Available moa

[wboggs]

A basic question. If a scope has 50moa elevation is the full 50 available? Thanks
Bill

 

[SKWERLZ]

A basic question. If a scope has 50moa elevation is the full 50 available? Thanks
Bill

Usually not
Usually half unless you’re running a 25 moa (7.2mill) rail then you’ll get close to 50.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

A basic question. If a scope has 50moa elevation is the full 50 available? Thanks
Bill

Unless the specs are wrong, yes, the full 50 are available; from mechanical zero, you will have 25MOA up and 25MOA down. Now, it just matters where you point that mechanical zero.

 

[wboggs]

Does running the elevation to max, 25moa in this case, harm the reticle mechanism?

 

[Eagle Six]

The turret adjustment mechanism is designed to adjust from maximum stop to maximum stop. How a mechanism works is based on it's quality.

 

[big5ifty]

In general scopes work best with the reticle at their mechanical center.

I'm not sure why this is, or why it's the accepted opinion.

If I were to guess, it's probably something to do with recoil.

 

[Eagle Six]

By design of magnifying glass, both concave and convex the most precise is near the center, the edges not so much. The more expensive the glass in general the more area from center is good. There are other reasons, but in general the most useful area of the glass will be in around 10-20% of the mechanical center (center of the glass).

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

Does running the elevation to max, 25moa in this case, harm the reticle mechanism?

Running the riflescope with the adjustment set maximum all the time is something you should try to avoid for several reasons.
1- you are compressing one spring or equivalent very much and letting the other spring or equivalent be very loose and this is for a long time. In a high-quality riflescope, it should not matter but why do it if you can get around it?
2- You are looking through the optical path that is not using the objective lens groups' sweet spot. The best optical performance is at the middle of the lens and yet you are insisting on not using it.
3- The erector tube inside the main tube will be close to the wall and you will not have as much windage range as you would have if the erector tube was closer to mechanical center.

Unless the rifle on which I install a riflescope will not be shoot at much more than 100 to 200 yards, I either use a canted rail, or Burris signature rings (or both) to provide 10 to 30MOA of elevation when I mount the scope.

In my extreme example, my F-TR rig has a combo 20MOA rail and Burris XTR Signature rings to provide close to 27 MOA of elevation so that my expensive riflescope is right at mechanical zero at 1000 yards, where I shoot almost exclusively. I paid a lot of money for that riflescope; I want to enjoy the very best IQ it can provide.

 

[wboggs]

Running the riflescope with the adjustment set maximum all the time is something you should try to avoid for several reasons.
1- you are compressing one spring or equivalent very much and letting the other spring or equivalent be very loose and this is for a long time. In a high-quality riflescope, it should not matter but why do it if you can get around it?
2- You are looking through the optical path that is not using the objective lens groups' sweet spot. The best optical performance is at the middle of the lens and yet you are insisting on not using it.
3- The erector tube inside the main tube will be close to the wall and you will not have as much windage range as you would have if the erector tube was closer to mechanical center.

Unless the rifle on which I install a riflescope will not be shoot at much more than 100 to 200 yards, I either use a canted rail, or Burris signature rings (or both) to provide 10 to 30MOA of elevation when I mount the scope.

In my extreme example, my F-TR rig has a combo 20MOA rail and Burris XTR Signature rings to provide close to 27 MOA of elevation so that my expensive riflescope is right at mechanical zero at 1000 yards, where I shoot almost exclusively. I paid a lot of money for that riflescope; I want to enjoy the very best IQ it can provide.

Thanks. High quality and practical info. I will look into the Burris rings

 

[DirtySteve]

If you get a 20 moa base, you will have more elevation adjustments available. In case you want to shoot at longer ranges. You need about 29-32 moa to get out to 1,000 yards depending on the cartridge you are shooting.

 

[6MMsteve]

depends on how you sight the scope for zero..I was setting my scopes at 100 with all available elevation, with Burris rings why I do not know, I wasn't shooting LR. but you can set zero at 500 if your gonna shoot way out there or get the rails and prisms to compensate for 4 to 5000 yds

 

[6MMsteve]

Running the riflescope with the adjustment set maximum all the time is something you should try to avoid for several reasons.
1- you are compressing one spring or equivalent very much and letting the other spring or equivalent be very loose and this is for a long time. In a high-quality riflescope, it should not matter but why do it if you can get around it?
2- You are looking through the optical path that is not using the objective lens groups' sweet spot. The best optical performance is at the middle of the lens and yet you are insisting on not using it.
3- The erector tube inside the main tube will be close to the wall and you will not have as much windage range as you would have if the erector tube was closer to mechanical center.

Unless the rifle on which I install a riflescope will not be shoot at much more than 100 to 200 yards, I either use a canted rail, or Burris signature rings (or both) to provide 10 to 30MOA of elevation when I mount the scope.

In my extreme example, my F-TR rig has a combo 20MOA rail and Burris XTR Signature rings to provide close to 27 MOA of elevation so that my expensive riflescope is right at mechanical zero at 1000 yards, where I shoot almost exclusively. I paid a lot of money for that riflescope; I want to enjoy the very best IQ it can provide.

what you said is why I went to keeping most of my scopes at optical zero, I wasn't shooting long range and what you said made sense to me, it was a topic a couple yrs ago that prompted me to go that route.

 

[barrelnut50]

Running the riflescope with the adjustment set maximum all the time is something you should try to avoid for several reasons.
1- you are compressing one spring or equivalent very much and letting the other spring or equivalent be very loose and this is for a long time. In a high-quality riflescope, it should not matter but why do it if you can get around it?
2- You are looking through the optical path that is not using the objective lens groups' sweet spot. The best optical performance is at the middle of the lens and yet you are insisting on not using it.
3- The erector tube inside the main tube will be close to the wall and you will not have as much windage range as you would have if the erector tube was closer to mechanical center.

Unless the rifle on which I install a riflescope will not be shoot at much more than 100 to 200 yards, I either use a canted rail, or Burris signature rings (or both) to provide 10 to 30MOA of elevation when I mount the scope.

In my extreme example, my F-TR rig has a combo 20MOA rail and Burris XTR Signature rings to provide close to 27 MOA of elevation so that my expensive riflescope is right at mechanical zero at 1000 yards, where I shoot almost exclusively. I paid a lot of money for that riflescope; I want to enjoy the very best IQ it can provide.

Good points. Two minor comments:

1. Increasing the elevation adjustment (i.e., in the bullet up direction) always relaxes the spring pressing the erector tube against the turret micrometer face. If a tilted rail (i.e., at 20 MOA rail) is used, then this spring must be compressed more for a 100 yard zero than if no tilted rail were used. Thus, leaving the scope set to zero causes more spring compression for a 20 MOA rail than without it. I agree that a properly designed and manufactured erector spring won't be effected either way.

3. Many scope manufacturers intentionally limit the windage elevation adjustment to avoid this effect. If your scope's windage range is smaller than its elevation range, then increasing the elevation adjustment probably won't have any effect on the windage adjustment range.

 

[Turbulent Turtle]

@barrelnut50 . I get what you are saying but I do not have a 100 yard zero on my F-TR rifle. I have a 1000 yard zero. When I need to do load deleopment or otherwise have to shoot at 100 yards, I use a tall target (48 inch posted board from Office Depot) and I aim at the bottom and in my spotting scope, I see the bullet impacts 30 inches above. This also allows me to check the vertical alignment of the reticle.

As for the manufacturers limiting the adjustments, I'm sure that's true of some (many?) but then again, manufacturers do like to maximize the specs of their offerings and adjustment range is all the rage these days. So who knows?

But the main reason I favor canted rails and endeavor to stay at or near the optical sweetspot is for maximum IQ from these expensive scopes. I paid a lot for top quality optics; I'm going to enjoy the superb IQ they provide.