Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Scope height vs bore line....

Not a real gunsmith...just a tinkerer.


You'd be surprised at how hard some of these guns are held.

Good shootin' -Al

Some rifles, like ARs and many chassis-stock bolt guns, are set up for the best head/eye position with rather tall rings or a unimount. My Sig Cross is this way. It creates the look of excess daylight under the scope, but is necessary. When it’s a conventionally stocked bolt gun, even with the adjustable comb, it does look funny to have daylight under the objective bell and the comb cranked high. I sometimes wonder if it’s folks using the adjustable comb to allow them to only buy tall rings so they can mix/match optics with other rifles that require them? Still looks a bit goofy, but whatever works….

Find an on line ballistics calculator and use the same inputs across but play with the line of sight above bore. Tall sight have an advantage for sure.

people have pointed out some very good points of advantages and disadvantages of higher mounted scopes...
all pretty basic geometry and mechanics.

me personally on a hunting rifle or even defense type weapon quick easy acquisition to the sight is my number one thought.

now competitive models that's a bit different if you have time to make sure you have everything correct use what works for you and has the most advantages.


anyone remember David tubbs and his chin guns in the silhouette games.. them with some high amount of scopes..

I think Mdt tested recently how high you could you go and what happens when you do, could be worth a look up.

two factors, natural alignment number 1 imo so when hunting situation and you go on auto pilot everything is where it's supposed to be, 2 would be just understanding how the line of site relates to your trajectory, as pointed out easy to see the effects with online ballistics calculators

agree that most are higher than they think, grab a tape, a lot of rifles stock line runs inline with the center of bore so measure up from there, or center of action to center of scope tube...it's a struggle to get down to 1.5" on regular rifles imo...even with x-low types stuff in many cases

positions haven't been brought up but could be a thing, prone to kneeling/sitting to standing variables? some discussion left there I suppose

Mounting the scope higher doesn't have many negatives if you have an adjustable comb.

When in the prone, it allows the stock to sit lower against the shoulder, reducing felt recoil and muzzle flip. This makes shots easier to spot.

Oftentimes the high mounts will allow for switching optics between rifles.

Offset can be an issue depending on circumstances.

Fitting a stock for many women is difficult and usually requires raising the comb substantially therefore requiring the scope mounted higher. I've taught women's shotgun and found it very difficult to fit many women with a stock that shoulders and cheeks. Everytime I see Trump's daughter on TV, I think of trying to fit her with a shotgun as she's got a very long neck.

Hmmm...I'd have to say that's not the first thing than comes to mind when I look at her long neck...