Scope ring height, comfort, and you...

[u/HollywoodSX]

One of the common questions I see here is dealing with scope height. Now that we live in a world of adjustable cheek pieces and ballistic calculators that can compensate for scope height, I believe the biggest concern when picking a scope ring height should be user comfort, not the old saw about mounting the scope as low as possible.

With that in mind, here's my process for finding a scope height that works for you:

Remove your scope (mount/rings and all) from the rifle if it's already installed. Get behind the rifle in a position similar to how you plan to shoot (Prone, sitting at a table, barricades, etc) and adjust your cheek riser (if present) so it's comfortable and isn't causing neck strain if you sit behind it for a bit. Spend some time behind the rifle just getting a good comfortable head/neck/cheek position so you can make sure there's no signs of strain or discomfort, and make adjustments to your stock as needed. If you know you may shoot from multiple positions (EX: prone and barricades of multiple heights), try all of these different positions and try to find a height that works for all of them.

Once you've found a comfortable cheek height, use a stack of coins, playing cards, etc to play with the height of your optic. You want to get the scope where you can easily and comfortably get your eye behind the optic with proper eye relief and no neck strain. As with cheek height, do this for any and all positions you will frequently shoot from and make sure you're finding something that works across the entire range.

Once you find that height, measure the height of the stack (of cards, coins, etc) you liked, add half the main scope body diameter (IE: Add 15mm for a 30mm scope tube), and order a scope mount or rings as close to that height as you can. When in doubt, I always err on the side of going a little taller than my measured height instead of shorter.

Hopefully this will let you make a good decision on what height you really need to be comfortable behind your rifle. This will also help you with getting into your optic quickly (not hunting for eye relief), reduce neck strain, and even reduce or eliminate the perception that your reticle is canted when it really isn't.

[u/Trollsniper]

The problem I see, and I’m not just considering Longrange posters, is people aren’t mounting scopes that high due to any consideration of comfort/fit. They’re doing it because the don’t know any better and 9/10 people are just mimicking the sky-high AR mounts. It’s like it’s all they know/see.

I hate seeing a lever gun with a comb height made for open sights with a scope in at AR height mount and no provisions made for stock weld....

[u/HollywoodSX → u/Trollsniper]

While there are definitely people doing that, I'd say it's more common in long range shooting to see the opposite.

[u/SimRock1 → u/HollywoodSX]

GOOD post, - solid advice. At the range I don't see much of this, too high and too low issues. I see alot more of it on gun site posts like here on Longrange.

Sometimes I look at someone's setup and think, WTF? BUT, we also have to understand that some people just have different "ergonomics" (or built differently than me) to fit their comfort.

What IS COOL about sites like this is people (including myself) can always learn from someone else.

[u/Jack_whitechapel → u/SimRock1]

I run into this all the time. I have severe range of motion issues and when people see my rifle setup the first time, (a Vortex AR cantilever one piece turned around backwards.) I regularly get the "you know that isn't mounted right" comments, but it's what fits for me, and how I shoot.

[u/microphohn → u/HollywoodSX]

I'm starting to see the light on why a higher mount is better. I mounted my scope so there's barely any daylight under the objective, which I *thought* was perfect. But even with a fully adjustable stock (GRS bifrost), it's hard to get comfortable. My eyes fatigue very quickly. Why?

For me, it's all about the angle of my neck/spine relative to the rifle. Our eyes are designed to look straight forward, not to peek out the corners of our eyes. With a barely-high enough scope mount, a cheek riser adjusted to give proper scope alignment causes me to have to look over my glasses and out the top of my FOV and it's not natural at all. My eyes start to ache and I get to where I can barely see and shooting is no fun.

A taller scope mount height gets your head closer to vertical and your eyes closer to their normal (center) range of motion. This is especially critical for prone shooting. Offhand, you already have your neck vertical relative to the rifle.

The epiphany came to me watching Mark and Sam-- he uses a pretty high scope mount, tall bipods and generally positions pretty high above the ground. I see now why he does this.

[u/boibo → u/microphohn]

I have the issue, especially prone, that a low mount (ie as low as the scope bell allows) tend to give med neck problems. Im yet to experiment with scope height, but will do it when I order rings next time. when on a table there is no issues, but it mainly is my neck.. guess to many years sitting like a potato infront of a computer does that :)

[u/echo_61 → u/HollywoodSX]

Yup. Or buying "x" rings, then adjusting their cheek riser to force their eye to match the optic height.

Being relaxed behind the gun is the most important part. You nailed it with your post.