I just purchased a 700 aac sd in 308 and i am wanting to set it up good. I have bedded the base but i am wondering if i should get a scope bar kit to check alignment and lap the rings? Do many people do this or is it likely not needed? If your rings are not aligned perfectly, how do you adjust that? Thanks

If you got 2-piece rings and a nice scope I advocate getting and using an alignment tool and lapping bar. If you use cheapo rings this is an especially good plan. With high quality rings this isn't usually necessary but I would say it's still advisable to mount properly with an alignment tool if you're on a 2-piece base.



To adjust the rings, it depends on if you're using the Redfield/Leupold style of rings or the Weaver/Picatinny style. Redfield/Leupold have one ring that can rotate to adjust the angular alignment of the bars and one ring that can adjust left to right to alignment. Vertical misalignment is not adjustable but I've never had an issue with that with a retail purchased matched ring set.



Most people don't do the alignment or lapping bar from what I've seen but never judge your actions solely by their commonality with those of others.



I use Burris Signature Series rings which come with polymer Pos-Align inserts that eliminate all of that hassle while providing awesome grip on the scope and a method to dial MOA into the rings themselves.

Well worth the money. Of the hundreds of rings i have assembled for customers very few have been "spot on". Lower quality is obviously the worst USUALLY but even badger/seekins/sphur/nightforce/leupold all benefit from lapping. Even if the scope rings themselves are matched, they rarely maintain perfect axial alignment when tightened to the rail. The lapping of the rings will ensure greater contact for more holding power but more importantly it will alleviate undue stress on the scope tube.

I also use Burris Signature Series rings. 

The first thing to do is check to see if you need to bed the one piece scope base. Search youtube on how to check to see if bedding is needed.

Actually  start off with quality  base and rings  more than likely  you'll not need to lap rings.

How would you know if you would need to lap the rings or not?  Is there a test that you could do to figure this out?

Thats,what the tool is for to chekhov for alignment. It also has parts to lap it with.
I personally don't like to do it. I don't like removing material that applies the clamping force to the scope.

The op started off good by bedding  the mount and needs to finish  off with a good set of quality  rings and forget the bar and lapping  compound.