scope rings, tall vs short?

[Kc_Kracker]

i have tall rings on my new gun, never shot it, what is the real differences versus short rings?

[C-Money]

My theory is to keep the scope as close to the barrel as possible. Thats what I try to do, right wrong or indifferent...

[TheStovePipeKid]

What gun and scope?

[Kc_Kracker]

savage 308

[Karl Blanchard]

Why do you wanna consider short rings? There's no rifle season open right now you know! Are you poaching!?!?!?!  (thick sarcasm inserted)

[KFhunter]

i have tall rings on my new gun, never shot it, what is the real differences versus short rings?

"tall" rings are designed to clear the bells on scopes with 50mm or more objectives.  A 50mm objective scope mounted on "short" rings would probably hit your barrel. 


this scope pictured needs taller rings for more barrel clearance

[Kc_Kracker]

Why do you wanna consider short rings? There's no rifle season open right now you know! Are you poaching!?!?!?!  (thick sarcasm inserted)

 

[Bushcraft]

Scope height over bore is irrelevant.

Oftentimes having the scope mounted too low is a detriment to correct shooting form and can create a lot of issues, including eye-strain.  I see waaaay too many people that have their heads mashed down and cranked over while uncomfortably straining their shooting eye over into the upper left corner of their eye socket (for a right eye dominant shooter). Too high is also problematic since it can prevent improper (or no) cheek weld, thereby resulting in nearly impossible consistent parallax alignment.

What is relevant when it comes to scope height is to achieve a very comfortable, very repeatable eye alignment  (and relief) behind the scope with your shooting eye in relation to the stock. Ideally, you want your face more or less squared up behind the rifle with your eye comfortably looking forward.  This will alleviate eye strain.  Having an adjustable length of pull and comb height and offset really helps.

[BigGoonTuna]

  lower rings are more of a necessity on older rifles with stocks made for iron sights. In that case, too tall of rings will get you a really poor cheek weld. Mediums are probably all you need unless you’re into big objective scopes on most modern guns.  Just don’t get those worthless “see through” mounts...

I like to close my eyes and shoulder the rifle like I’m going to take a shot.  When you open them open your eyes, you should get a good sight picture.  If you need to raise your head up, you probably need lower rings.

[brokentrail]

lower rings are more of a necessity on older rifles with stocks made for iron sights. In that case, too tall of rings will get you a really poor cheek weld. Mediums are probably all you need unless you’re into big objective scopes on most modern guns.  Just don’t get those worthless “see through” mounts...

I like to close my eyes and shoulder the rifle like I’m going to take a shot.  When you open them open your eyes, you should get a good sight picture.  If you need to raise your head up, you probably need lower rings.

I've been shooting the same gun for 33 years with those "worthless see through mounts" and have never touched the scope dials since 33 years ago when it was sighted in.  I've never had any issues with them and actually prefer them to some others I have used, ymmv.

[KFhunter]

Do you ever look through them and use the iron sights out hunting or whatnot?

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[Okanagan]

Scope height over bore is irrelevant.

Oftentimes having the scope mounted too low is a detriment to correct shooting form and can create a lot of issues, including eye-strain.  I see waaaay too many people that have their heads mashed down and cranked over while uncomfortably straining their shooting eye over into the upper left corner of their eye socket (for a right eye dominant shooter). Too high is also problematic since it can prevent improper (or no) cheek weld, thereby resulting in nearly impossible consistent parallax alignment.

What is relevant when it comes to scope height is to achieve a very comfortable, very repeatable eye alignment  (and relief) behind the scope with your shooting eye in relation to the stock. Ideally, you want your face more or less squared up behind the rifle with your eye comfortably looking forward.  This will alleviate eye strain.  Having an adjustable length of pull and comb height and offset really helps.

The sentence I emphasized is the goal. We get there in different ways.   

 With a perfect scope height and fit of rifle stock, you look at what you want to hit, raise rifle to shoulder without taking your eye off of the spot and the crosshairs will be on that spot where you are looking when stock comes to cheek and shoulder.  I have only had one rifle fit me that well in my life, but it is the grail.  If you crawl the stock, scooch your cheek, lean your head, wiggle anything after you mount the rifle to get the crosshairs and sight picture to be what you want, then the rifle, scope and mounts do not fit your bod. You can ignore much of this in bench rest shooting but on game with most field shots, it should be right when rifle comes to shoulder.

A scope mounted as low as possible is needed to fit me that well, with a snug, strong cheek weld rather than less cheek contact with a higher mount.  Our mileage, and our bodies, do vary.

The second reason for a low mount is to have the bullet path as close to line of sight as possible.  I have personally shot or had an acquaintance shoot:  a railroad rail, a tree branch, a block of ice on the edge of a plowed road, a hump of dirt and the hood of a pick-up that the shooter was resting on, putting holes in the sheet metal. In each of these, the bullet left the barrel an inch or 2 below the line of sight and hit a near obstruction unseen in the scope. 

Another reason for a low mount is to keep the bullet close to the line of sight through small holes in brush.   For my predator calling rifle, I have a 32mm scope mounted as low as possible to keep the bullet as close as possible to the line my eye is seeing for the first 100 yards.  I want the bullet to go through the hole my eyes is looking through rather than hit the brush.  A bobcat at 16 paces comes to mind, when I leaned way over to find a tennis ball sized hole through the lace of twigs the cat stopped behind.

High mounts are the current trend, and if they work for you, don't change. 

[brokentrail]

Do you ever look through them and use the iron sights out hunting or whatnot?

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Yes, that's why I had them installed.  I had a scope fog up on me when I was a kid and cost me a pretty good deer on a borrowed 30-30.  When I bought my rifle the next year I had the see through rings put on so I could use the open sights if it ever came to it again.  I've only used them twice but it did get me deer that I wouldn't have gotten without them.

[C-Money]

My scopes are not as close as the one in the Randy Rewberg pic, but I figure the 40mm objective is around 1/4" off the barrel. I would agree to the statement about comfort and eye alignment. That makes sense.

[lamrith]

Scope height over bore is irrelevant.

Oftentimes having the scope mounted too low is a detriment to correct shooting form and can create a lot of issues, including eye-strain.  I see waaaay too many people that have their heads mashed down and cranked over while uncomfortably straining their shooting eye over into the upper left corner of their eye socket (for a right eye dominant shooter). Too high is also problematic since it can prevent improper (or no) cheek weld, thereby resulting in nearly impossible consistent parallax alignment.

What is relevant when it comes to scope height is to achieve a very comfortable, very repeatable eye alignment  (and relief) behind the scope with your shooting eye in relation to the stock. Ideally, you want your face more or less squared up behind the rifle with your eye comfortably looking forward.  This will alleviate eye strain.  Having an adjustable length of pull and comb height and offset really helps.

Shooter position is everything.
I have a savage hog hunter.  They come with iron sights on them from the factory.  To clear said factory sights I used med rings on my scope.  When I 1st got the gun I was ready to sell it.  It just shot terrible for me, 4-5 moa at best from a rest on bench.  Realized much of it was shooter position, I was not able to get a cheek weld on the stock at all.  I put a cheek riser on the stock and got the height set properly.  World of difference, now I am able to drop in behind the gun and am confident taking a shot and when I do my part it is sub moa.  For me I would rather have the scope up off the bore a bit within reason.  That way I can add riser to the stock as needed to get proper alignment, it is a bit difficult to remove height from a stock...

What I did to get the riser height was to get it setup initially then get behind the gun and settle in with my eyes closed.  Get a comfortable shooting position that is natural for me.  Then open my eye and see where I am behind the scope.  Adjust from there so that your natural position drops you behind the scope.