MPA chassis level

[Eaglearcher20]

I did some searching on here about the MPA BA chassis’ level and see that it appears to be a know issue. My question is, if I level my scope to my action (Impact 737 LA) does it matter that the chassis level and night vision bridge are canted? It kind of bothers me even if it doesn’t matter, but I’m not a gunsmith and have never installed an action in a chassis before. This was done by Blue Mountain Precision for me. I will post some pics of the differences as well.

 

[Eaglearcher20]

Top pic is on the front night vision bridge which appears to line up with the level in the stock level.

 

[iukamedic]

Is it possible that your action is twisted in the chassis?

 

[stevenc23]

Ultimately the only thing that really matters is that your Reticle is level to gravity.

 

[Eaglearcher20]

Is it possible that your action is twisted in the chassis?

That is what I’m wondering. Considering I had a gunsmith put it together, I assume it was done correctly and that is just the way it lined up.
Don’t know if it is something that can be fixed by me with the little knowledge I have or if it is even worth bothering with.

 

[iukamedic]

if It is a vblock I guess it could be twisted some and still tighten. I haven’t ever messed with an mpa. There will probably be someone along with more knowledge than me.

 

[alfmoonspace]

Plumb up the scope ret and make sure your bubble is lined up with it.

 

[Eaglearcher20]

Not very scientific, but I tied a small weight to some yarn and taped it to a door jam. Waited until it settled then put a level on top of my scope and lined it up. Scope was level with bubble level on top and lined up perfectly to string.

Plumb up the scope ret and make sure your bubble is lined up with it.

 

[jcmullis2]

Action and scope need to be level together.

 

[Eaglearcher20]

Action and scope need to be level together.

So it sounds like I shouldn’t worry about the stock level or the night vision bridge being a little canted?

 

[stevenc23]

Action and scope need to be level together.

Disagree, only thing that matters is that your reticle is parallel/perpendicular to gravity.

 

[Eaglearcher20]

Disagree, only thing that matters is that your reticle is parallel/perpendicular to gravity.

So, how exactly is that accomplished or different from leveling the action then leveling the scope to the action? Not being a smart ass. Just new to setting this stuff up myself so am interested.

 

[Dthomas3523]

So, how exactly is that accomplished or different from leveling the action then leveling the scope to the action? Not being a smart ass. Just new to setting this stuff up myself so am interested.

If you naturally (and not from improper fundamentals) cant the rifle, you mount the reticle plumb to gravity while the rifle is canted.

This alleviates having to constantly fight the rifle.

 

[Frgood]

Being a bit OCD, I when I installed the action to the chassis I confirmed the chamber was level with the chassis bubble level. this took a couple of attempts and demonstrated, to me, that when off it did have an impact as the action was not installed perfectly. The spacer in the lug had not set correctly and I was getting some pretty wild groups.
When I reinstalled the action, I followed the updated MPA instructions from their website. The instructions was not different, just a little more thorough. It basically involved ensuring the lug was fully to the rear and seated squarely while torquing everything down. Once done the bubble level was completely aligned with the chassis and mounting the scope found all levels align nicely.

Forget the night vision bridge there is no solid relationship to the chassis, action, and the resulting scope. I use the bubble level when setting up for my shots and all is right with the world.

caveat: I've only been doing this for about a year. So there is much more knowledge from other. I am merely describing what I experienced when mounting a Bergara action and barrel onto my MPA BA chassis. I will say this I had an earlier thread where my groups were over 2 inches and it was res-eating the action with more attention to detail that now has me shooting sub-moa.

 

[Eaglearcher20]

If you naturally (and not from improper fundamentals) cant the rifle, you mount the reticle plumb to gravity while the rifle is canted.

This alleviates having to constantly fight the rifle.

Ahhh....that makes sense. More of an advanced/expert setup technique I would think. Just working on my basics now. Once I start to fine tune my shooting I will definitely revisit that idea.

 

[Eaglearcher20]

Being a bit OCD, I when I installed the action to the chassis I confirmed the chamber was level with the chassis bubble level. this took a couple of attempts and demonstrated, to me, that when off it did have an impact as the action was not installed perfectly. The spacer in the lug had not set correctly and I was getting some pretty wild groups.
When I reinstalled the action, I followed the updated MPA instructions from their website. The instructions was not different, just a little more thorough. It basically involved ensuring the lug was fully to the rear and seated squarely while torquing everything down. Once done the bubble level was completely aligned with the chassis and mounting the scope found all levels align nicely.

Forget the night vision bridge there is no solid relationship to the chassis, action, and the resulting scope. I use the bubble level when setting up for my shots and all is right with the world.

caveat: I've only been doing this for about a year. So there is much more knowledge from other. I am merely describing what I experienced when mounting a Bergara action and barrel onto my MPA BA chassis. I will say this I had an earlier thread where my groups were over 2 inches and it was res-eating the action with more attention to detail that now has me shooting sub-moa.

It is my OCD as well that is having it bother me, but I really don’t feel comfortable removing the action from the chassis...at least at my current level of knowledge. I may take the loss on this one and just let it go or cover it up and ignore since it doesn’t seem to impact anything else if the scope and action are leveled together.

 

[Eaglearcher20]

So let me go ahead and ask...how difficult would it be to remove the action and adjust to make my action level with the stock? Is it SUPER technical or just removing a couple screws/bolts and readjusting the action and tighten back down?

 

[jcmullis2]

You might be able to get the stock and action leveled together but you might not. The only thing that matters is the action and the scope are level relative to each other.

 

[Sogan]

It is my OCD as well that is having it bother me, but I really don’t feel comfortable removing the action from the chassis...at least at my current level of knowledge. I may take the loss on this one and just let it go or cover it up and ignore since it doesn’t seem to impact anything else if the scope and action are leveled together.

It’s legit two screws to take the action out if you decide you want to. Extremely hard to mess up. Just follow the MPA instructions and tighter the front screw before you do the rear

 

[Dthomas3523]

You might be able to get the stock and action leveled together but you might not. The only thing that matters is the action and the scope are level relative to each other.

There is no negative effect if the optic is not level to the action. This is shooter dependent.

 

[DownhillFromHere]

Omg. This again. Do yourself a favor. Get the right size Torx bit, take the screws out, remove the level, and throw it off a bridge or over a cliff or down a storm drain. Or just put a piece of tape over it. I have two of these chassis and I learned in the first hour of owning the first one that those levels are useless.

In mounting or remounting a scope, I use the compass app on my iPhone, which has a level, to level the top of the pic rail (I've compared the iPhone level side by side with a super-sensitive and accurate engineering level; they matched). With the rifle up on a bipod and rear bag, rail level, I level my scope using a plumb line and tighten the rings. On my older scopes, I have standard-size Vortex bubble levels mounted on the tubes and set to agree with the plumb line.

On that first chassis, the little gimmick level was nowhere near agreement with the scope level. So I removed it and shimmed it. After a couple of shots at the range, it wandered off again. I never looked at it again. Never looked at the second chassis' level at all. Ever. Even if the tiny dodads were accurate, using them to level the rifle would be like trying to draw a straight foot-long line with a half-inch straight edge.

 

[Eaglearcher20]

Omg. This again. Do yourself a favor. Get the right size Torx bit, take the screws out, remove the level, and throw it off a bridge or over a cliff or down a storm drain. Or just put a piece of tape over it. I have two of these chassis and I learned in the first hour of owning the first one that those levels are useless.

In mounting or remounting a scope, I use the compass app on my iPhone, which has a level, to level the top of the pic rail (I've compared the iPhone level side by side with a super-sensitive and accurate engineering level; they matched). With the rifle up on a bipod and rear bag, rail level, I level my scope using a plumb line and tighten the rings. On my older scopes, I have standard-size Vortex bubble levels mounted on the tubes and set to agree with the plumb line.

On that first chassis, the little gimmick level was nowhere near agreement with the scope level. So I removed it and shimmed it. After a couple of shots at the range, it wandered off again. I never looked at it again. Never looked at the second chassis' level at all. Ever. Even if the tiny dodads were accurate, using them to level the rifle would be like trying to draw a straight foot-long line with a half-inch straight edge.

This seems to be the general consensus and I plan to flip it around to just have the white showing and move on.

 

[LV Precision]

I’ve also got 2 MPA competition chassis, and don’t trust the levels at all. When I took them out and rolled them on a flat surface, it was apparent they weren’t perfectly cylindrical.

I removed mine and now go with a level that’s in the same visual plane as my optic, leveled to the top of the integral rail.

 

[stevenc23]

So, how exactly is that accomplished or different from leveling the action then leveling the scope to the action? Not being a smart ass. Just new to setting this stuff up myself so am interested.

Gunsmithing - Scope level to a rifle

I have a Precision Extended Cantilever mount (1 piece) and I'd like to install it on AR10 - DB10 but I have a problem. I can't mount a scope leveled to a rifle properly (without cant). Do you have solution for it? I have an Arisaka Optics Mount Tool but it won't works for me - surface on mount...

www.snipershide.com

Gunsmithing - Scope level to a rifle

Reading over this resurrected thread got me thinking. And that's not always the best place for me. It's obvious that the only thing that matters is that the reticle is level when the shot is taken. The rifle could be canted a few degrees and as long as it was zeroed in that position with a level...

www.snipershide.com

 

[Punkur67]

I leveled my scope to the internal buble on the chasis on my mpa. It was off about an 1/8 of a bubble but the chasis was comfortable. I have had zero issues with this out past 1500 meters

 

[Meety Peety]

IMO chassis levels serve no real purpose. They are aesthetic. I like to cover mine with inspirational quotes like "suck less". What is important is that your reticle is plumb to gravity. You should set your rifle up so that it is comfortable and repeatable for your body so that you dont fight the rifle every time you get behind it. This can sometimes result in the rifle/chassis being slightly canted, which is fine as long as you mount it the same every time. Once you have the rifle setup, set your reticle to gravity and throw a level on the scope tube. This is the level you would reference while shooting. It may or may not match the chassis level, but the one that matters is the one on the scope tube that you set to gravity.

Some people like to try and level their scope to the chassis and then when they mount the gun they end up fighting the rifle trying to line up that chassis level. Usually what ends up happening is the shooter either ends up fighting to get comfortable and sacrifices fundamentals or ends up ignoring the level entirely.

A small amount of cant in the rifle is fine, a small amount of cant in the reticle is not.

 

[Changed]

I ensure that the optic is plumb with the fall of gravity in the position I prefer to shoot in. Then adjust the MPA inclinometer to to the optic. I’m my case I padded the right tide of the vial. Then tightened until level with the reticle.

the vials are not true cylinders because the devices are not “levels”. They are inclinometers. Just like the Accuracy 1st scope mounted inclinometers.

 

[Eaglearcher20]

Thanks for all the useful info and tips. This has been incredibly helpful. At this point I’m not messing with the action. Sounds like I wouldn’t really gain anything useful. I may mess around trying to shim the level but if nothing else a sticker will be fine (maybe one that shows it is always level, lol).