I have a problem with a custom 98 that I think revolves around scope base holes being out of alignment with the bore. Let me back-up a bit and tell the whole story if you please. Last weekend I went to a local club that happens to have a 1000 yd range. One of the rifles I took was a 30-06 Ackley, a very nice gun that I waited almost two years to fire. The smith put standard Leupold mounts and rings on it and I ran out of elevation, but could still get it on paper. I came home and ordered a tapered base and Mk IV rings. I carefully assembled the whole works, mounted the scope which happens to be a Leupold, walked out the back door to the rest and fired a round. No hole on a 2'X 3' target set at 100m. So I pulled the bolt and centered the bore on the target. As I then looked into the scope, the dot was about 3' to the left of center paper. I thought this can't be right. I then removed the windage cap and turned the adjustment to the max, realigned the bore on paper and looked through the scope. This time the dot was only 2' left of center. I chambered a round, aimed at the left edge of the target stand and squeezed. When the smoke cleared there was a hole in the far right of the paper. I fired a couple of more just to make sure it wasn't in the scope, it wasn't. I then called the smith and told him the problem and he said it sounds like the tapered base is bad, but he would like to see the weapon. I said I'll bring it out. FYI, the base is a Ken Farrell tapered one piece base, a real nice piece to say the least. Scratching my head, I picked up the Leupold base that came off this gun and I noticed the windage adjustment screws were uneven to the tune of 3/32nds of an inch greater on one side. It is so far out of wack, the front ring is even angled in the base. The question I now have is how do you fix this? Is there room to just redrill the holes and try again? Is there a way to accurately align the base holes with the bore, maybe a lazer device or something? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
Tim
Tim