Is my scope the problem?

[kpbeddin]

I posted a couple of months ago with the following thread related to running out of elevation adjustment on my new rifle with Leupold DD rings and Burris scope:
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=332256
Burris has had the scope for almost 2 months now, but I have done the following in attempt to rule out a problem with the rings or gun:
I have checked and slightly adjusted rings with wheeler alignment kit. Looking at the points (on alignment rods) with a jeweler'e loupe, I can barely detect any elevation difference outside the imperfection of the points themselves. Next, I mounted a 3 ft long wooden dowel and checked barrel and dowel with a level; both were dead level. Finally, I used a caliper to measure from bottom of barrel to top of dowel at various places along the barrel. This showed only slight differences( a few thousands) that I would attribute to inconsistency in the wooden dowel.
Are these results enough to confirm that the scope is the problem, or is there additional troubleshooting I should do?
Thanks,
Keith

 

[sholling]

In my opinion Burris is notorious for three things. 1) Excellent optics. 2) Having minimal adjustment range. They say it's because they stuff oversize lenses in them. I have no idea if thats true. 3) In my experience they will stand on a stack of bibles and swear that there was nothing wrong with their scope and your rifle and mounts must therefore be FUBAR.

In my case they swore nothing was wrong with the scope even though it would not zero. I had to argue with them to get them to look at it. They swore I had to have a defective rifle or mounts because their scopes are always perfect. I got it back 6-8 weeks later - with a note saying that their scope was perfect and reaffirming their claim that I have a defective rifle.

This was the letter that I sent them back:
Thank you very much for your speedy and courteous service. I’m simply amazed at the talents of your staff. Before I sent my scope in the closest that I could get to zero (bore sight or at 100yds on paper) was 8” low and 3” to the right. It simply would not move any further – and yes I had loosened the reticle lock. Then while following your team’s suggestion to run the windage adjustments from limit to limit a couple of times to free up movement it flat locked up. Not surprising because the knobs felt like they had sand in them.

When I got the scope back it included a notation that your staff found no defects but replaced the windage adjuster anyway. They also suggested that the problem was either my rifle or my rings were defective because there was absolutely nothing wrong with the scope. I then unpacked my all nice and factory centered scope and dropped it into those very same rings still sitting on that very same Tikka T3 Lite rifle. I have to compliment your team. They seemed to have magically and remotely fixed my “defective rifle and/or rings” because that factory centered “didn’t need repair” scope bore sighted dead on with zero adjustments.

Please give your team my thanks for correcting any issues that I may have imagined with my scope and for magically and mystically repairing my rifle and/or rings from a thousand miles away. Anyone with that much talent deserves a raise.

A sincere thanks.
sholling

If you still have a problem when you get the scope back then I'd consider leaving the scope at the factory zero and using Burris' Signature rings and the optional offset inserts to get really close to zero before adjusting any knobs.

 

[kpbeddin]

"Please give your team my thanks for correcting any issues that I may have imagined with my scope and for magically and mystically repairing my rifle and/or rings from a thousand miles away. Anyone with that much talent deserves a raise. "

Now that's funny; thanks for the info and a good laugh to boot!
Keith

 

[Unclenick]

And the answer to your question is most likely to be yes. You have pretty well eliminated any chance that you got long range bases by mistake, or that the base holes were drilled off-axis. The only other thing I can think of for you to try is lapping the rings to be sure they don't distort the scope barrel when you tighten them. But I'm guessing you'll get a good scope back from factory service in place of the original.

Enjoyed the laugh, too. Someone didn't want their proclamation that it was the fault of the scope mounts to be contradicted, so they didn't report what they fixed. Egos. Go figure.