Dial vs Hold and a 20 MOA base

[Emailabode]

Hello everyone Pat here and a life long savage shooter but semi new to the forums

i just have a quick question, if you plan to do long range shooting a 20 MOA base helps you get more of a range of adjustment in elevation for the scope right?

well my thought is if you have a MOA reticle and hold over as opposed to dial in the elevation and windage does a 20 MOA base do anything for you?

thanks pat

[Blue Avenger]

how far are we talking? 300 or 1000?

[Emailabode]

well there is a 600 yard range near by and i would like to shoot farther if i get the chance

[brasse]

The most important factor is how much internal verticle adjustment your scope will have. Some have more than enough internal adjustment for you to adjust out to 1000 yards. I just purchased a Simmons Whitetail scope on sale. Great optics for the price, but almost no internal adjustment (two turns only).

The bigger the scope the higher the mounts will be and the further off the center of the bore of the barrel the scope will be. I have old eyes and need 14 to 16 power to shoot good at 200 yards, and need 18-24 power to shoot at longer distances.

You need to try some scope and also find out just what distances you can accurately shoot at. Huge difference between 300 yards and 600 yards. At 600 yards you have to have a good shooter, a good scope, a good rifle and good ammo. Nothing can be second rate.

Now if it was me, I would just get a good pictinnany rail with 20 MOA built in. As a matter of fact that is what is on my New Years wish list.

[Emailabode]

im just wondering, i know the many ins and outs of a long range rifle. im just wondering if you are holding over with a mil dot reticle or what not, you are not adjusting the elevation at all. so do you even need to bother with the angled base ?

[brasse]

You can run out of those mil dots quickly. I have a Nikon that has real accurate hold over points, you can even get custom made turrents for the scope.

I just don't shoot that way, I use the turret dials to adjust POA for the wind and distance.

[CJnWy]

It depends on how far you think the mildots or hashes will allow you to shoot. In general if you set the scope so the mildots are 3.6MOA apart and you take 3.6x5(from xhairs to bottom post of most scopes)=18...That takes a very flat shootin round to get to 1000 with only 18MOA
In the case of the last 7mag I set up with a 20moa base and an IOR 6-24 scope with MP-8 reticle set to 18x so the hashes are moa instead of mills. I had to turn the verticle adjustment all the way down and still have to use the top medium hash mark for zero. So if I figure the 100 yard zero is the top medium hash that gives me all of the 63moa of the internal adjustment of the scope + the 28moa left on the mp-8 reticle gives me 91moa of total up or ruffly enough to get me out to 2350 yards. So I could take off the 20moa and still get out tojust over 2000 yards= In this case I dont need a 20moa base!
In the case above the barrel shoots high enough and I have enough ellivation adjustment but in the case of my 20PPC I had to lift the back of the 20moa base higher just to get it to zero center.
The best way to know is to sight in the existing scope setup and then turn the adjuster all the way up and shoot again at 100 yards. If your second shot is 25" or more above the first one your good to go. If your second shot is less than 20" your gonna need a base with more moa!

[brasse]

Great information there.

Be thankful you are shooting a Savage and not an AR15. The centerline of the scope on my DPMS Competition upper reciever and 20 inch ARP barrel (6.8 SPC II) is 2.6 inches above the centerline of the barrel! I have to move the scope POA 4 inches between 25, 50 and 100 yards, and another 4 for 200 yards. Thats 16 inches, most caused by the parallax error between barrel and scope. I just leave it sighted in for 200 yards, then I hold over or under when shooting shorter distances.

[brasse]

One cool way of getting arround the 20 MOA bases is using the Burris "Signature" Zee rings with inserts. They only make them for 1 inch scopes, but the inserts come in 0,+5 -5, +10 -10 and a +20 -20.
The inserts are designed to be used in sets. Once you decide what you need where they are a pair.

For example if you need to add 30 moa of up you could put a +20 on the bottom of the front ring and the -20 on the top of the front ring. Then on the bottom of the back ring put the -10 and on the top put the +10 tighten them up and BINGO 30 moa of added elevation.

[Mel12]

Signatures do come in 30mm I just ordered a set. They also come with extra +10 and -10 shims I believe.

[stomp442]

Signature rings are the way to go for sure.

[squirrelsniper]

i just have a quick question, if you plan to do long range shooting a 20 MOA base helps you get more of a range of adjustment in elevation for the scope right?

Yes, the primary reason for the 20 MOA base is to allow more upward adjustment to remain in the scope.


well my thought is if you have a MOA reticle and hold over as opposed to dial in the elevation and windage does a 20 MOA base do anything for you?

It depends on whether you plan to shoot far enough to need both hold-over and dial-ups. If the reticle itself is capable of reaching to the distance you plan to shoot and you never plan to use the dials, then the 20 MOA base isn't of any use.

As a side note, my personal preference is to dial in range corrections but use hold-off for winds (unless I can get a steady wind that I can dial in), so I typically use a 20 MOA base as well as a scope with mil-dots or other measuring device.

[Emailabode]

Thanks squirrelsniper that is what i was gathering but that is much more clear