Scope height

[Richard Coody]

I have noticed that many of the competition benchrest scopes are mounted really high. What is the reasoning for this?

 

[BoydAllen]

Generally this is done so that they can keep their cheek off of the stock. Even if you are shouldering a rifle, this can be desirable, when a rifle is only used as a bench rifle.

 

[gunsandgunsmithing]

Scope height is a non-issue on a bench gun and at known distances. As Boyd said, it's mostly about getting your head off of the stock and comfortable eye alignment. I really like the tall Harrell's rings with 1/2" of offset to one side.

 

[Lou Murdica]

When shooting long range if you don't use tall rings the end of your barrel be in your scope
Best way to tell when your cited in 1000 yards look through the scope and slide a black piece of paper on the top of the barrel out to the end and see if the scope starts to be a little blurry
If you notice any change in the optics doing this your scope is too close to the action

 

[Rob01]

Lou you don't need to be high up off the rifle with the scope unless you possibly have a lot of MOA built into your base as you would need a lot to have the end of the barrel cause an issue. I have shot to 2500 yards with 40 MOA base and a scope objective mounted about 1/2" off the barrel and no issue with barrel, which was about 32". Most of my rifles are set up like below with objective about 1/8-1/4" off barrel and have no issues getting to 1200+ yards in PRS matches and I run 27-28" barrels with brakes bringing them to about 30".

The competition benchrest game is different and the requirements were answered well by the first couple posters as I don't shoot that game.

 

[jds holler]

I found out just lately that it positively sucks to have a scope mounted too low for shooting off the bags. It's not a problem we often run into these days with the funnel sized eyepieces on most of the scopes we now use. jd

 

[Richard Coody]

The more i read the replies the more i understood. Then the light bulb popped on.

With benchrest especially shooting free recoil you don't want cheek pressure. Hold your head up high. No need to try to keep the sight plane close to the bore. You are only shooting one known range.

In PRS and others where you are going to be shooting different unknown ranges and hunting that is not the case

Have i got.this right?

 

[dkhunt14]

The more i read the replies the more i understood. Then the light bulb popped on.

With benchrest especially shooting free recoil you don't want cheek pressure. Hold your head up high. No need to try to keep the sight plane close to the bore. You are only shooting one known range.

In PRS and others where you are going to be shooting different unknown ranges and hunting that is not the case

Have i got.this right?

My hunting scope on my long range outfit is 4.5 inches above centerline of bore. I like scopes high. But it is a 45 pound Lapua IMP and shot free recoil. To me height doesn't matter if you have the Parallax out. If you have Parallax it hurts your groups regardless because it's almost impossible to position your head exactly the same every time even if against the stock. Matt

 

[6and7mm]

Scope height is a non-issue on a bench gun and at known distances. As Boyd said, it's mostly about getting your head off of the stock and comfortable eye alignment. I really like the tall Harrell's rings with 1/2" of offset to one side.

Yeah baby!!! These rings will spoil you.

 

[JohnKielly]

There is another positive. The higher the scope, the better it is to counter torquing during recoil.