Most shooters, whether target shooting for fun and enjoyment, hunting or shooting competitively, want to ensure their weapon is set up to the highest degree of accuracy. To accomplish this, people often spend a lot of money on optics but forget to consider the importance in their selection of scope mounts.
Scope mounts are not particularly complex components, but if they are incorrectly selected for the scope, the weapon or the shooter they can create very real issues with accuracy. Even slight variations in how the mounts align with the gun will result in problems with hitting the target.
Height Issues
One of the biggest mistakes that can be made in choosing scope mounts is to choose one that sits too high off the barrel of the gun. Ideally, the body of the scope and the lens should just sit up and off the gun, not significantly up off the barrel.
When the scope is too high off the gun, the shooter has to hold his or her head at an unnatural angle. This results in problems with maintaining the position without moving the shoulders up, resulting in accuracy problems.
Positioning Issues
When positioning scope mounts on the gun, it is important to maintain what is known as “eye relief.” This is actually the distance that the eye of the shooter should be to the scope. Too far or too close to the eye will also cause sighting problems for even the most experienced shooters.
There are many different types of mounts for a scope. These can include dovetail rings and bases, rail mounts and even offset mounts to name just a few. Choosing the right option is based on the type of weapon, the type of scope and if any special requirements for mounting have to be considered based on bolt action on the rifle or other types of factors.
