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Out of Turret Travel question.

cholt64

Private
Minuteman
May 8, 2018
14
2
Hi, I've mounted a Zeiss Terra Plex scope to a Weatherby Camilla Mark V using weatherby lightweight rings/bases. When I went to zero it at 25 yards, my rounds were grouping at about 18 inches high, and I ran out of elevation turret travel before I could get them on target. Anyone have any ideas on what I did wrong?
 
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If that scope has a zero stop feature it's probably preventing you from going lower.
 
If that scope has a zero stop feature it's probably preventing you from going lower.
The Zeiss Terra models do not have a zero stop. It's a fairly basic model scope.
The only thing I did to it was to lap it to make sure the rings were even.
 
Knowing the scope base as mentioned above would be good to know. Could you have acquired a base that has MOA built in to the base for long range shooing? Also, were you able to get your windage adjustment centered?

Maybe post a pic of your set-up too!
 
The rings are the ring/base combo from Weatherby. They don't mention an MOA slant. My windage was dead on. I did lap them before I mounted them, otherwise everything I did was fairly standard. Everything was perfectly leveled and torqued to the recommended specs.
 

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I would put another scope on for a couple shots to verify it's not the scope itself and that the rings/rail aren't to blame.
 
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I would put another scope on for a couple shots to verify it's not the scope itself and that the rings/rail aren't to blame.
I'd do that, but I don't have another scope that diameter. I've got a message in to weatherby, but no reply yet.
 
Please please don't take offense, but are you sure you're turning the turrets in the proper direction to bring point of impact DOWN?

Weatherbys that I've been around have been known to have receiver/scope alignment issues, but not sure I ever heard of one that bad. Just the way you said "ran out of elevation turret travel" makes me wonder if it's possible you're accidentally turning the turret to ADD elevation instead of REMOVE elevation?

That looks like a long action, so I just used some long action cartridge info I have plugged into JBM and at 100 yards you're impacting 72MOA / 21 MILS / 6 FEET high. If my calculations are correct, you're 20 MILS high at 25 yards, which would put you zeroed (bullet meets the line of sight of the scope reticle) at a range of 2 yards, and the bullet would arc real high and not meet the point of aim again until just over 1,400 yards. Of course the exact numbers are dependent on the specific cartridge of that rifle, but I was just spitballing random long action info.

Not sure if that's what you're going for, but sometimes a simple 100 yard zero is preferable so as to remove the effects of environmental factors from your aim. When zeroed at 100 yards with a centerfire cartridge, at 25 yards your bullet should normally impact a slight bit BELOW the point of aim, that is, the bullet should still be climbing to intersect the reticle.

JMHO, but one of the harder things for me to finally understand was exactly HOW a scope functions to move bullet impact. In another life I had to use the AR professionally and we did some zero work at 25 yards, so it was hard learning to do things different for scoped longer range rifles.

Not too long ago there was another post about someone with a high elevation at short range: My brain is broken from @Deadeye_Dan. In that case, shooter was 15" / 8.3mils high at 50 yards, with 40MOA of rail incline with "no ability to lower POI". With that setup, the rifle should have been able to zero such that scope's internal erector tube should physically be near the top of the scope tube, and nearly all of his Steiner's elevation should have been available to dial. Elevation that should raise the point of impact. But his POI was already too high, and his data suggests a zero range of 5 yards. At 100 yards his impact would be 29MOA / 8.5 MILS / 30+ inches HIGH. And yet he only had 0.3mil of DOWN remaining? Zero stop interference is the natural consideration, however the shooter insisted the zero stop was not the issue, so there's not many other explanations...

I didn't say anything because I assumed there was some other problem, but now with two similar cases in a week and there being a lot of new 'long range' shooters out there, I figure maybe I'm not the only one who's ever made that mistake after all.

Absolutely nothing against you...just making sure you considered that possibility.
 
If you stand your scope up on a mirror ( objective side on the mirror ) and look through the scope you can zero your reticle, you will be able to see the actual reticle and the reflection of it, just line them up. Then run it up and down while watching through the scope and you will be able to see if you would have enough travel to sight it in. If you can’t get them to line up or there is hardly any travel one way you will know it’s the scope, if you have lots of travel then probably the rings or rifle.
 
Did you use the bases/rings for the 9 lug mark v or the 6 lug mark V? I had issues finding the right bases for my wife’s Mark V Camilla. The big name sporting goods store sold me two piece L- brand bases which had terrible vertical alignment. They turned out to be for a 9 lug action. Then they tried to tell me that bases for a Remington would solve it . I checked and no luck with that. I did some research online and ordered 6 lug bases online and solved everything. Just a thought.
 
Did you use the bases/rings for the 9 lug mark v or the 6 lug mark V? I had issues finding the right bases for my wife’s Mark V Camilla. The big name sporting goods store sold me two piece L- brand bases which had terrible vertical alignment. They turned out to be for a 9 lug action. Then they tried to tell me that bases for a Remington would solve it . I checked and no luck with that. I did some research online and ordered 6 lug bases online and solved everything. Just a thought.
That was it. I called Weatherby and they knew exactly what the problem was. Ordered the right rings and it worked great.
 
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I didn’t pay attention to the date on this thread and thought it was a current issue. I’m glad you figured it out. Had to laugh at myself a little bit.