Weatherby Mark V and Swarovski Z6 W/Ballistic Turret

[Rustystud]

A customer brought me a Weatherby Mark V 300 Weatherby, a Swarovski 2-12 Z6 Balistic Turret Scope and Leupold 30mm STD Rings and Bases. I had shot this rifle before with a Zeiss scope. The rifle had been sent back to Weatherby and re-barreled. I bore sited the scope and had the turret bottomed out. The rifle was shooting 1/2 MOA, 5" high at 100 yards. I called Swarovski customer service and spoke to a "Tec". His instruction was to put a 20 MOA bases on the rifle. This would make the problem worse, and he wanted to argue about it. I then called Leupold and told them of my delima. The first tec had been a Leupold for 20 years. He informed me that the Remington 700 Bases would fit the Weatherby Mark V but were not made for the Weatherby. He said sometimes Remington 700 bases were put on Weatherby Mark V rifles. He advised me to check the numbers on the bases. He gave me the part numbers for the Weatherby Mark V bases. I checked and sure enough the bases were Remington 700 STD bases. I ordered the Leupold Weatherby Mark V bases and put them on the rifle. The Leupold Weatherby Mark V bases did not fix the elevation problem. I had to put a .018" shim under the front ring to correct the problem.
I know this is a specific Gun, Scope, Rings and Bases issue. The Primary culprit was the Swarovski Z6 Balistic Turret Scope. It only has one revolution of elevation. In my opinion there is a second issue with this scope. Some of the Balistic Turret parts are plastic and subject to becoming brittle when exposed to cold. You would think for a $2,400.00 scope the parts all would be metal.
Though I would share my experience so others might get ahead of the issues.
Nat Lambeth