Rifle Scope Mounting:
How to mount a rifle scope —
We will start from scratch here. A brand new remington 700 bolt action rifle, two piece windage adjustable scope bases, scope rings and a Leupold 3-9 scope–a fairly common hunting rig. Now let’s mount the scope on the rifle the right way to achieve the rifle’s full accuracy potential.
If you follow this rifle-scope mounting procedure exactly it will be impossible to cant the rifle scope therefore adding the potential for better rifle accuracy.
1. Mount the rifle in a padded vise as far away from a wall opposing the muzzle end of the rifle, the farther away the better.
2. Attach the scope mount base to the rifle securely.
3. Now take a level and lay it on the base horizontal to the rifle bore. Level the rig out in the vise and lock it down.
(See Image Below)
5. Now take the scope and put it between 2 v blocks and spin the scope watching the crosshairs for wobble, adjust the scope to insure there is no wobble in the crosshairs, this is critical to your long range rifle accuracy.
6. Check to make sure that your rig is still level in the vise and then set the scope in the rings.
7. On the opposing wall away from the rifle muzzle draw a vertical and horizontal line, again using a level to insure that the line is plumb vertically and level horizontally. It should look like a plus sign.
(See Image Below)
9. Do not use the windage screws on the scope for this procedure. Align the vertical post in the scope with the vertical line on the wall using only the windage screws on the scope base and tighten down the scope rings, make sure that all stay level and plumb vertically and horizontally.
10. If you have done everything correctly, you have just mounted the scope to all the exact tolerances that have been machined into all the scope mount components. Everything is to its true and exact mechanical center point. Your rifle’s scope is now properly mounted and is range ready for an Accurate Sight-In.
Measuring Mounted Rifle Scope Height:
A good stainless steel 6″ dial caliper will deliver unfailing .001″ accuracy for checking outside and height measurements and is the precise tool needed for this job.
Note: This works for almost all rifles regardless of action type.
Step 1. Measure the rifle barrel diameter where it attaches to the rifles action under the scope and divide it in half.
Step 2. Measure the scope diameter directly over-top of where you got barrel diameter measurement and divide it in half.
Step 3. Measure the distance from the top of the rifle barrel to the bottom of the scope on the rifle where you measured both diameters.
Step 4. Add the numbers in steps 1-3 — Step 1. + Step 2. + Step 3. = Step 5.
Step 5. The answer is rifle bore centerline to scope centerline distance or “Scope Mount Height.”