Scope leveling tool

[rem_kujawa]

I use this tool that sets on the front of the scope with a Vee block and another one that goes down to the barrel.There is a level on the tool so you level it and the align the cross hairs with a plom bob on a wall.

The question is,should this need to have been done again after a barrel install ans stock?It seems to be off.But I did drop the rifle a few days back.Any help would be great.

Jon

 

[CatShooter]

Good evening Jon-K.

When I finish this, you will be sorry you asked

The level on a scope MUST be level and plumb to the spindle faces of the turrets - being level to the cross hairs is of little or no value, because the cross hairs can be quite a bit off.

Leupold says that they won't correct cross hairs unless they are 4 degrees off - that means that they let them out of the store with LARGER errors, and think that 4 degrees is acceptable.
,This applies to the standard scopes and "most" of the MK4 scopes. The MK4-M3 and the M3-LR are the exceptions, but at a street price of ~$1,400, they should be!!)

Here's the thing... When you are shooting at long range, you crank in the elevation, and set your rifle level with the bubble.

As you dial in the elevation, the center of the cross hairs,the "aiming point") moves down, which causes the barrel to be tilted up.

Now... if the spindle faces are not parallel to the bubble, the aiming point will also travel left or right, which moves the poi left or right.

So, as you crank in some ~40 moa, you can also be cranking in some ~4 degrees of "crab", which will cause your POI to drift left or right, and the error increases with range.

Most shooters don't realize that there is this built in error in the scope, and attribute the misses or group displacement to wind call errors, or to that mysterious "Spin drift",HA!!).

Setting up the scope for long range shooting is a real PITA.


.

 

[rem_kujawa]

Lito,
All I can say is WOW,I going to have to read that a few more time today.
I get why we use a level,I just wonding if it should be releveled on a new rifle with the same action.Because on my old rifle the level on the tool and on the back of my scope were perfect.Now the its a bit off.I did use the same action,rings and bases.And I never took the rings off before sending it to the smith.I supose the bases could be just a bit off when they were installed.

Jon

 

[dmickey]

Maybe the gunsmith had to take off the rings and base? My gunsmith had me take off the base so he could put on a new barrel on my Remington 40XB. :idea:

 

[mikecr]

http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f5/reticle-perpendicularity-darrell-holland-29352/

Good setup method to take care of the reality Catshooter describes.
Most of the crosshair leveling gadgets will take you down the wrong path. The tool you have would be useful for setting the GUN level as a starting point. With the gun level, you could temporarily mount a gun level for testing crosshair movement in the field. Once the crosshair movement is plum with a level gun you can mount a 'ScopeLevel', and remove any other gun level,or choose the opposite).

At that point your level is w/resp to the actual CROSSHAIR MOVEMENT -with a level gun.

 

[Tommie]

The bottom line is that you have to get your bore and crosshairs to agree with each other. There's no practical way to get things truly perfect, so decide for yourself how much money/time you want to spend on the issue.

 

[kochie]

drop a rope down from a tree or something about 50 yds out and line up your reticle and your done close enough for any hunting and most target shooting.

 

[rem40x]

What I do..may help.
Gun in solid rest. Using 6" level, I level it
Level scope across vertical turret
Place plumb bob out at 100 yards.
Do the crosshairs align w/ the string?
next, carefully click the vertical, does the dot/cross hair run up and down the string. If not, adjust.
hope that helps,
Greg