Optic and mount combo/zero question

[Fried Chicken Blowout]

I'm in the process of building a 6.5 Grendel and I'm looking at my options for optics. I'm in a constraint of $400 for the optic + mount. Right now I'm looking at the Nikon Monarch 4-16x42SF as my optic of choice. It has a total of 40 MOA of adjustment and to get the range I'm looking to play around with this rifle at I'm planing on mounting it in the Nikon 20MOA mount. My question is....

Due to the optic offset with the barrel and the fact that the bullet will climb about 18" at 100 yards. Will this optic have enough adjustment to zero at 100 yards when placed in a 20 MOA mount. I'm assuming it will but I would like to confirm. This is my first time setting up a rifle I plan to use at several hundred yards.

Also, what other optics in the price should I be looking at.

[shootist~]

You might get lucky and the tolerances stack up just right, but it's a gamble. There are other issues as well with starting the scope at the extreme end of the adjustment range.

LaRue has a mount with 10 MOA built in. More money, and would require their 1" inserts (since it's a 30mm setup), but you would have a top tier mount for when you go more precision on the optic.

Based on a couple of reviews I saw at MidwayUSA, the Nikon mount has some weirdness in the design. You might want to check those out.

[Belmont31R]

How is the bullet going to rise 18" at 100 yards?


As far as MOA built in bases go you need to find out what that scope was designed to be use on. If its a zero MOA base then you shouldn't need any built in cant. If your scope is designed to work with a 40MOA base then you'll need to find a mount that gets close to that. You most likely will not find a scope base that puts the scope far enough forward for use with an AR that has that much cant in, and especially not in your price range. I just went through this struggle because my scope is designed to work with a 40MOA base, and since I was using a flat base I was only getting 13 mils of travel when I should be getting the full 22 mils the turret is designed for. I had to find a mount that would put the scope forward for use with an AR while getting at least 20MOA of built in cant. After an intensive search I got setup with just such a thing, and am now getting almost 19 mils of travel in the turret. Not the full 22 but Im a lot closer than I was, and 19 mils gets me much further than I can even shoot. Well past 1k yards.


The LaRue SPR mount with 10MOA built in can be had with 1" rings. The base matters not. You can use 1", 30mm, 34mm, and 35mm rings on the same base. The 30mm with 1" inserts just allows you to later switch to a 30mm tube without needing new rings.