Leupold base question.

[44hunter45]

I have not used Leupold bases and rings for while but I have them on a used M70 Classic I just bought.

Can you get Torx windage screws for them? So much easier and fewer screwdriver stab wounds.

 

[elkhnter]

I’d take one out and take it to your local Ace Hardware. Those folks have everything!
I agree, Torx would be a great upgrade. The slot screw is old school.

 

[44hunter45]

@Big Fin -
Is this a legit question to ask next time you are in Beaverton?

 

[fachries]

I’d take one out and take it to your local Ace Hardware. Those folks have everything!
I agree, Torx would be a great upgrade. The slot screw is old school.

+1

 

[ImBillT]

The last set of new ones that I bought had a hybrid windage screw that would accept a torx bit or a flat screw driver. They were crappy though. The blue thread locker that came on them had dried, making it very difficult to tighten them. The Torx “hole” was shallow, and “stripped” just like when you can get enough pressure on a Phillips head. Luckily, the screwdriver slot still worked. I called Leupold, and they basically said that the base still works so what’s my problem. My next two bases were Burris.

Short answer. Yes, but they ain’t that good.

 

[cahunter805]

I’ve seen plenty of the windage screws break. They are a hollow head design and just aren’t that strong. I’d recommend using at least dual dovetail mounts or some Talley Lightweights.

 

[p_ham]

I like the dual dovetail mounts a lot better. There are those rifles that require more windage adjustment but I haven't had any peraonally that need it.

 

[std7mag]

Most of the scopes i've looked at recently have at least 35 MOA windage adjustment.

If you use all that, something is seriously wrong!

 

[44hunter45]

I’ve seen plenty of the windage screws break. They are a hollow head design and just aren’t that strong. I’d recommend using at least dual dovetail mounts or some Talley Lightweights.

I'm a big fan of Talley lightweights. I need these Leupold bases to stay on until my new barrel arrives. Then it's tear down time.

 

[1100RemingtonMan]

I personally like Leupold Dual Dovetail mounts and Burris Signature Rings. I don’t like the idea of the wind age screw coming loose. You can also get MOA inserts in the Burris Rings

 

[antelopedundee]

You get the most versatility out of a Picatinny base/rail as far as scope positioning goes. Leupold and a host of others offer them. Depending upon scope length, eye relief, LOP you can have a lot of adjustment. Instead of sliding the scope around in the rings, you just move it fore or aft on the Pic base. The lower the rings the better. I ended up using Leupold Mark 4 30mm aluminum rings medium height. Had I used the low height rings there would have been interference with the power selector ring on the VX5-HD44 mm scope. PM me if you want to get the Mark 4 rings at a great price.

 

[ImBillT]

Most of the scopes i've looked at recently have at least 35 MOA windage adjustment.

If you use all that, something is seriously wrong!

If you use a lot of windage or elevation adjustment, then you loose the full use of the other. So if you have to use a fair bit of windage getting on at 100yds, you’re scope may have 35 MOA of elevation, but you can’t actually use it all. The erector tube will hit the scope tube before you get where you’re going. Also, 35 MOA of adjustment is only 17.5 MOA in either direction.

 

[std7mag]

Ummm, ok...
Where are you going with that, Bill?

I've never used a base that had a need for windage adjustment in the base.
And most of my scope bases are 20 MOA.
Somewhat limiting for zeroing work.
But beyond that, i get an extra 20 MOA that i can dial in the scope for when distance gets out there.

 

[antelopedundee]

If you use a lot of windage or elevation adjustment, then you loose the full use of the other. So if you have to use a fair bit of windage getting on at 100yds, you’re scope may have 35 MOA of elevation, but you can’t actually use it all. The erector tube will hit the scope tube before you get where you’re going. Also, 35 MOA of adjustment is only 17.5 MOA in either direction.

Leupold lists the adjustment range for the 171715 as 75 MOA. I'd posit the 35 MOA is for one direction only with a total of 70 MOA. 17.5 MOA is about useless. I have a 171715 and with a Murphy Precision SS base and Leupold Mark 4 medium rings on a Remington 700 it sucked up a lot of the vertical to get it on at 100 yards. I'd prefer to work as close to the mechanical center as possible, but it's just dumb luck if your set up works out that way.

 

[ImBillT]

Ummm, ok...
Where are you going with that, Bill?

I've never used a base that had a need for windage adjustment in the base.
And most of my scope bases are 20 MOA.
Somewhat limiting for zeroing work.
But beyond that, i get an extra 20 MOA that i can dial in the scope for when distance gets out there.

Im going with the fact that with mass produced actions it occasionally happens that a base with zero windage adjustment and zero MOA built in can require more than 17 MOA of adjustment to zero at 100yds, and if you dial to 200, 300, 400, you loose some of the advertised windage because an erector tube that is high in the main tube will bump the main tube before the advertised windage is achieved.

I’ve had three guns fail to zero for exactly that reason. One was a Howa, two were Rem 700’s, and in all three cases European scopes were involved. It’s not uncommon for European scopes to have limited adjustment. The more adjustment you have, the less field of view you have if the the main tube and objective diameter remain the same.

With a base that has MOA built into it, you can zero at 100yds, while keeping the erector tube below the mid point of scope adjustment, and dial to longer ranges without getting into the extremes, thus preserving most of your advertised windage adjustment.

Not so long ago I purchased a “broken” scope that had absolutely nothing wrong with it. The elevation had to be dialed so high to zero it, that the erector tube was hitting the main tube before the knobs ran out of adjustment. The result was that the owner could continue to dial right, the but the erector tube could no longer move right. He thought the scope was broken. Nothing at all was wrong with it. His action/barrel/scope base were not perfectly aligned, but windage adjustable rings and a 20MOA base would have cured the “problem”. The problem was with his rifle, not his scope. Some other base and ring set, or a scope with more adjustment may have gotten going.

 

[ImBillT]

Leupold lists the adjustment range for the 171715 as 75 MOA. I'd posit the 35 MOA is for one direction only with a total of 70 MOA. 17.5 MOA is about useless. I have a 171715 and with a Murphy Precision SS base and Leupold Mark 4 medium rings on a Remington 700 it sucked up a lot of the vertical to get it on at 100 yards. I'd prefer to work as close to the mechanical center as possible, but it's just dumb luck if your set up works out that way.

It’s not dumb luck though. Buy a legit custom action, pay a couple hundo for your rings and bases, and a have a good smith barrel your action, and you’ll find that suddenly a lot of scopes are fairly close to mechanical center when you zero them. Then again, you can put on a windage adjustable base, put some MOA in your base, or use Burris Signature offset inserts, and get your scope very near mechanical zero in spite of your rifle’s flaws for A LOT less money.

 

[mtmuley]

Sometimes, you just gotta hunt. mtmuley

 

[std7mag]

Sounds like Bill needs to start buying Savage or Rugers.