the holes can be welded up and redrilled. the smith would have to look and see what holes are the farthest out and see what the best way to fix it would be , idealy he would be able to fix the front end witht he bigger screw holes and just weld up the rear holes and redrill and tap trying to avoid welding on the front of the action close to the lugs , this can be done but should be done by an experiance welder using some heat control past and a heat sink and can make the weld as fast as possible and cool the area off as fast as possible.

 

[JayIdaho]

Have you considered using Burris Signature rings? The eccentric bushings allow you to orient the scope at slightly different angles to accomodate barrels that "don't shoot where I'm looking". We use them on 1000 yard benchrest rifles, mainly to get the extra elevation required. They work great and prevent ring marks on scopes.
It would be interesting to quiz the 'smith on his method of aligning the barrel in the lathe before chambering. That is probably when the situation was created that places the muzzle somewhat off from the centerline axis of the receiver.

 

[ICANHITHIMMAN]

Man dont screw around just get them fixed like James said. It would drive me nuts knowing I spent money on a build and after all that my bases were off center.

Just wanted to add I started a post here about 2 weeks ago on Tally rings you might want to look it up and see what guys said.

 

[WCL]

Thanks for the replies. I tried a set of Burris signature rings in dual dovetail bases last night and I think they may do the trick. The 20 moa shift on the rear ring and 5 moa shift on the front ring appear to have aligned the scope with the bore. I'll see this weekend. I may have the holes tapped out to 8-40 or have the bases welded after season. Thanks again for the replies.

 

[Jim Oliver]

Just wondering if there was any problem with scope alignment before the rebuild?? Strange....

Jim

 

[EddieHarren]

How did rebarreling the rifle cause the scope mount holes to be out of line? You got me stumped!

 

[JayIdaho]

From the beginning, I was curious as to how the new barrel shot so far off from the oritiginal barrel but the poster didn't ask for possible reasons.
My guess is that the new barrel was held in a lathe in such a manner that the muzzle was considerably off axis. Some 'smiths try to get the breach end of the barrel aligned with the lathe spindle and permit the muzzle to run "wild". It doesn't take a lot of misalignment to cause the new barrel to be off-axis of the receiver.
Just a guess......