How is shimming a "band-aid"? Would installing a base with a machined cant, like long-range shooters do, similarly be a band-aid? My gun has been wearing its band-aid for about 6-7 years now and shoots MOA or better to 400 yards. I don't see anything sub-optimal with this setup, and a soda can is a hell of a lot cheaper than going through more rings and bases, or paying to send the barrel back and hoping the one you get back is a) lacking the problem, and b) as accurate as the good one you sent in. And that you get it back in time to tune and hunt with it yet this year.

Band-aid indicates temporary, something you will have to mess with in the future. If you shim a base correctly you will never have to mess with it again unless you take it off the gun. It is as permanent as any scope mount.

I always check the conditions of the rings if they need Honing or shimming. If you don't check these conditions you will Tweak the scope when tightening the screws down...Most of this has been taken care at the factory on high $$ bases and rings......

If I am going to hone them, I have a 1"X8" SS round stock and mix some Jewelers Rouge (NOT GRINDING COMPOUND)with 3 or 4 drops of 3-in-1 oil and apply it to the round stock. When I tighten the caps down, I work the Rod back and forth until the high spots are removed. I wipe the rings down real good and try the RingAligner. Ifpoints still don't align Then I start the Shimming process until the points align.....Remember to always tighten the screws in sequence.

Shimming a scope is fixing a problem that should not exist!! If you can not understand that then I can not help you??

So yes, you are either temporarily fixing the rifle, or you are perrmanently avoiding the problem. Tom.

The tapered barrel simply cannot be the cause of the gun shooting low. It could only cause the gun to shoot high. That's why thelong range shooters can use machined bases, to get the extra range.

Look at it this way. Imagine your gun is hitting dead on. Then put a big shim under the rear scope mount. This would cause the scopebe "looking"downward in comparison to what is was before.You'd have to raise the gun to get the crosshairs back on target, and you'd shoot high.

ken farrell make bases with built in MOA, if you dont want to try the burris ring thing

Or it simply can, if the area low is where the back screws mount, causing the scope to tilt UP in front. This was pretty clear in my previous post I think.

Shimming is as permanent as the mount you put on the gun. Temporary implies that it will need to be redone at some point. If there is a problem with the barrel causing the scope to be misaligned, there is no permanent (by your definition) fix short of replacing the barrel. I'm still unclear why shimming the base or using Burris Signature rings is so bad in your mind when the end result is exactly the same -- a rifle that shoots accurately and can be sighted in hear the scope's optical center. Please explain to me why this is so bad.

I'm not disagreeing that you can send it in to T/C (on your own dime) and hope they fix it. And then potentially send it in again (on your own dime) if they don't get it right. And hope this all leaves you time to get ready for hunting season next month or so.

Or, you can shim (for nothing) or put on rings designed to fix this problem (for about $30) and be done with it. I don't see why either way is right or wrong. Personally I have just not had good enough luck with most company's customer service (including T/C) to screw around with Option #1 when I can permanently (by my definition) fix it myself.


It's like when I was not happy with the 3-inch groups and wandering POI my Omega shot from the factory. The problem was the contact between the action and stock; now I could have sent it back to T/C and fought with them about it trying to get the problem fixed. But I'd already paid TWICE to send the stock back because the front swivel stud pulled out with finger tension (they did finally fix it right to their credit, after like 3 months of back-and-forth) so I was not about to throw good money after bad. I took 2 evenings and bedded the stinking stock and was done with it, sub-MOA gun now and it cost less than shipping it back to T/C again.

Perhaps I'm more inclined than some to tinker. Perhaps I just don't have the patience and money to go back and forth on minor gunsmithing issues that anyone with a screwdriver,drill,and pair of pliers should be able to handle. Please explain to me what is so terrible about shimming a scope base or using canted rings?

If the "area low is where the back screws mount, causing the scope to tilt UP in front", then certainly the gun would shoot low. I agree completely.

That situation is entirely different that what most would call barrel taper.But, call it whatever you want, a "low area" in the vicinity of the mounting holes seems like a bad thing, and likely notan element of the design. If it does exist as a knownfrequent issue, that would seem to be a QCproblem.

After talking to some different people and reading what I could on shimming a scope I decided to put a .016 aluminum shim under the back two mounting screws on the weaver mount. The only option I had left was to try a different base which I might do in the future. One of the ones with the peep-sight on the base. I tried a piece of plastic shotgun shell first to see how much I needed .036 which was too much so I got some .016 aluminum stock from a hardware store and made one. The scope is adjustedabout 1/3 of the way up from center and here are the results. A little bit of wind today, the fifth shot was out of the group ????




I did snug all the mounting screws up the same and put some locktight on them.

The gap between the front of the base and the barrel was cut in half after the shimming which is only because the barrel starts to taper before the end of the scope base. I'm pretty sure the bore and the scope base are very close to being parallel now. I think a couple clicks left and up and we will have it. But as always everything will be checked and double checked before going out in the woods.

If you decide you want to buy one of the bases with the peep sight on it(EABCO), let me know. I have a brand new base and ring set that I would sell. Make me a reasonable offer and I will sell them to you. I was going to put them on my Encore MZ, but I ended up getting rid of the Encore, and bought a Knight LRH. Tom.