Rifle Scopes What am I Doing Wrong? Ran out of Windage Adjustment While Boresighting

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jab00

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Nov 1, 2017
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#1
I need some help with figuring out what I'm doing wrong while bore sighting my Schmidt Ultra Short after moving it from rings to a Sphur mount and to a new rifle:

The Problem:

  • After leveling out and securing the scope in the Sphur mount, I attached the scope to my rifle and started to bore sight it using a target that's about 25 yards away;
  • I got the elevation worked out quickly with just a few clicks up;
  • however, when I tried to work out the windage, I ended up running out of clicks before the reticle was centered (I'm up against wall on the "right" adjustment);
  • I counted all of the clicks from R6.0 to L6.0 to "center" the adjustments and tried again but I'm still coming up almost all the way to the max "right" adjustment again

Some Background:
  • This scope was previously mounted on a different rifle in Badger rings and I don't recall having any issues with doing the boresighting or zeroing with that rifle and ring set up
  • Both rifles are Rem 700 actions with Badger Ordnance scope bases. I've used a bunch of different scopes on both rifles without issue, so I don't believe there's any issue with the base. Likewise, this Schimdt has bounced between a few different rifles, so I'm not sure why it's suddenly having issuesl

What's the best way to problem solve this issue? Should I take the scope out of the mount and try the process again, or is there a better/faster/smarter way of resolving this?
 
#2
is your scope flat on top of your rifle does your rifle look like this
1595889368625.png

good luck figuring it out and fixing it .
 
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#3
most scopes have less than 30 minutes each way in windage, less than half a degree...

most factory actions I've seen are not square.

if the face of the action/barrel thread are not square, the barrel will not be paralell to the centerline of the sights.

same same for the screw holes for the sight bases - often slightly off square.

most people wont be able to see an out of square condition untill its about 2 degrees out.

so the error you cannot see with the naked eye could be 4 times bigger than your scope can account for.

you might need windage adjustable bases, or a trip to a good smith to have the action trued.
 
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#4
Did you a fire a shot to confirm the bore sighting?

Does the Schmitt and Bender have windage stops? I am not familiar, but some scopes will only let you turn the windage turret so far in each direction.
 
#5
It’s possible to get a Spuhr mount crooked on the rail due to the mounting plate covering the rail. Look at mount from front and see if it sits all the way down on the rail. Make sure all is square in the mount. If still off something is crooked in your action / rail /barrel set up.
 
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#6
Windage adjustable rings may be your best bet on a Remington 700. Ask me how I know. That said, a rifle is not zeroed until it is shot, so nothing is wrong with your setup (assuming everything is mounted correctly) until you have confirmed it on a target.
 
#7
theres only so many things it can be. Are you using a laser boresighter? ive had a few of those be way off. make sure theres no debris or anything in the mount that would keep the scope from mounting straight in the mount, or anything messed up with the rail that would keep the mount from being straight. if those things seem to checkout. put the scope back in the old rings on the new rifle. still off? if thats the case its not the spuhr mount. you can start by eliminating what its not.
 
#9
I’m going to start from scratch and take the scope out of the mount and go through the whole leveling /ring torquing process again as well double check that the mount isn’t going sideways when I tighten the clamping screws.

I’m also going to make my rifle rest a bit more rigid so that the gun is locked in tighter so as to make certain that I’m not moving things while trying to adjust the turrets
 
#10
So the rifle and rail were gtg before and the scope was gtg.
Thats what the op has said.

So kind of down to :
mounting of the scope
Mounting of the spur
Or a problem with the spur.

I would remove and remount the spur and check mounting bolts.
I believe the preferred method is to push slop forward if any.

With a high quality product it's normaly just an oversite on installation.

I have done it often enough to have a good supply of T-shirts.

Try just loosening, jiggling and pushing slack before going into shock.

I had cross bolts not turned to the flats recently, 30 minutes to find and 30 seconds to fix.

I'd take a picture but that one is all dialed in at the moment.
 
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#13
2aBaCa said:
Break it down and start over. Making sure everything is aligned and not over tight.

Also depending on the boresight twisting it can make a difference.
Click to expand...

That’s the plan. I’m redoing the whole thing and taking it to the range on the weekend so I can bore sight and confirm what’s going on by putting some rounds through the gun
 
#14
Also, this is another advertisement for MY favorite Burris Signature rings.

The stock Savage I had before was 10 moa out of square windage. Not ideal. Slapped in the 10moa inserts and aligned the scope 10 moa to the right. Bam, 0.2mil from zeroed.

I'm not a fan of having alot of windage built into my "zero".
 
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#15
This is getting a little bit weird.

I took the scope out of the Sphur and put the scope in the same set of Badger rings that the scope was sitting in when it was attached to a different rifle.

(As a side note, these rings were on this gun (the one that I’m having the issue with) with a different scope and everything was fine)

I put the scope back on the gun and did a quick boresight and still just under 5 mils right to center the reticle (slightly better than the Sphur)

Again, both the rifle and this scope (and the Badger rings) all worked successfully in various previous combinations

The rifle is a switch lug build with a trued receiver. Is it possible that the lug somehow got out of square and is causing a slight can’t? Probably a dumb question but I’m trying to think of everything at this point.

I’m going to take the rifle to the range tomorrow in it’s current configuration and see where I am after shooting a few rounds at 25 yards and see if I can sort this out
 
#18
Of course your next step now is contingent on your findings after shooting it. As said above, the problem isn't uncommon at all, and SN13 is right about those Burris Signature rings. I've put them on my last 5 rifles and haven't looked back. I just bought their 34 MM rings for the first time and put them on my Kahles. Sure, your heart is set on Spuhr, but if this is truly an issue with alignment of your tapped holes and the bore (which is likely the issue), then the offset alignment inserts used in the Burris rings will correct that.

Someone else mentioned your windage range. You could dial your windage until it stops one direction, dial it the other direction and count either your clicks or your revolutions. Compare your result to the specs of the windage for your scope. That point is one that I'd want to eliminate.
 
#20
FWIW I bore sighted my AX by pulling the bolt and looking through the barrel at a target 100yrds out. Got it pretty lined up and the POI was within a couple of inches. Fine tuned from there. If you can look down the barrel I don’t think you need a laser or anything complicated to get pretty close.
 
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#21
I recently installed a new scope.
Used a boresite went to a 50 yd range.

No hits in two tries, started packing up.

A young rso asked what was the problem and explained that my eyesight probably wasn't good enough to boresite manualy.
I didn't want to shoot up the place.

He removed the upper and tweeked it.

He was within 1/10 mil both ways.

He left and I did sighters and my 5 groups.
I stopped by the desk on my way out to thank him and show him my groups.

I had one charge that was 1.24 moa or .98 mean radius depending on method used. (I like mean radius) lol.

He said thought you couldn't see,
And asked for the load.
 
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#22
How much windage does the scope actually have?

I have a scope that will only dial 5 mills either way. It has 20+ mills available though. Have to loosen the knob and reset to go past 5.

I haven't played with an ultra short, but I know they have some screwy turret designs.
 
#23
Update after today’s range session...

...Everything’s good with both the Sphur and Badger mounts. I mounted the scope in both the rings and back into the mount and was able to get the rifle on paper @25 yards in the rings and then again in the Sphur and then zero and confirm both configurations at 100 yards.

I had to play with the zero setting on the windage for awhile on the first attempt but the turret is now pretty close to the mechanical center now, so I should have a decent amount of left and right windage available for dialing.

In the end, I think I actually prefer the height of the rings over the height of the Sphur (the rings are just a little higher than the Sphur).

Thanks again for all of the suggestions towards getting this resolved. From now on, I’m doing the boresighting exclusively at the range so that I can let the bullet tell me what’s actually going on
 
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#24
This is a lesson that most of us have to learn. I’m almost ashamed to admit that I have 2 of those cheap ass laser bore sighters- somewhere. Such a great idea. Lasers are straight. Barrels are straight. How can you fuck this up? FML. Good that they’re cheap, because they’re worthless. “Nothing to see here” until you have bullet holes in paper. Glad that it worked out...👍
 
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