Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Leveling Scope Reticle Talley LightWeight Rings

I have almost always mounted scopes using a pic rail and standard rings. Getting the gun level was never an issue as I would just stick the level on the pic rail and "assume" it was level to the earth.....its always worked. I am putting together a new lighter weight rifle and wanted to try the Talley LightWeight....Can I put the level on the flat surface on the scope base/ring? Judging from the photos that my best option to get the rifle level.

Top half off of rings and level across the bottom half?

Most accurate way I have found is to hang a thick plumb line in the distance and level the scope and rifle to that. It has not been my experience that the flat surfaces at the top of a rifle are perpendicular to a plumb line anyway.

That was my way as well for a long time. Always worked like a champ if I could make sure the gun was leveled up decent.

How are you guys leveling the gun to the plumb line? I dont see anyway to do that aside from eyeballing it.

That was my first thought.

I use a level off the raceway.

That’s what I did as well. Or a flat base for the scope mount.

Reticle Tru......foolproof.

I level off the raceway in a vice.
While clamped in vise I line up the vertical crosshair with the door jamb across the shop.
I have found large errors going off scope rings and bases.

I have used a combination of the above. Level the rifle with a spirit level across the bottom half of the rings in a gun vise.
Level the scope to a plumb line.
Of course you can also look through the scope at arm's length and align the reticle to the bore. It will get you close enough if your shots are less than 300 yards.

I also started using the reticle tru after seeing it mentioned here. It's faster than the plumb line method.

Seems like no matter what you do, there is going to be some eyeball involved in the end.

It will level the scope's reticle with the rifle bore every time.

Mount rings and before you put the scope put the level on top of the half ring. At this point level it off and put rifle in a vice or some kind of a rest that you can lock it in after that put scope on top and put level on top of elevation turret if it's flat.

I use the old Segway reticle leveler which sits on the rear base. Simple, and works great. Not sure they're still available.

Brad,

In my experience the Segway isn't as consistent as the Reticle-Tru, for a couple of reasons--primarily that small bubble-levels aren't always all that accurate. But the Segway beats some of the other gadgets on the market, which depend on a couple of bubble levels placed on parts of the rifle and scope that aren't always "square" themselves.

John

Here’s what I do, which is a slight variance to what Fotis posted above.

Get the Wheeler kit with 2 levels that 1.) one that sits on any flat surface. 2.) one that clamps on the barrel.

Like this...


Mount the lower 1/2 of the Talley LWs to the receiver and torque. Place level #1 across the rings. Level gun. Clamp level #2 on barrel and align level #1 -both levels should read the same.
(Note: if you have a flat top anywhere on the receiver, you don’t need to align on the top of the 1/2 mounted rings - just place level #1 on the receiver)

Remove level #1 from lower portion of Talley LWs. Place scope with proper eye relief and install top 1/2s of Talley LW. Place level #1 on top of scope turret. Rotate scope to align with level #2 clamped to barrel. Finalize ring screw torque - note: scope might rotate a little so you may need to repeat.

Verify with plumb bob. Occasionally the top turret / cap may not have been level with the scope internals. If using a scope with a removable turret (ie CDS), I suggest loosening those screws and seat the turret cap fully.

My Segway doesn't have a bubble level? Must be the older model.

That's the ticket. You can have your gun set at a 45* angle and still mount it square to the bore. Nice shop!