Nightforce scope elevation

[G Liles]

I just bought a Nightforce NXS 8x32x56, I mounted the scope with a 20 moa base and all the elevation I can get is 36.5 moa. Is this normal , I thought I would be able to get more.

 

[LA50SHOOTER]

I just bought a Nightforce NXS 8x32x56, I mounted the scope with a 20 moa base and all the elevation I can get is 36.5 moa. Is this normal , I thought I would be able to get more.

According to the specifications the scope has a Total of 65 moa elevation,
- That is 32.5 moa UP & 32.5 Down,
- So if you mounted it on a 20 moa base you should have a total of 52.5 moa up to use now (+/- ) and 12.5 moa left to go Down. - Sounds to me that you don't have a "true" 20 moa rail. Or you have a scope issue, which I doubt.

- Ron -

 

[dstoenner]

you wish that a scope at mechanical zero was zero’d at 100 yards. Then the 20 moa could be applied to get a lot more. I have yet to see it that way. In exactly your situation i had to add burris signature xtr rings with another 10 moa so i could get 31 linear moa elevation.

David

I should also say that my NXS is the version with 1/8 moa per click so it only has 45 total moa. Once i got the offset rings and got my 100 yard zero within 1 rev of bottoming out the 32 moa was fine with me because i have never needed more than 27 moa at 1000.

Also once i got a 100 zero and established where i was in the elevation rotation then all i had to do was pick the moa inserts that gave me less than 1 rotation from bottom. When i verfied that at 100 yards i was only 2 clicks off. Thereby verifying it was not the scope but the whole system that needed what it needed.

also you need to verify your sydtem with a tall target test. I found that my elevation as i got to within 5 moa of topping out went nonlinear.

David

 

[G Liles]

Thanks for the the info, the base is a Leupold 20 moa, I thought I would get around 50 with that base . I'm calling nightforce tomorrow to see if it is a scope problem.

 

[Lone Hunter]

It won't be a scope problem.

 

[Stingray]

I had a problem with my NightForce Benchrest and tried everything. Different rails, different mounts, bought NF 20MM rail and NF mounts. Tried reversing mounts and then turning the mounts around because I was told it would not be the scope. Altogether I tried 22 different combos and could not get the scope to give me more than 29 MOA of elevation from 100 yards. Meaning I needed 31 MOA just to get to 100 yards with the 20 MOA rail.
Well 29 MOA won't do for 1000 yards. Sent the scope back to NF they said its within spec. The Benchrest has 40 MOA elevation.
So I sold it here and bought an S&B which has 100 MOA of elevation. Told the buyer I could not get enough elevation with the NF. Didn't hear back from him so I hope he's happy. I wasn't and I won't own another NF product.
By the way with the same rifle I need 30.4 MOA elevation for 1000 yards with a 20MOA rail.
I hold the 1000 yard FTR record for Grand Senior for F-TR so I am not a complete idiot.

 

[Lone Hunter]

I had a problem with my NightForce Benchrest and tried everything. Different rails, different mounts, bought NF 20MM rail and NF mounts. Tried reversing mounts and then turning the mounts around because I was told it would not be the scope. Altogether I tried 22 different combos and could not get the scope to give me more than 29 MOA of elevation from 100 yards. Meaning I needed 31 MOA just to get to 100 yards with the 20 MOA rail.
Well 29 MOA won't do for 1000 yards. Sent the scope back to NF they said its within spec. The Benchrest has 40 MOA elevation.
So I sold it here and bought an S&B which has 100 MOA of elevation. Told the buyer I could not get enough elevation with the NF. Didn't hear back from him so I hope he's happy. I wasn't and I won't own another NF product.
By the way with the same rifle I need 30.4 MOA elevation for 1000 yards with a 20MOA rail.
I hold the 1000 yard FTR record for Grand Senior for F-TR so I am not a complete idiot.

My reasoning fo saying it will not be a scope problem .. Never is.. Always operator error. So I'm told. Same exact problem as you..

 

[KY_Windage]

I had a problem with my NightForce Benchrest and tried everything. Different rails, different mounts, bought NF 20MM rail and NF mounts. Tried reversing mounts and then turning the mounts around because I was told it would not be the scope. Altogether I tried 22 different combos and could not get the scope to give me more than 29 MOA of elevation from 100 yards. Meaning I needed 31 MOA just to get to 100 yards with the 20 MOA rail.
Well 29 MOA won't do for 1000 yards. Sent the scope back to NF they said its within spec. The Benchrest has 40 MOA elevation.
So I sold it here and bought an S&B which has 100 MOA of elevation. Told the buyer I could not get enough elevation with the NF. Didn't hear back from him so I hope he's happy. I wasn't and I won't own another NF product.
By the way with the same rifle I need 30.4 MOA elevation for 1000 yards with a 20MOA rail.
I hold the 1000 yard FTR record for Grand Senior for F-TR so I am not a complete idiot.

The NF BR, with 40 MOA internal, is not designed for long range shooting. NF makes scopes with way more internal adjustment. It is not their fault you bought the wrong scope. You can get by with 40 MoA at 1000 yards, but to do that you gotta get a base that puts you at near rock bottom when zeroed at 100 yards.

Much better to go with a 5.5-22x50 NXS, which has 100 MoA internal, or a 5-25x56 ATACR, which has a whopping 120 MoA of elevation internal.

I shoot an 8-32x56 NXS (which has 65 MoA internal) at 1000 on my 7mm-08, but I have a base that puts me at near rock bottom when I am sighted in at 100 yds. I need only about 32 MoA up from there, so I have at least 25 MoA extra.

 

[dstoenner]

See my edit on my original post #3

 

[KY_Windage]

Good point on the Burris Signature rings, David. I use Burris XTR Signatures on any rifle I plan to shoot at long range. They give me ANOTHER 40 MOA of adjustment, in increments of 0, 5, 10 or 20 in each ring.

Combined with a 20 MoA base they allow me to have my elevation turret set wherever I want for a 100-yard zero. I set it no more than 10 MoA above rock bottom. With a scope with 65 MoA of internal adjustment, like the 8-32 NXS, that leaves me 55 MoA of dial-up available.

 

[XTR]

The 8-32x56 BR scope has 50MOA of internal adjustment. It was the first scope I bought for F-TR.

When I mounted it on my rifle with a 20 MOA rail and checked my adjustment I realized I needed a 30MOA rail to shoot 1000 yards. (back then I was shooting 175SMKs and needed 36 ± to get there) That was on Tuesday and I was planning to shoot a match on Sat, paid for overnight delivery.

 

[tmwinds]

Have you verified that you actually have a 20 moa base and is it possible you might have it reversed. I ask because I have a NF BR model with 20 moa rings and can get to 1000 yards with more elevation left. Also no problem to zero at 100 yards.

 

[G Liles]

Thanks for the info , I called Nightforce they wanted me to send it in , before I do I'm going to make sure it's not something I did wrong while mounting it. It's to much trouble to send it back, without checking first.

 

[KY_Windage]

Test shoot it at 25 yards, with the elevation turrent turned all the way up (lowering POI), and then with it turned all the way down (rock bottom - be sure there is no Zero Stop interfering). The second hole should be 65 MoA about the first hole, which is very close to 16.25 inches.

If the holes are about 16" apart, that is all the scope can do. You will have to do the rest with add-ons.

 

[Lone Hunter]

Have you verified that you actually have a 20 moa base and is it possible you might have it reversed. I ask because I have a NF BR model with 20 moa rings and can get to 1000 yards with more elevation left. Also no problem to zero at 100 yards.

What caliber are you shooting. I cannot get 1000 yds without using substensions. I have a 12-42x56 BR. It only has 44 MOA vertical . 52 horizontal. Tracks perfect.

 

[G Liles]

It's a 260 Rem. I can shoot out to 1000 with 30 moa. I want to get to 1250.

 

[dmoran]

Turn the magnification to 22X (calibration power) and include your reticle, for MOA gains.
All the subtensions for each reticle are listed on the NF website.

 

[Lone Hunter]

Turn the magnification to 22X (calibration power) and include your reticle, for MOA gains.
All the subtensions for each reticle are listed on the NF website.

Yes, someone on here figured that out for me. I got it figured out and it works petty good but like said "I bought the wrong scope fo my rifle" Ihave always liked the BR scopes,have 2, but needed more MOA for FTR rifle. Scopes track true and have great clarity . Also, I use Strelok Pro and it will give yardages for the substensions.

 

[tmwinds]

What caliber are you shooting. I cannot get 1000 yds without using substensions. I have a 12-42x56 BR. It only has 44 MOA vertical . 52 horizontal. Tracks perfect.

My 12x42 NF BR also has 44 MOA vertical. The scope is mounted in 20 MOA BAT rings spaced 4.25 inches apart center to center. This spacing equates to a 22.5 MOA cant. 105 Berger VLD's at 2975 fps. I can zero at 100 yards at 5 MOA off the vertical bottom. Come up 12 MOA for 600 yards and come up an additional 19 MOA for 1000 yards. This equates to a total of 36 MOA from bottomed out and leaves me 8 MOA from top at 1000 yards. I don't shoot this rifle at 100 yards so being low in the optical center is not a problem. 1000 yards is just about max range with this setup because the bullet is falling a like rock at 1000 yards. The caliber is a 6BRX Crones.