Randy...
I'm a shooter of a 50BMG long-range rifle, and on the issue of optics for longrange, I have been and have the tee-shirt (torn and ragged!
)
The problem is not the base angle (though that is important), but that your scope doesn't have enough elevation to take you to 2,500 yards.
Consider this... while the trajectory is fairly flat for the first 800 to 1000 yds with modern, high velocity cartridges... most will require 30 to 40 moa to get to 1000 yds.
So, if you have mounted your scope so that the 100 zero is at the bottom of the elevation dial, that leaves a whoppin 10 to 20 moa to carry you to 2500.
The further you get out, the faster the bullets drops and the faster you eat up moa's.
The 408/50BMG class rifles will use up all that 50 moa by the time you have gotten to around 1200 to 1300 yds. (That was tee-shirt #1 !!)
To get to 2500 yds with any of the very long-range carts, you will need major elevation.
I have a 150 moa elevation scope on my 50BMG, and it's mounted on Barrett adjustable rings so the 100 zero is 1 moa off the bottom.
This combination will get to 2700 yds with a bullet that has a BC of 1.05.
Though I know this will break your heart, get a Leupold MK4-M1 in 16x (140 moa), or a B&L 10x Tac (150moa)... or an equivelent scope with about 140-150 moa of elevation, or you will waste a lot of time and money playing with "quick fixes" that won't get you there (tee-shirt #2
).
P.S. For really long range, you don't need ultra high power... mirage will kill you, and the targets aren't that small
CatShooter.
[ 03-17-2003: Message edited by: CatShooter ]