Picking out the right scope rings can seem stressful, and is often an overlooked part of pairing your rifle with a scope.
If you don’t make the right selection, your rifle will NOT be as accurate, or even worse, your scope won’t fit at all.
Wondering how to pick scope rings for your rifle?
We will go over what measurements you will need to pick your scope rings.
What's Scope Height and How to measuring it?
Scope height refers to the distance from the center of the scope to the outside of the tube at the thickest point.
To find this, you will have to measure your objective lens diameter in millimeters. The objective lens is the biggest lens, and is the closest to what you are aiming at. In other words, it should be opposite from the lens you are looking through.
Once you have this objective lens diameter, add 2-4 millimeters to account for the tube of the scope. Then, divide that number by 2
Alternatively, you can simply measure the entirety of the scope and tube at the objective lens, and divide that number by 2.
How to Choose Rings For Your Scope
Once you have the scope height, you have the height at which the centerline of the scope must sit above the rail.
To choose the best rings, you should choose the smallest ring and base measurement that is also above the calculated scope height.
However, different manufacturers measure ring heights differently.
The first way is to measure from the base of the rings to the center of the rings.
If the manufacturer uses this ring height measurement, all you have to do is add the base height to the ring height, and ensure it is the smallest number that is higher than your scope height.
The next way is to measure from the base of the ring to the inner ring edge. If the manufacturer does this, add 12.7 millimeters for a 1 inch tube or 15 millimeters for a 30 millimeter tube to the combined ring and base height.
Once you’ve added in the extra number, make sure that your selected ring is minimally higher than your scope height. If you plan to buy a sights for your ar, i highly recommend you should read best scope for AR-10 to have good choice.
Conclusion
Overall, these measurements can be confusing for someone new to scopes or firearms.
There are plenty of calculators available online, as well as tables that have already done the calculations for you.
However, this article was simply to give you an idea where these measurements come from you, and help you in picking the correct scope rings for your scope and rifle combination.
Choosing the correct rings for your scope and rifle is of utmost importance. If your scope sits too high, you will be inaccurate. If your scope sits too low, it may not even fit your rifle. Understanding these measurements is extremely important for someone trying to fit their rifle with a scope.
