Leupold scope wont go down

[klevr]

I just bought a new rifle; a Savage 93FVSS and a 3-9x40 Leupold scope to go with it. I went out last weekend to sight it in and had a problem. I cant change the scope's elevation to point down any further and the rifle is still shooting low. In other words, the elevation knob wont twist out anymore. It's pointing as low as it possibly can and my rifle still shoots lower than it.

I tried shooting at many different distances and at about 60 yards it was close, but not perfect. Regardless, I have a feeling the scope's elevation shouldn't need to be all the way out for it to be accurate.

Any suggestions? I'm fairly new to rifles and I don't even know where to start.

 

[Funderb]

shim the scope, klevr!

haha

Just stick bits of shim material under the rear mount, and it will point the scope more down.

 

[MinnMooney]

You didn't happen to install the Burris Signature rings with the plastic inserts, did you? If the inserts are turned wrong, your scope could be any-which-way inside of the rings.

It's also possible that you got two different height rings, i.e. a high for the front and a medium for the rear. That would have the effect of making your scope run out of elevation adj.

 

[rashgunner]

scope

If you are shooting low you need to turn the elevation UP . The direction is for bullet impact. If you are down as far as it will go you nust move the bullet impact up.
Try that before you try shiming. I i missunderstood what you were saying then shimming is the answer.

 

[Art Eatman]

Could be mis-labelling of the mount bases, or mis-packaging. Sure, shimming would work; I've done it with no problem. But I'd check the thickness of the base and see if there's a problem there.

Depending on the rifle, I've swapped bases and cured the problem.

 

[PotatoJudge]

After you mess with the rings, make sure to re-center the scope. Starting with the adjustments all the way down, count the rotations until it's all the way up, half it, and turn the turret down to the "middle" of the scope's range. Then when you shoot you will have some idea of where your rings are pointing the scope rather than where the rings and scope together are pointed.

A new set of bases may help. I recently mismatched an old and a new base and the scope ended up pointed way down. When I went to the new bases on both ends and centered the scope the gun shot within a couple inches of where I aimed. I still don't know why I thought I could get away with that, but at least it was an easy fix.

 

[THE MACHINIST]

the rifle needs to be remachined ,had a savage 116 in .300 win mag that did the same thing. sent back to factory and shot very well when i got it back.

 

[klevr]

Thanks for all the info. I will swap the bases and recenter the scope, try to sight it in again and go from there.

I'll post again if the problem continues.

 

[Fast Frank]

OK, wait a minute...

You aim for the bull's eye, right?

You shoot the rifle.

The bullet hits the target LOW, below where you aimed, right?

If this is correct, then you need to turn the adjuster UP.

If you have the adjuster screwed all the way DOWN, then your scope is doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

The markings on the scope tell you what direction the bullet hole will move.

To make the bullet hit higher on the target, turn the scope in the UP direction.

 

[klevr]

Yes I'm aiming for the bullseye and yes when it shoots low I am adjusting it UP.

Sorry for the confusion I apparently suck at explaining myself.

 

[klevr]

Update:

Today I went out and switched the scope RINGS. I forgot to bring the right allen wrench to switch the scope MOUNTS so the rings were all I could test.

Anyways, so I switched the scope rings and centered the scope, then proceeded to turn the elevation UP until I couldn't turn it any more. The rifle is still shooting low.

When I got home I took off the scope mounts and looked at them. They look like they are the exact same size. Should I still try switching the mounts before trying anything else?

One of my concerns about using a shim is that the objective of the scope is pretty much hugging the rifle itself. I could probably barely fit a piece of paper between the scope's objective and the rifle. If I shim the back mount wont the fact that the scope is almost touching the rifle hinder the shims ability to make the scope look more downwards? If I need to shim it should I buy higher scope rings first or would that make it even worse because the scope would be higher?

Thanks again!

 

[marktx]

Just dealt with the exact same problem with my Sig556 w/ Leupold scope and rings. Didn't try swapping the rings, though I may now give that a try. Ended up cutting a section of aluminum cigar tube and put it in the rear ring which worked out really well though it seemed like a bit of crappy way to fix an expensive rifle and scope combination.

 

[rangerruck]

simple, put the front ring in the back , and vice versa, should fix the problem.
if not, then swap the mounts.

 

[shootr]

If it's not an issue with the rings, could be the scope. I'm a Leupy guy and recently had the same issue as you with a new Leupy scope, only it was the windage, not elevation.

I switched the scope with the same model off another rifle and the problem went away. Sent the new scope back to Leupy and they fixed it. No more problem.