Leveling action for scope mounting...

[Harriershot]

I found a way to get my model 14 in .243 truly level. I removed the action from the stock and clamped it in a gun vise. I used a Starret brand pocket level (very sensitive unit) to lay across the flats that are just behind the rear bolt guide with the bolt removed. I then set up a plumb line to align my vertical reticle  on to get my scope squared to the receiver.
Very easy and reliable.

Any better ideas?

Charlie

[boojo35]

I mount a B square bubble level on the scope base, set the gun in a gun vise on my dining room table and aim at the corner of the house behind me to line up the crosshair vertically....

[usngunner]

I mount a B square bubble level on the scope base, set the gun in a gun vise on my dining room table and aim at the corner of the house behind me to line up the crosshair vertically....

I also use the b Square level on my scope bases, but I use a plumb bob.  I don't trust carpenters. 

I mount a level on all my rifles I use for long range shooting, it really helps my consistency.

[Harriershot]

Bojo35, I have tested your method of using scope bases as flats for a level and they just are not consistant. If you loosen your base bolts (scope removed) and push the base to one side and tighten and check with level, then loosen base bolts and slide base to other side than tighten base bolts and check with level you will see quite a difference in just the play around the base bolts to scope base. I have also compared a level base to putting the level across the tops of the lower ring halves and found that to be inconsistent.

Charlie

[outlawkyote]

  I just lay a ruler accross the flat parts of the scope bases and sight down the rifle and make the ruler  level with the kitchen cabinets. Then I level the scope to the cabinets.

[MrFurious]

Bojo35, I have tested your method of using scope bases as flats for a level and they just are not consistant. If you loosen your base bolts (scope removed) and push the base to one side and tighten and check with level, then loosen base bolts and slide base to other side than tighten base bolts and check with level you will see quite a difference in just the play around the base bolts to scope base. I have also compared a level base to putting the level across the tops of the lower ring halves and found that to be inconsistent.

Charlie

Thats why you tighten down your base first.  Kind of hard to tighten it back up with traditional rings once they're in place and the scope's mounted. 

And if you really want it level, just get a piece of metal that will slight snugly into the raceway with the bolt removed and mount your level on it.  When Savage makes the actions, cutting the raceway is the first process and everything else is indicated off of it.  This same tool will also tell you if your action is severly warped because if it is the tool won't slide in all the way as it should (assuming the tool is properly sized).

[boojo35]

Bojo35, I have tested your method of using scope bases as flats for a level and they just are not consistant. If you loosen your base bolts (scope removed) and push the base to one side and tighten and check with level, then loosen base bolts and slide base to other side than tighten base bolts and check with level you will see quite a difference in just the play around the base bolts to scope base. I have also compared a level base to putting the level across the tops of the lower ring halves and found that to be inconsistent.

Charlie

Did you forget that many Savages have a flat receiver where the rear scope base mounts.... 

If you want to be sooooooo technical, you would level your scope by shooting at a vertical line with your elevation all the way up and then clicking the scope until the elevation is all the way down..... you want your scope to hit the same vertical line  throughout its entire range of tracking......

[neophyte]

 I guess this is why this works.

  http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=529349

[Harriershot]

Boojo, my model 14 does not have a flatspot on top of the receiver, I wish it did it would make things a lot easier.
I have never tried the box test or shooting up and down the travel of the turret like you speak of. Do you think if I precisely (precisely as my eye would allow) align the vertical reticle with a plumbline that it would actually be off when testing on target. When I line up the reticle on the plumbline I do it inside my house at the end of a 13 yard hallway with my Elite 4200 (this scope will focus down to ten yards) this is with a red colored 1/2 inch diameter repelling line with a weight on it to pull the rope straight. I then line up the reticle just a little bit off to one side of the rope, using the white wall behind it I make sure to have an even space  between the reticle and the rope all the way up and down the reticle.
I just like to go the extra step to get things right, but at the same time trying to keep it simple. I guess this comes with middle age.
As far as the level level level tool I read to many reviews that were negative on this product, the other poster who mentioned the metal block to slide into the bolt raceway that will allow you to set a level on that, was reading my mind. I have already sent a drawing to a friend to make such a block that will fit a lot of different brand actions.

My .02 cents worth

Charlie

[usngunner]

I guess this is why this works.

  http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=529349

the problem with that setup is it assumes that the external turrets are perfectly perpendicular to the reticle.  Not always the case.  Now the raceway part and using a plumb bob might work, but I wouldn't trust that little on top of the scope leveling deal.

[sharpshooter]

I made this one about 15 years ago.

[Too may Savages, is that possible?]

I always level from the BASE not from the action. That way when you move a scope from one base to another, the scope will be true to the base and your bubble level on the base.  This system works well for me out to 1500 yards.

Some scope makers, Nightforce for example, true the reticle to the flat portion on the bottom of the turrets. This makes for a really fast way to set your reticle level. Put a small level on the bottom of the scope on the flat, another on the rail, plumb them both and you are good to go.

Be aware that most B-Square bubble levels usually do NOT sit level on your base.  Some, depending on the base are off a HUGE amount.  After discovering this we quit carrying them and recommend the ones that go on the scope tube instead, since you can "adust" them.  I am waiting for a shipment of bubble levels from US Optics. I hope they are square to a picatinny rail when installed......

You can shim or modify the B-Square until it is level on the rail, but it is a tedious process. Shims are not very reliable unless epoxied to the part due to the small surface area where it contacts the rail.  Once you have it shimmed / modified for one rail, it may or may not work on another rail.

The level from DeadEye works well for this process.

http://www.deadeye2.com/

[usngunner]

Don,

Ok, here's one for the sake of discussion.

Who cares if the bubble level is level on the base as long as it is consistent?

If you put the bubble level on the rifle, level to the bubble, then level to a vertical reference, and level to the bubble when you're shooting, the reticle is still vertical.  The bullet doesn't know which part of that rifled tube is the "top".  As long as the level stays on the base, you're going to be good regardless.

It seems to me that consistency of hold is the most important part here. 

$24 is pricey, but $70.00 for a bubble level is insane. 

But then again, I don't sell them.

[neophyte]

 Made my own for about $3.95 from a Home depot combo level.
 It was made out of necessity when I made a jig to show how
 much a cantilever mount (shotgun barrel) could be off of the
 centerline of a rifled slug bore. Boy, was that an eye opener.
 Really compromises your windage range if it is off.

[ctrout]

http://www.longrangehunting.com/articles/reticle-perpendicularity.php