Swfa reticle isn’t level with the turrets.

[Joshuajosh]

What amount of cant do you find acceptable when it comes to a reticle. I picked up one of the gen 2 6x scopes and it appears that the reticle isn’t level with the turrets. This rifle is used mostly within 600 yards (tikka 223). I’m not sure if this is enough to really be noticeable at these distances or if I should go ahead and contact swfa.

 

[Chad E]

Personally id just level the reticle. I've seen a whole lot of turret caps not be level.

 

[Joshuajosh]

the bottom of the scope housing shows the same amount of cant

 

[bruceleroy]

I wouldnt accept that.

 

[bmart2622]

Level the reticle

 

[TxLite]

Not that uncommon. Level the reticle

 

[Joshuajosh]

Not that uncommon. Level the reticle

Wouldn’t I have errors when dialing potentially? I’ll have to do a tracking test.

 

[Ferrulewax]

Pardon my ignorance, but isn't the whole reticle upside down?

 

[satchamo]

Take the cap off and put your level on the brass. The caps aren’t always level. I had the same issue and this resolved it for me.

 

[Joshuajosh]

Pardon my ignorance, but isn't the whole reticle upside down?

Yeah, the flashlight leveling method flips the image

 

[Joshuajosh]

Take the cap off and put your level on the brass. The caps aren’t always level. I had the same issue and this resolved it for me.

Same thing with the cap off

 

[TxLite]

Wouldn’t I have errors when dialing potentially? I’ll have to do a tracking test.

Possibly. Test it and see

 

[bmart2622]

Wouldn’t I have errors when dialing potentially? I’ll have to do a tracking test.

You will if you dont level the reticle

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Try levelling the rifle itself using a good bubble level, with your scope bases torqued down.

Mount the scope to desired eye relief and tighten ring cap screws, but not so tight that the scope can't rotate in the rings.

Using a good level, draw a straight line on a wall, or on a piece of paper taped to wall (ensure paper line is straight and paper is hung level). The wall line should be near scope reticle level. Rotate the scope until your horizontal reticle line, is aligned with your drawn line.

Torque down the scope ring cap screws. Next, go test for tracking with elevation and wind turrets on a tracking board or grid style target.

Please let us know of the results if you could?

 

[Joshuajosh]

Try levelling the rifle itself using a good bubble level, with your scope bases torqued down.

Mount the scope to desired eye relief and tighten ring cap screws, but not so tight that the scope can't rotate in the rings.

Using a good level, draw a straight line on a wall, or on a piece of paper taped to wall (ensure paper line is straight and paper is hung level). The wall line should be near scope reticle level. Rotate the scope until your horizontal reticle line, is aligned with your drawn line.

Torque down the scope ring cap screws. Next, go test for tracking with elevation and wind turrets on a tracking board or grid style target.

Please let us know of the results if you could?

This is essentially the process I used. I am planning on doing a tracking test this weekend. Swfa has already agreed to swap the scope out if they find it out of spec, issue is they don’t have any in stock.

 

[Cactus kid]

in my experience the turrets of scopes are not always level to the crosshairs.

On actions that have a flat rail, like a tikka, ive had great luck placing feeler gages between the bottoms of the scope and the rail. This method has the added benefit of keeping the scope from canting as the rings are being torqued. Just be sure you are not using too many feeler gages that could place torque on the scope tube during mounting.

 

[rclouse79]

I just mounted two SWFA 3-15s and used a scope leveling wedge to get the scope level with the gun and then used the bubble on the scope to read level when the crosshair was in line with the plumb line. Both just shot great out to 650 yards, which is farther than I would shoot at game.

 

[TaperPin]

That is interesting. The movement while dialing is tied to the turrets, so squaring up the reticle makes dialing a little off, but direct reading the crosshair more correct. On a long range scope that would goof you up, but for moderate ranges probably doesn’t matter. A crooked crosshair would drive me bonkers so I’d level that.

 

[Joshuajosh]

That is interesting. The movement while dialing is tied to the turrets, so squaring up the reticle makes dialing a little off, but direct reading the crosshair more correct. On a long range scope that would goof you up, but for moderate ranges probably doesn’t matter. A crooked crosshair would drive me bonkers so I’d level that.

Depending on the tracking test results I’ll just send it back in to get a new scope, it will drive me nuts anyways if the two are not aligned.

 

[BBob]

it will drive me nuts anyways if the two are not aligned.

You'd probably never notice that small amount of reticle cant out in the field. Isn't that the reason we all have levels on our rifles and bows? There's no good vertical or horizontal references out there for your head to get a good read on it.