Hi Everyone just zeroed in my gun, I had to shim my scope as it was shooting low and i ran out of adjustments. I am using cheap picatinny mounts, worth noting my scope is very average also chinese, I will get a VICT OPTICS S4 6-24X50SFP soon and it will likely come with it's own mounts. Will changing the scope and the mounts likely fix my issue with shimming? Personally i like everything to be as is without adjustment from my end.
Shimming the scope
- Thread starter MOE.LB
- Start date
FX ones cost around 100$, vector optics mounts are non adjustable but are high mounts and they come with the scope at no extra charge, i was just hoping there's a chance i won't need to buy the FX ones.
Upvote 0
shimming a scope can cause damage to the tube and the innards .Also you should keep the scope as close to the barrel as possible .
Upvote 0
Try the ones that come with the scope before buying adjustable. You might be pleasantly surprised. Makes sense to me. You won't know til you try.
Shimming CAN damage tube but doesn't HAVE TO. Use a soda can or a plastic milk carton from which to cut shims. I like the plastic, there's a little "give" to it. As long as you don't use multiple layers or overtighten it should be okay. Try those included rings 1st.
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Upvote 0
Right on!
I've used plastic from pop bottles, electricians tape, brass shim stock, and pop cans and never had a problem. As long as you're smart enough not to crank it down like a gorilla, you'll be fine. On pcps it works great.
Upvote 0
Just changing rings to another set will not likely change the relationship of the scope to the barrel and rail. Is it possible to use a single piece 20 moa cantilever mount with the rail and magazine? These 20 moa cantilever mounts are an inexpensive alternative to the more expensive adjustable rings.
Upvote 0
Way back when before adjustable rings, I used a business card. They are 10 thousands. This was a common practice around the small bore silhouette crowd. I never have even marked a scope. But I never used anything thicker. I know some guys used a shim made from a plastic milk jug or an aluminum can. My wife always has black card stock same thickness as a business card, and black can't be seen.
Upvote 0
As someone with a tendency toward hand-wringing about doing things that could potentially damage my belongings, I will just say that modestly shimming a scope on a PCP is not among these things.
If we are talking about a hard-recoiling springer, that's a different story...often they need to be tightened right up to the ragged edge of crushing the tube. But on PCPs I've shimmed in the ballpark of 100 scopes, in amounts ranging anywhere from 0.010 - 0.025", and not only have I not damaged a scope, the tubes look and feel no different than a myriad of scopes that were mounted with no shims.
The way I do it is with progressively larger strips cut from a soda can:
If we are talking about a hard-recoiling springer, that's a different story...often they need to be tightened right up to the ragged edge of crushing the tube. But on PCPs I've shimmed in the ballpark of 100 scopes, in amounts ranging anywhere from 0.010 - 0.025", and not only have I not damaged a scope, the tubes look and feel no different than a myriad of scopes that were mounted with no shims.
The way I do it is with progressively larger strips cut from a soda can:
Upvote 0
Hello Jason
Can this method be used to simulate the use of Burris Signiture rings?
For example, offsetting the shims to 135 & 55 degrees
Seems like it might be tricky
Edward
Upvote 0
These are really nice adjustable rings for less than $30 from Vector. Picatinny or Dovetail.
I just found this on AliExpress: $27.30 | Vector Optics Dia 30Mm Adjustable Elevation Dovetail Picatinny Mount Ring for Riflescope Optical Mount
Upvote 0
Not really...only the portion of the shim(s) occupying the stationary side of the ring would influence the scope. Might get a little lateral adjustment but not as much as the Burris arrangement.
An alternative is to shim at the rail / dovetail.
Upvote 0
Hi everyone, I will tell you what I did to make this scope zeroed in. First of, I had ran out of turrets both vertical and horizontal. So it was shooting a bit low and a lot to the left. I switched the direction of the scope mounts from one side to the other(I flipped them as in the screw side for the dovetail is now on the opposite of where it was)
This has fixed my issue of my point of impact shooting way off to the left and somehow my point of impact now goes to the right, so I adjusted the turrets now since I have the ability to and I got it dead center. Next thing is I added a shotgun shell piece as a shim, it lifted it high enough that I was able to zero it and that also fixed my elevation problem and I still have quite a bit to work with if I need to zero at a longer distance.
The photo attached is a 5 shot group at 25 yards or so I circled the group and it's a same hole group (expected for a PCP I suppose)
This whole ordeal made me think that the mounts themselves are just not good and maybe my rifle is very picky on scope mounts I will invest in high end scope mounts next month to see if this fixes the need for shimming.
This has fixed my issue of my point of impact shooting way off to the left and somehow my point of impact now goes to the right, so I adjusted the turrets now since I have the ability to and I got it dead center. Next thing is I added a shotgun shell piece as a shim, it lifted it high enough that I was able to zero it and that also fixed my elevation problem and I still have quite a bit to work with if I need to zero at a longer distance.
The photo attached is a 5 shot group at 25 yards or so I circled the group and it's a same hole group (expected for a PCP I suppose)
This whole ordeal made me think that the mounts themselves are just not good and maybe my rifle is very picky on scope mounts I will invest in high end scope mounts next month to see if this fixes the need for shimming.
Upvote 0