I recently re-mounted an inexpensive Bushnell scope that has been on my Remington 742. For over 20 years I hated this gun because I had those cheap see-through scope mounts, and it never felt right or shot that well for me. I've long since moved on to other bolt action rifles with far better scopes and far better scope mounts.

Anyway, out of boredom, I dumped the old mounts, put a Leupold steel base and rings on the 742, and put the old cheapie scope on it. All of a sudden it looks better, feels better and shoots better (amazing what happens when the screws don't come loose on you!) In any event, this 742 is the mildest recoiling .30-06 that I have (I own four rilfes in this caliber.) After re-mounting the scope I fiddled with the position until I thought I had the eye relief just about right. When I got it to the range, it whacked me in the nose hard enough to draw blood. Needless to say this was embarassing. I am probably going to upgrade to a better scope and relegate the cheapie to my son's .22; when I do, eye relief will definitely be a consideration.

Once you get a bloody nose in public, you start thinking about things like this.