Unable to bore sight M48 Patriot

Blackbear3

Beginner
Jun 24, 2015
16
0
Hi everyone, I am new to this forum and recently purchased a M48 Patriot in 26 Nosler. Though I have been using Nosler bullets while reloading for close to 40 years.

I've tried 2 sets of medium Talley lightweight scope mounts and a set of Leupolds on my new rifle, and I've also tried 2 Leupold and a Zeiss scope on theses mounts. On all of them I run out of vertical adjustment before I can raise it to dead on at 100 yards. I've been working with Mike at Nosler to try to figure this out, and prefer to get out to the range then have to wait and send it back.

I had planned on using this rifle for an October Elk hunt in GMU 76 in Colorado, so I still have plenty of time. Mike was perplexed too, he said a 65 moa scope should have plenty of adjustment. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 
I'd contact Talley who is very customer service friendly they could tell you what rings and base you need..
 
It should a Remington 700 base. Maybe look at a MOA base, something with 15-20 MOA in it.

JD338
 
Hi, Blackbear3, and welcome to the forum. Always pleased to see new people coming aboard. You've been speaking to the right people, and the Nosler staff will take care of you. Truck driver has an excellent suggestion that could be helpful in resolving your issue. I would ask if these are these scopes? It is possible that there is a problem with a new scope (it wouldn't be the first time such a thing happened). However, the fact that you've tried several scopes would indicate that this isn't likely. Are your rings in the proper sequence--that is, is the front ring in the front?
 
I'd make sure the front ring is in the front , like Dr Mike suggested . if that's correct , I'd buy a set of Burris signature rings and I'd also buy a set of the posi inserts . I ran into this problem on my encore and the burris rings got me fixed up . these rings are very simple to use .
 
The talleys are one piece and cannot be switched from front to rear since the screw holes are spaced wider apart. Also when I tried the Leupold base and rings with a 4-12x40 VX2, when I loosened the rear windage screws the base of the rear scope ring elevated about 1/16". I don't really want to put on an MOA base, but that might be my only solution.

The M48, Remington 700 and the Howa 1500 all use the same base according to Leupold and Talley. I did talk to Talley and they sent me another set, but still no luck. I plan on talking to Mike at Nosler, next week after the long weekend. I will keep the MOA bases and Burris signature rings and posi inserts in mind when I talk to him. All 3 scopes came off rifles in my safe so I know they were OK, I plan on putting a Swarovski on eventually.
 
Good luck figuring it out. I had to put a shim under my rear base on a few rifles to keep the scopes centered up at 100 yards. Seems like the scopes work much better when they are working closer to their center.

Welcome aboard. Can't wait to see the set up once you get it figured out.
 
I'd just send it back and let them sort it out... That's too much money to have to "rig it up" to work.

The Nosler customer service is excellent...

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
 
Ridgerunner665":2sqd4cdv said:
I'd just send it back and let them sort it out... That's too much money to have to "rig it up" to work.

The Nosler customer service is excellent...

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
While it's frustrating, and a pain, I too would send it back and let Nosler fix it.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
 
Vince":3nfl8i1w said:
Ridgerunner665":3nfl8i1w said:
I'd just send it back and let them sort it out... That's too much money to have to "rig it up" to work.

The Nosler customer service is excellent...

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
While it's frustrating, and a pain, I too would send it back and let Nosler fix it.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

I concur. Nosler should turn it around quickly.

JD338
 
I haven't said anything about it (until now)...but I sent my M48 Custom back for a minor cosmetic issue with the bedding...it wasn't anything that really mattered as far as function goes, but for $3,800 I don't want to have to look at imperfections in the bedding...Nosler agreed, and fixed it.

It only took 5 weeks from the day I sent it until it was back at my house...and most of 2 weeks of that was in transit plumb across the country.

This is the before picture...just realized I don't have an "after" picture, had to factory reset my phone the other day...lost all my text messages, which contained the pic my wife sent when the rifle got back home....but they did fix it and included 2 test targets.
 
Have you tried a different scope on it? Has the scope you're putting on it worked well in other rings?

I've never had a problem with the rifle or bases being that badly out of alignment, but I have seen some scopes have their zero set to close to the end of their elevation travel. the better companies check this as part of their QA process, but they can slip through..

My money is on the optic more than the rings or receiver.
 
AzDak42-I've tried 3 different scopes from other rifles, a Zeiss Conquest and 2 Leupolds and they all ran out of elevation. I've also tried 2 sets of Talley lightweights and a set of Leupold base and rings. All with the same result! I wonder if to much Cerakote was applied on one part of the receiver? I tried calling Nosler again today and left a message with my phone number. I shouldn't have to shim the scope or put special bases on a new rifle. I definitely am getting extremely frustrated and regret this purchase at this point in time.
 
Blackbear3":13c7bwc5 said:
AzDak42-I've tried 3 different scopes from other rifles, a Zeiss Conquest and 2 Leupolds and they all ran out of elevation. I've also tried 2 sets of Talley lightweights and a set of Leupold base and rings. All with the same result! I wonder if to much Cerakote was applied on one part of the receiver?

Wow.. that's brutal mate, sorry you're having so many problems with this one.

Certainly rules out the optic. With 4 rails/rings tried, it's got to be the receiver. They had good response when I spent back my 7mm08. Good luck, I hope they figure it out!
 
I can understand running out of elevation if the ring is suspended 1/16" in the rear. About .030" is 20MOA (depending on ring spacing). 1/16 is .063 or over 40 MOA and with a scope that has 65MOA of total elevation (basically 32.5 up and 32.5 down) you can see how you can't get it zeroed. It seems to me like they machined the receiver wrong so a new one would be the proper coarse of action. The only other thing you could do is bed the rear end of a rail to the action to make up the gap. I wouldn't mount anymore scopes on the gun as your probably bending the tubes forcing them down 1/16". The only other possibility is to buy a higher rear base/ring combo from Talley and a ring truing cutter or lapping kit to straighten the path through the mounts. This will most likely cant the scope down in the front a good deal depending on the height differences of the ring/base combo's.
 
PM'd Blackbear3 to get things on track.

But for the sake of discussion (and because I know people read these posts for advice in solving issues on other rifles), could the bore-sighter be the issue here? Not too long ago, I was mounting a scope and was running out of vertical adjustment just as described above...tried new rings, bases, scopes, all the same result. I then realized I did not have the correct rubber O-Ring on the laser bore-sighter and that the bore-sighter was "hanging" low out of the end of the barrel because it was not fitting tightly down the bore. The correct O-Ring remedied the issue in a hurry... :lol:

As many of you have said, we take pride in our quality customer service and will get the issue resolved one way or another. (y)

SF
 
Blackbear3":23ep92ay said:
AzDak42-I've tried 3 different scopes from other rifles, a Zeiss Conquest and 2 Leupolds and they all ran out of elevation. I've also tried 2 sets of Talley lightweights and a set of Leupold base and rings. All with the same result! I wonder if to much Cerakote was applied on one part of the receiver? I tried calling Nosler again today and left a message with my phone number. I shouldn't have to shim the scope or put special bases on a new rifle. I definitely am getting extremely frustrated and regret this purchase at this point in time.


This is my personal way of doing things. First of all I don't and won't use a boresighter as I've shot rifles for the first time after a boresight and are still way off not even on a 12"X18" box at 25 yards. That being said I make sure my mounts have no adjustments those darn windage screws on the old Leupy and Redfields cause way too many problems. I run either Talley LW's or Dual doves or a Picitinney rail. As they should all be true with the bore of the rifle.

Next I sight in at 25 yards. This is close enough I won't be burning ammo I generally can get one to sight in within 4 shots. Now I set it about 1-2" low before I go to 100yards and within an inch horizontally. It will require more adjustments when you stretch it out always does for me but it puts me in the ball park. When you adjust sights at 25 yards remember you have to go much farther to get required adjustment. So if your 2" off at 25 yards instead of 8 clicks you need 32 to get where your going. Just multiply what you need to go by 4 since your 4 times closer then the set adjustment amounts.

Jake
 
Nosler4":kiix8s1o said:
could the bore-sighter be the issue here?

Really good suggestion. Before you send this rifle in take it to the range and try Jake's recommendation. I do exactly what Jake does and have mounted many scopes on my rifles and friend's rifles with no bore sight or other tools and easily got the scope set up this way.

The one time I tried to use a bore sight on my new Nosler 48 P it wasn't even close and I went back to Jake's way and all is good.
 
And when you shoot at 100 yds, fire your first shot and adjust the cross hairs from the bulls eye to the bullet holes. Your next shot should be right on the money.

JD338
 
I will give your ideas a try when I get home from fishing next week. But I did use my old fashioned method of the key hole on the front door after removing the bolt and looking down the bore and it still ran of adjustment. Shooting it at 25 yards would cure the itch I have to shoot it, and I still have the Talley lightweights and the Zeiss on it.

I bore sighted my last 2 Weatherbys on the front door and needed very little adjustment at the range, but anything is possible. I hate mailing firearms, but it just seemed strange the rear Leupold ring had a large gap between it and the base when the scope was tightened in the rings. Thanks for all the ideas!!! (y)
 
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