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Rifle Scopes Ring height questions (I did read sticky)

dpilot83

Private
Full Member
Minuteman
Dec 5, 2010
70
1
41
I've read the ring height sticky and I'm trying to use it to select the correct rings for my scope and base. I have a Rem 700 in .25-06 and I purchased a NightForce 2-piece 20 MOA base for it. I'm going to mount a Vortex Viper PST 4-16 x 50 FFP to it.

The ring height sticky says height of base above the barrel is one of the dimensions you must use. This is the one thing I'm having a hard time figuring out. Since my barrel is tapered, base height above the barrel will depend upon where the scope is positioned. To get an approximate value, I put a straight edge on the front of the action and then measured down from the straight edge to the barrel in the location where I think the end of the scope will be. This ended up being about 0.1875".

Next I added 0.32" for the front piece of the base on the NF base and 0.82" for the low Seekins rings for a total of 1.3275".

Then I measured the outside of my scope cap (2 & 9/16"), divided by 2 (=1.28125") and subtracted that number from the 1.3275". This gave me 0.04625" of clearance with the cap on. The lip of the cap is 0.125" which means the clearance without the cap would be 0.17125".

So my main questions are:

1. Did I measure barrel to base height correctly?

2. Does the 20 MOA feature of the base make a difference when I'm already as close as I am?

3. Is 0.17125 enough clearance? Most seem to recommend 1/4" minimum so that when you fire, the barrel can't flex enough to cause any contact. 1/4" of flex seems like a lot to me.

Thanks.