# scope wont adjust down far enough



## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

put a scope on one of my rifles and tried to zero. it was shooting so high it wasn't hitting paper. finally got it down to about 7-8" high but it wouldn't adjust anymore. did I screw something?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

You sure you have the right scope mounts for it? You can try putting a shim made from a pop can between the base and the barrel (shim the front mount to bring it down). Popcan is usually .003 thickness but mic whatever you use. Generally a .001 shim under the rear will raise your impact point by 1 MOA... but a shim on the front would lower it by the same amount

But it sounds like something is off. You might also want to measure the height of the front and rear rings, you might need to reverse them (or the base if its 2 piece on a wonky rifle like a Ruger #1, there is a specific front and rear base).

Has this rifle ever had a scope before? What kind of rifle / rings / scope is it?

Thats all I got... 


-DallanC


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

its a ruger so I don't have a base. I thought the rings were correct size based on ring chart ruger has, but maybe that is the problem. never had a rifle shoot that high before zeroing.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

I bet a photo of it will tell the tale

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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

Those are best I can do at moment. They are only pics I have on my phone and I'm at my weekend job overnight. It's a ruger 5 ring in back and 4 ring in front.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

do I need to go lower size in front or higher in the rear? it only came with the 5 ring so I had to buy the 4 ring.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

I have a 3 and a 4 on my .338 federal and have not had issues but it's a different model ruger


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

35whelen said:


> do I need to go lower size in front or higher in the rear? it only came with the 5 ring so I had to buy the 4 ring.


If you go lower in front you will shoot higher.

My guess is you are already to low in front or two high in back.

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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

hmm. I have a second 4 ring that came with the one I already mounted. it was hard because I couldn't find this exact model of rifle on the ruger charts. but the other m77 were all 4 in front and 5 in back.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

When you mounted the scope did it sit flush/level in the rings? You would think you would have noticed something was off when mounting it. 

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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

it seemed to sit fine. but this is only second scope ive mounted. first being the .338 federal. Id say good chance i screwed something up. when the first few shots were clear over target I figured something was up.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

Looking at your photo it looks like you have higher mounts on back then you do on the front however the scope seems to be level with the action so I can't say if it's incorrect or not. Looks like it was made to fit that way. 

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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

if theyre both the same size the front sits higher. the front integral base sits a little higher than the rear.


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## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

This may sound like a dumb question... is this a new scope or did you transfer it from a different rifle? If it was from a different rifle, I'd assume that you ran out of adjustment prematurely because of the previous settings to zero the scope the first time. 

When I transfer scopes from different rigs, I'll max out the windage and elevation in one direction (lets say to the R), then count the clicks to max out the other direction (to the L and yes, it's a pain), then go back in the original direction (to the R) by half of that amount. That way I know I'm starting centered and should have plenty of adjustment. 

Just thought I'd throw it out there...


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

swbuckmaster said:


> Looking at your photo it looks like you have higher mounts on back then you do on the front however the scope seems to be level with the action so I can't say if it's incorrect or not. Looks like it was made to fit that way.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk


Looks like the rear is higher to me as well. Swapping them around might just do the trick.


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## Utmuddguy (Aug 25, 2013)

Get lower profile rings


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

It's new out of box scope. I'll look into swapping rings. May not work because front base is higher than rear


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## Loke (Sep 7, 2007)

The Ruger Hawkeye (M/77) is designed for proprietary Ruger rings. The front and rear are of different heights. Since you don't install separate bases of differing heights, like on a Remington 700, you get to use the ringmounts that Ruger bestows upon you. Then you get to hope that your scope will work with them. And no, Weaver doesn't make any that work. Leupold does make ringmounts for Ruger rifles, with the appropriate size differential for the front and rears. Burris makes a set of adapters for the M77 that will accept weaver style rings. The Burris Signature Z rings will work great. And they have polymer inserts that will allow you to offset the scope in the rings to allow you to properly align your scope so you have enough adjustment in the scope for a proper zero. If you have a moment on Wednesday evening to stop by Gunnies I should be able to help you out.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

Thanks LOKE. I was out on muzzle loader hunt and didn't see this. Thanks so much.


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## Fowlmouth (Oct 4, 2008)

Hey Loke, did my buddies Ruger .17 Hornet show up yet? He's driving me nuts talking about that thing. I hear Ruger is discontinuing that model and a few others huh?


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

I would like to thank Lokey for taking a look at my rifle and instantly spotting the fact that some poor handsome idiot had mounted the scope sideways. he then mounted and bore sifted the scope properly. Not even a hint of disgust or derision when he pointed it out either. You're a good man Lokey. 
In my defense I did at least have the scope pointed in the right direction.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

That reminds me when a friend put a scope on his old trusty 06 and then shot a box of bullets trying to sight it in. He then called me and asked if I could help him. I met him at the range and looked through his scope and asked him if he put the X on the target. The first hint I had that he had something wrong was the adjustment caps were not on the top and right hand side.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

I shot 15 .375 ruger reloads trying to sight it in. And who knows how long I would've gone without noticing the dials were in different places than on my other scopes. 
I am a very special man sometimes


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## Loke (Sep 7, 2007)

One of our better gun guys did the same thing. Good thing I caught it before the customer did.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Loke said:


> One of our better gun guys did the same thing. Good thing I caught it before the customer did.


Was it set up for a lefty?


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

What is really funny is that several of us forum members looked at the pics of it and didn't see the obvious signs of a sideways scope either.


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## 35whelen (Jul 3, 2012)

Makes me feel a lil better. Still would have been flummoxed indefinitely if left to my own devices.


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## swbuckmaster (Sep 14, 2007)

I said a photo would tell the tale, Ha ha and it does. I'm surprised as well that no one picked it up. I looked at it several times and didn't see the obvious. 

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