Long story short, I love my Hensoldt's, I'm not shy about that. Several have mentioned that the no zero stop was a big drawback that they couldn't get past, I personally don't think it's that big of a deal, I'm just a tactical competition shooter...not an "operator" (I used that term for you Forty-One).
Anyways, one of the best features of the Hensoldt (besides the crystal clear glass, wonderful clicks, perfect tracking and of course the Big O inspiring sight picture) is the amount of available elevation. However, to use most of this elevation in the Hensoldt and any other scope, you have to have your zero at the low end of the adjustment giving you plenty of room (clicks available) to dial for more elevation. In my case, I am running Surgeon actions, so I just can't swap my 20moa base for a 30moa or so on. I had to be a little more creative.
My initial zero with a built in 20moa base and 1" high rings left me with 6.8 mils I could go under zero. 6.8 mils is about what it takes my 243 to get to 1k, so I was not using the full potential by far, but with the 243 I still had no issues reaching way past 1k. However, I wanted to see what I could do to get close to having all my elevation available and mitigate the no zero stop "issue" that some have. Doing some quick math I came up with 6.8 mil available under zero was about equal to 24 moa give or take. So, if I could get a 20 moa mount/rings then that would get me really close. I searched around and found Near Manufacturing, Richard Near got rave reviews from his users, everyone spoke highly of his rings, bases, mounts, etc. So I contacted him and he was more than willing to help me out and asked for pictures and details of the current rings so he could make the new ones the way I wanted.
In trying to keep the long story short, he made me a Near Alpha Mount with 20moa built in. This lets me put it on the Surgeon for a combined 40moa and only lets my Hesoldt go about .6 mil under zero (that's 6 clicks for you new guys). This is perfect!! A zero stop at zero leaves no room for small weather changes, different loads for different uses, etc. Now I can actually switch up my ammo a little if desired without taking my scope apart and changing settings, etc. I keep track of my most used ammo, my match ammo, and that's my zero. The other stuff that I rarely use I can just keep notes on and dial down a couple clicks if needed.
There are other mount options out there beside Near Mfg. I'll be trying a Sphur mount soon and maybe a Larue 30moa mount on a POF 308, it doesn't matter what brand you choose really. If you have a standard action that can swap bases around, you can get there too by using the same rings and changing the base. The point is that it is easy to get the most out of your scope and it is worth doing, as much time and money as we've got into it then why wouldn't you?
Here's some pictures of my 20moa Near and the 4-16x56 Hensoldt. Rifle is a Surgeon actioned 260 built by Wnroscoe on a Sentinel stock for those that are wondering.
Anyways, one of the best features of the Hensoldt (besides the crystal clear glass, wonderful clicks, perfect tracking and of course the Big O inspiring sight picture) is the amount of available elevation. However, to use most of this elevation in the Hensoldt and any other scope, you have to have your zero at the low end of the adjustment giving you plenty of room (clicks available) to dial for more elevation. In my case, I am running Surgeon actions, so I just can't swap my 20moa base for a 30moa or so on. I had to be a little more creative.
My initial zero with a built in 20moa base and 1" high rings left me with 6.8 mils I could go under zero. 6.8 mils is about what it takes my 243 to get to 1k, so I was not using the full potential by far, but with the 243 I still had no issues reaching way past 1k. However, I wanted to see what I could do to get close to having all my elevation available and mitigate the no zero stop "issue" that some have. Doing some quick math I came up with 6.8 mil available under zero was about equal to 24 moa give or take. So, if I could get a 20 moa mount/rings then that would get me really close. I searched around and found Near Manufacturing, Richard Near got rave reviews from his users, everyone spoke highly of his rings, bases, mounts, etc. So I contacted him and he was more than willing to help me out and asked for pictures and details of the current rings so he could make the new ones the way I wanted.
In trying to keep the long story short, he made me a Near Alpha Mount with 20moa built in. This lets me put it on the Surgeon for a combined 40moa and only lets my Hesoldt go about .6 mil under zero (that's 6 clicks for you new guys). This is perfect!! A zero stop at zero leaves no room for small weather changes, different loads for different uses, etc. Now I can actually switch up my ammo a little if desired without taking my scope apart and changing settings, etc. I keep track of my most used ammo, my match ammo, and that's my zero. The other stuff that I rarely use I can just keep notes on and dial down a couple clicks if needed.
There are other mount options out there beside Near Mfg. I'll be trying a Sphur mount soon and maybe a Larue 30moa mount on a POF 308, it doesn't matter what brand you choose really. If you have a standard action that can swap bases around, you can get there too by using the same rings and changing the base. The point is that it is easy to get the most out of your scope and it is worth doing, as much time and money as we've got into it then why wouldn't you?
Here's some pictures of my 20moa Near and the 4-16x56 Hensoldt. Rifle is a Surgeon actioned 260 built by Wnroscoe on a Sentinel stock for those that are wondering.
