New Predator Hunter needed 73 clicks of windage to zero. Bad?

Brought my new Predator Hunter in 243 home last week! I used new Burris Signature Zee Rings to mount my new Mueller 4.5-14x40AO APT to the gun. I performed a mechanical zero procedure that involves looking through the scope into a mirror and making necessary adjustments to align the reticle and it's shadow. This procedure has worked well for me with other scopes and this scope only needed a few clicks in either direction to align. Also note I called Mueller and they said they do a mechanical zero when they ship them out so I feel confident I was at or near to start.

I zeroed the scope Monday and ended up needing 73 clicks of right windage to get it zeroed at 100 yards. The elevation needed 31 clicks. I am now thinking back to when I installed the scope. I had to look at it hard as there seemed to be a slight cant to the left of the scope. The gun was sitting in my swiveling bipod and I thought it was simply the bipod that was leaning the gun to the left. I rotated the gun and it seemed to clear up. Now I am paranoid something is not properly aligned. If so I would suspect the Savage bases but do not know how to check them.

Mueller rep on the phone said this scope has 96 MOA of windage adjustment, so I presume a centered scope would have 48 MOA available in either direction. My 73 clicks equate to roughly 18 MOA. My question is this considered a significant amount of windage to apply for initial sight in?

I can only relate a similar problem that I encountered with my Savage model 12 I spend nearly 9 months purchasing different mounts, trying various scopes with same issue I finally returned gun to Savage and they replaced barrel I was not given much info other then a defective barrel, when it was returned I was on target with 3 rounds and no problems since. I at first suspected mount holes were incorrect or a warped receiver. Looking back I would not have spent so much time in working to correct but simply returned to Savage.

Yup, I'm worried I might get into a drawn out sequence of changing/re-zeroing and working my way through possible scope issue, mounts, rings, gun.

Is my initial adjustment so bad that I should further explore this? I had a prior gun that took a lot of elevation adjustment, but that was different as the final adjustment for zero cheated me out of a lot of MOA for long range shooting and I was near the side of the scope internally. Here it took a bit but I do not expect to need to apply much windage.

You could use the offset inserts Burris makes for your rings to get it centered (windage and elevation) or use a windage adjustable base/ring setup to correct your windage issue.

I had to send back a 12 VLP, same deal. I couldn't zero the gun at 100 because I couldn't turn down the elevation far enough.

Gun is still there (9 weeks or so) so far they've told me they replaced the barrel, sent it to test, now they're saying they need to replace the receiver, and maybe 3 more weeks.

I'm not too concerned, as I have other stuff to shoot. I would be extremely unhappy had I bought this gun for a specific purpose and wasn't able to use it.

I called the gunsmith at the store where I bought the gun. He said 73 clicks sounds like something is definitely wrong and agreed to look at it. My problem is this gunshop is an hour away so I'll need to take time off work to get it over to him. In the interim he suggested I hold some kind of straight edge along the ring bases and see if the straight edge is straight down the barrel.

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Originally Posted by Eric in NC

You could use the offset inserts Burris makes for your rings to get it centered (windage and elevation) or use a windage adjustable base/ring setup to correct your windage issue.

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I did all that with my 12 while I was on paper the visual angle of the scope was extreme, I'm a big fan of Burris signature rings for minor adjustment but not to this degree.

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Originally Posted by Eric in NC

You could use the offset inserts Burris makes for your rings to get it centered (windage and elevation) or use a windage adjustable base/ring setup to correct your windage issue.

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I called Burris and also watched the video they have on their website. They say their +/- 10 offset inserts can correct the point of impact 20". By my math (73 clicks on a 1/4" MOA click scope) I am 18.25" to the left so this should correct me to within 2" to the right.

Scopes have adjustments just for this reason. As long as the scope can be zeroed with 6-7 minutes of changes left, what more is needed?

Now, if you can't zero the rig thats a different story. But if I worried about every rifle that took a lot of "clicks" to get on paper I would still be worried!

Relax and enjoy the rifle

Your never going to use that much windage. I'd take and shoot it, unless it bothers you to the point you can't live with it mentally. I know we pay for things and expect them to be right, and by all means they should be, but you know the old saying. "In a perfect world" which it ain't. Sorry about sounding negative.

The problem could also be in the bases. Try reversing one base and see if it get better or worse. Burris Zee rings also have some built in windage just for that purpose. They are off center by a slight amount, so you can reverse one ring and gain some on windage. It might take a combination of reversing bases and rings to get you better centered.

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Originally Posted by sharpshooter

The problem could also be in the bases. Try reversing one base and see if it get better or worse. Burris Zee rings also have some built in windage just for that purpose. They are off center by a slight amount, so you can reverse one ring and gain some on windage. It might take a combination of reversing bases and rings to get you better centered.

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Is there anything documented about this built in windage adjustment by rotating a Zee ring? Burris didn't mention it when I called them and all I know about is their insert adjustment.

I had the same problem last year with a 12 VLP because I could not zero the windage or elevation with the scope maxed out. I sent it to Savage and it was returned the same way with out any explanation. I ended up shimming the rear mount .010" and used Leopold's adjustable mounts which allowed me to zero the scope and rifle to mid range. I believed that it was caused by a warped receiver.

The only thing I hate about sending my gun back to Savage....they fail miserably at reporting what they did or didnt do to repair the weapon. That has happened 2x to me, gun was returned with nothing stating what was fixed/wrong, just a 3 shot target.... >:(

I had the same problem. I believe your receiver is warped. This happens because Savage heat treats the actions after they mill and drill them. My problem straightened itself out though and heres how. I bought an EGW 1 piece base and tightened it down. Shot it and had to tap out my windage to get zero. After and other 100 rounds or so I noticed my base worked it way loose, so I re-tightened the screws and no more windage problem. The 1 piece base helped straighten out the action. Pretty neat, huh?

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Originally Posted by Galveston22

I had the same problem. I believe your receiver is warped. This happens because Savage heat treats the actions after they mill and drill them. My problem straightened itself out though and heres how. I bought an EGW 1 piece base and tightened it down. Shot it and had to tap out my windage to get zero. After and other 100 rounds or so I noticed my base worked it way loose, so I re-tightened the screws and no more windage problem. The 1 piece base helped straighten out the action. Pretty neat, huh?

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Galveston22,

I admit I don't have a lot of advance gunsmithing knowledge. But I am wondering how the one piece base straightened out the action? I would consider the action to be the more rigid piece of metal, more rigid than the few screws holding the one piece base to the action.

Interesting thread ... I have a Stevens 200 that it 1 click off the bottom of its elevation adjustment and still shoots 30mm high at 100 metres. I think its the scope in my case and I'll be swapping it out to check.

But if the receiver is warped ... how can it be measured?
Cheers...
Con

If you need that much windage to zero at 100yrds, its just gonna get worse the further out you shoot. If the reciever is twisted, and the scope not parallel to the bore, when you dial in elevation, your also gonna need to dial windage= no good.

This is good reading
http://www.arcanamavens.com/LBSFiles...ScopeChecking/