New Vortex scope for my Sig 716

[Gene Rojas]

The Vortex scope I ordered from Cabela's finally came in, before I arrived- just in time to go zero it and go shooting. It's a Vortex Viper HS 4-16x44mm. I ordered 1" high 30mm high rings for the scope too- so far it looks like it will work without a cantilever mount for now.

Geno

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[ThemGunsThough]

Got the same scope a few months back and love it.

 

[Gene Rojas]

One more pic- the lighting was perfect...

 

[SA Shooter]

Good choice! I have two Vortex scopes and really like them.

 

[Gene Rojas]

So I had a chance to shoot my new set up today- a local buddy took me on his wife's family's private land and we were shooting at the Keizer bottoms, near the Willamette. We zeroed the 716 at around 35 yds., pulled back to 75 yds., and shot more rounds at our targets. I was shredding the bull's eye on the target, so my buddy asked me to shoot at a corner (square target) and then the shots started going wide- about 6" above the bull's eye. I'm gonna take it to Cabela's tomorrow to see if they have time to laser boesight it.

Kind of a minor disappointing end to the day, but learning how to fine-tune the set up is normal.

Geno

 

[U8395279]

So I had a chance to shoot my new set up today- a local buddy took me on his wife's family's private land and we were shooting at the Keizer bottoms, near the Willamette. We zeroed the 716 at around 35 yds., pulled back to 75 yds., and shot more rounds at our targets. I was shredding the bull's eye on the target, so my buddy asked me to shoot at a corner (square target) and then the shots started going wide- about 6" above the bull's eye. I'm gonna take it to Cabela's tomorrow to see if they have time to laser boesight it.

Kind of a minor disappointing end to the day, but learning how to fine-tune the set up is normal.

Geno

Sounds like the scope has failed. No way should your rifle should be behaving like this at only 75 yards.

 

[Gene Rojas]

Sounds like the scope has failed. No way should your rifle should be behaving like this at only 75 yards.

Wow-that would SUCK if it did fail. She's going in tomorrow to see what's up.

Geno

 

[U8395279]

Wow-that would SUCK if it did fail. She's going in tomorrow to see what's up.

Geno

Well, if the rings were not secured well, then a few rounds could potentially get them loose, and then throw things off. Did you check and verify that they were still tight on the scope?

The good news is that there is a problem with the scope, then that should be easy to address and correct.

 

[Gene Rojas]

Lance,
The thought did occur to me that the screws holding the scope to the rings may have backed off, or the ring mounts are loose. I didn't use any loctite, so it's possible one of the fasteners backed off. We'll see tomorrow.

Geno

 

[3MTA3]

Lance,
The thought did occur to me that the screws holding the scope to the rings may have backed off, or the ring mounts are loose. I didn't use any loctite, so it's possible one of the fasteners backed off. We'll see tomorrow.

Geno

With that type of setup I like to lap the rings to make sure they are in perfect alignment - you can see that near the middle of this video:

That will give you the best mechanical fit, and like you mentioned above loctite the screws after you degrease them and the screw holes.

 

[Gene Rojas]

3MTA3,
Thank you for sharing that video- it's clear there's alot more work in installing a scope than just mounting the rings and setting the scope upon it. My Sig 716 does have a continuous Picatinny rail along the top of the rifle, but I'm wondering just how much improvement is made when you lap rings. Is this also required for a cantilever mount? I'm not trying to avoid whatever work is required to achieve better accuracy, but I won't lie either- this is the first "serious" scope I've put on a rifle, let alone a semi-automatic battle rifle. If I have to buy more tools/gear to do the job right, I will.

Thanks,
Geno

 

[3MTA3]

3MTA3,
Thank you for sharing that video- it's clear there's alot more work in installing a scope than just mounting the rings and setting the scope upon it. My Sig 716 does have a continuous Picatinny rail along the top of the rifle, but I'm wondering just how much improvement is made when you lap rings. Is this also required for a cantilever mount? I'm not trying to avoid whatever work is required to achieve better accuracy, but I won't lie either- this is the first "serious" scope I've put on a rifle, let alone a semi-automatic battle rifle. If I have to buy more tools/gear to do the job right, I will.

Thanks,
Geno

Getting the rings in perfect alignment is the most important thing IMO. Next is making sure the mounting hardware is properly tightened/torqued and has a locking compound (I like LokTite blue).

How much you want to invest in work and tools depends on how far out you intend to shoot. Your rifle is capable of 1,000 yards with the right match OTP with better accuracy than you might think. Because it's a piston means nothing in this department - It's barrel, bolt, trigger, scope, and shooter. Your scope is more than enough to get you there, if that's what you want.

Personally, I'd go whole hog because I'm OC about my rifles. I have to admit, though that I haven't done that yet on my AR308, which has my first 30mm scope. If I had the 30mm lap, considering you are 45 minutes south of me right now, we would just be able to get it done.

There is no practical advantage of a one piece mount (like a cantilever) over separate rings, assuming they have been installed correctly.

 

[Gene Rojas]

I took my Sig 716 to Cabela's in Tualatin this morning- they bore sighted it, made some minor adjustments- so all that's really left to do it take it out and test it. The tech doing the adjustments noted nothing defective about the scope, so that's a big relief. It's a Vortex anyways- if something did go wrong I could just get a replacement from them.

Geno