I’m picking up a new Nosler 280AI tomorrow and would like feedback on using a 20moa rail on it. I have an extra due to them being backordered and forgetting to cancel it.
I am using a Vortex Viper 6.5-20x44 with a fine duplex on it so that is somewhat limiting to real distance shooting and running calculations. I will end up upgrading down the road but for now this will have to do the trick.
I have a set of Talley lighweights laying around so I could save some money from not buying new rings and sending the rail back for return. That said, I’m not sold on the Talley’s…
I’m in Virginia and the max hunting distance I’ll be able to use on our farm is 600 yards with the overwhelming majority of shots being 200 yard and closer.
I don’t think it’s necessary for that caliber and distance. I also don’t think it could hurt.
There’s almost never a reason not to use a 20 MOA rail, but you won’t need it at those distance if the cartridge is even close to flat shooting and your scope has a decent amount of travel. By default, scopes ship centered in their travel so you have half the stated adjustment available to you; a 20 MOA rail gets you some of that adjustment range back. If your scope doesn’t have a reasonable amount of adjustment it’s possible you’ll run into problems, but it would need to have so little travel that I’d have to work to find a scope that shitty…probably.
Your Viper has 65 MOA of adjustment. From the factory you’ll have 32.5 MOA of adjustment in any one direction. A 20 MOA rail is fine, but a 40 MOA rail would not as 40 > 32.5.
I’ve decided to give it a go without the 20moa rail but to also not return it. I will replace the scope in the long run so better to hold on to it for when I have one that I can dial with and really take this setup to it’s full potential.
I don’t see the point to be honest. If I dial all the way up on my XRS I’m out past a mile. If I’m going that far it’ll be with something bigger than a 6.5
With quality glass that shouldn’t really be a concern. And again, unless you’ll actually use close to all of your adjustment range it’s rather pointless.
For my 20" .308 bolt gun, I had to replace my base with the 20 MOA after getting to where I could shoot at distance. Wish I’d have bought it in the first place. That said, I know nothing about 280 AI.
A system at its bounds will perform worse than a system well within its performance envelope. With a scope it’s not just the vertical adjustment, but horizontal - dial some windage then see how far you can go vertical or what the quality is like at the furthest vertical adjustment you can dial.
When you’re not using a sloped base or mount, you are within the center of the adjustment range at your zero distance usually (assume 100yds). That’s just wasting the features you paid for, IMO. My Minox has 28 mils: I would only have 14 mils of usable elevation if I didn’t have a 20 MOA base, I should have 20 mils usable now. I considered having 40 MOA total slope so that I could dial 1 mile without holding, but I rarely get out there. Maybe I’ll regret that.
Depends on the optic. Some of the S&B PMII optics only have ~65 MOA external adjustment through the knob, but much more internally - S&B recommends ~40 MOA of cant to take full advantage of internal travel. On any high end glass, 40 MOA cant will get you the most amount of usable elevation you can get. My Minox would have something like ~26 mils of usable elevation with 40 MOA of cant.