Help - not enough elevation - Vortex HST

[Sonof12]

Hey all - went out shooting with my bro. and here is his setup:

 

Rem 700 300 wsm

Vortex hst 6x24x50

Badger 20 moa rail (mounted correctly - back end is higher and rail slopes down towards front)

Burris tactical rings - low height

180 gn Nosler Accubond 2" high at 3000 fps

 

Scope should have 65 MOA of travel total which has been confirmed - over 260 clicks in total elevation travel

 

First thing we noticed is the scope zeroed about 50 moa elevation (hoping it should be closer in the middle to 30-35)

 

After zeroing we tried longer range and had enough elevation to hit 660 yards but that was max range - basically we only had about 10 moa elevation up after zeroing in. We have looked over this setup a ton of times - everything is set up correctly and tight. Are we dealing with a scope issue here? Anyone else have this type of problem before where the scope doesn't zero in the middle of the elevation range?

 

For reference I have 270 wsm with a Vortex hs on it with no moa and only 50 moa of elevation travel and can get to a thousand yards with it.

 

Thanks friends - Jon

[coues7]

No to ask the obvious, but are you sure you mounted the badger bases the correct way? You want the scope leaning toward the barrel NOT leaning toward the buttstock.

[Sonof12]

Coues 7. Affirmative - base is higher in the back and front objective leans slightly towards barrel.

[coues7]

Send it back. My friend had the same issue

[STOMP442]

Switch to the burris signature zee rings and use the 10 moa inserts. Put a plus 10 on the bottom rear ring and a minus 10 on the front bottom ring and that should get you another 20 moa.

[AZkiller]

POS! Send it back

[mattys281]

Im sure im about to show my ignorance on the topic but: for a long range rig, dont you want it zeroed at close to the bottom of the turret travel so you gain the maximum amount of elevation adjustment?

[Sonof12]

Ideally yes - this scope zeroes too high and nothing we can do about it. Except send the pos back. Thanks for confirming my thoughts guys.

[Mike S]

Sounds like you have confirmed the elevation travel is available in the scope. You may need to shim the base or go to rings with offset inserts like STOMP 442 suggests.

[Sonof12]

Interesting - called vortex and they are blaming it on Remington saying that they are notorious for having a lower back action and says it needs to be shimed/bedded with a rail or to use a 40 moa rail. Anyone buying this?

[HuntHarder]

I buy it.. Remington's quality control has gone to crap. I sold guns when I was younger, and it was not unheard of for Remington's to have crooked base holes. I would not say it was the norm, but happened enough for me to look at the gun first and not the scope. Easy way to confirm is to mount a different scope on it and see where it bore sights. Take note of each scopes starting position on the bore sighter. I would not rule out Remington's bases being milled incorrectly. I believe it just happened to another guy on here with his Sendero.

[Mike S]

I absolutely buy into that idea. Could be the receiver, the bases, or the rings (my bet is the receiver). All have certain tolerances and sometimes they stack up in a bad direction... If you loosen the rear mount screws and tighten the fronts does the rear of the rail rise?

Mounting a spare scope should confirm it is or isn't the scope. Shims are available here:

 

http://www.sinclairintl.com/optics/optic-accessories/mounting-tools/hart-scope-base-shims-prod6883.aspx

 

Assuming a 4" spacing between front and rear mounting holes, a 0.033" rear shim will get you 30 MOA down leaving you 45 MOA up.

 

Let us know what you find out.

[Sonof12]

We'll try it out - thanks guys