This may sound like a simple question, but....

Im thinking of getting a scope with longer eye relief to put on my slug gun. If it states that the eye relief is 6", does that mean that anything UP TO 6" is clear? Or does that mean it HAS to be mounted further out. Here is my situation, Im finding that even mounting my scope as far back in the rings as possible, Im finding myself having to creep my face forward toward the eyepiece to get a good picture. Obviously on my slug gun, this is a touchy situation getting that close! I was thinking that if I got one with more relief distance, I could keep my cheek in the normal spot on the stock and get a good picture but it wont be WAY forward like on a lever gun or something.

Hope this makes sense what Im saying...

D

It means it has to be mounted little further out. You know how you look thru the scope and get the widest field of veiw. Now thats moved out.

Eye relief is the distance between your eye and the ocular lens of the scope. For the most part the higher you go in magnification the more critical the eye relief is. Low powers such as 1-2.5 will have a generous ones. Most rifle scopes will have3-5 inches of relief. As you are very well aware on heavy recoiling guns you need enough so as not to cause injury.

I am not sure of the question exactly here but if the scope you are usinghas enough eye relief and you are having to crawl the stock to get a good sight picture I would install a set of extension rings so it will move the scope towards you thus preventing you to move your head forward.

You just need to install some new extension rings, there is no need to go with a high eye relief.

Eric stokes and doubleA Have good points. I use extension rings on all my guns (just ask at the gun store to show them to you) Weaver, Talley, Millet, Burris, et all make them.
I have the same problem. I have to strain my head forward in order to take full advantage of the scope image. So I use both extension rings and scopes with long eye relief. Some of the best in this regard are Zeiss Conquest (4"), Sightron S2 (4.3") and Nikon Monarch (4"). But be warned. This measurement is from the glass to the optimum viewing distance. That little lip of tube that sticks out past the ocular lense is anywhere from 1/4" to 5/8" closer to your eye than the glass. And that is what'll get you!
There is something else to consider. Experts talk about scopes having "forgiving eye relief". This means that if your head and eye is a bit out of alignment of the scope, you can still get a good sight picture. I had a scope that was so unforgiving that you had to keep you head in PERFECT alignment or all you would see was black (this is called vignetting). I find the Zeiss Conquest and the Weaver Grand Slam to be very forgiving.
Also consider that if you get too close to a scope, you get vignetting too.
You may want to consider a low power scope, which won't be a hinderance in a slug gun
Let us know what you get
okcmco

Thanks all for the tips. I'll look into the extension rings, should save me a bunch of money!! I need ascope for another of my guns anyway so I'll look into something with a bit longer eye relief on that one as well.

D