How to determine proper ring height

Measure the outside diameter of your scope's objective, then divide by that by two.

Super Sniper 10x42 has an O.D. of 50mm. 50/2=25mm (.98")



This will be the dimension above which the ring and bases combined will need to raise the scope's centerline to clear a barrel that is the same diameter as the action..

Once you have that key dimension, all you need to do is select a base and ring combination that equals that dimension plus 3mm-5mm to accommodate lens covers.

25mm+3mm=28mm (1.10")



Figure out how thick the base is. IE: Badger Ordnance Remington 700 base is 7mm thick.

28mm-7mm=21mm (.82")


Now you need rings which will take up the rest of the dimension. This is where you need to pay attention because this is where most of the confusion and inconsistencies come from. Manufacturer's ring heights are not uniform from brand to brand, IE: Burris' low is not the same as Leupold's low. Ignore their descriptions and go by the actual measurement of the ring. The actual measurement of "ring height" is determined two different ways. Some measure from the top of the base (where the ring contacts it) to the centerline of the ring (Fig. A). Others measure from the top of the base to where the ring first contacts the scope (Fig. B). If the brand you are considering measures their ring height like Fig. B, you will need to add 12.7mm for one inch scope and 15mm for 30mm scopes to get to the centerline of the ring which is also the center line of the scope.









Badger Ordnance provides both measurements. For the example Super Sniper on a Remington 700 we need a ring with a height of .82". Badger Ordnance stock number 30680 measures .823" so these are the ring we would select.



http://www.swfa.com/c-55-badger-ordnance-mounts.aspx

http://www.badgerordnance.com/index.php

http://www.convertunits.com/from/inches/to/mm

Needs to be a sticky!

Good info, and with the longer tubed scopes it can be cheated a little if the objective falls beyond the reduction in barrel diameter, doesn't work to well for heavy barreled guns or long actions, but does happen quite regularly with super short actions and some pencil barreled short actions.

A time or two, I have selected rings that left 1/10 of an inch or less between the objective and the barrel only to find that the bolt handle will not clear the ocular bell. As an example, this happened to me on a late-production Winchester 52 upon which I had mounted a new VX-II 4-12x AO. I went to higher rings and still had a clearance issue. When I swapped an older Vari-X II 3-9x AO onto the rifle, I gained barely enough clearance due to a slightly small ocular bell on the 3-9x.

Nicely done. Thanks for posting this!

I was looking for something like this the other day. Thanks for posting

Good info, never thought about picking out rings and such myself.

If you look at the ring selection on Midway USA's web site, they list the actual height of the rings above the bases. This way, I can determine the suitability of a ring set for my rifle. It's sort of an apples-to-apples comparison.

You are right in that the terms LOW, MEDIUM, and HIGH mean absolutely nothing when comparing rings made by different manufacturers.

Thanks guys

To the top.

Great info, thanks for posting it.

This method works great on normal rifle platforms. I did it on a bolt action of mine because I didn't know if the rings I wanted would require Low or Medium height to fit my 50mm objective as close as possible. I calculated that Low would work fine, but I went ahead and ordered Medium as well. When they arrived, I mounted the Lows, mounted the scope, then dropped the Mediums back in the mail for return.

It should be noted that this is not a method determining ring height on and AR. I tried Warne High rings and still found them to be too low.

Bryan is right, this is not the method to use with you assault rifle.

This is strictly for bolt guns.

To the top.

Bump- for the season is close at hand.

does the shooter's physic enter in to the equation. exmp. someone with an extremely long neck, seems like I read about this.

I used this equation to determine my ring height recently, I was close but ended up with more clearance then I thought I would have with low rings.

Went today and had the staff at SWFA help me by mounting rings and the scope... thx for the great write up and customer service

I recently learned that Burris "low" isn't the same height as Leupold or Vortex "low",etc. I'm new to bolt guns and this info is nifty. Thanks for posting.

Good info, Save for later

This really needs to be a sticky.

Mods attached the link in Riflescope school thread, which is a sticky.