I'm pretty new to this stuff and just bought my first actual LR optic for my first actual precision rifle.

Anyway, as the subject line says I have an OBR heavy with the Leupold VX-3i LRP 8.5-25x50mm (30mm) Side Focus MIL FFP mounted with ADM's AD-Recon mount and I went to zero it today with less than ideal results.

At 100 yards, with Federal 175gr FGMM .308 the best I could do on elevation was approximately 45 mills high from the bullseye. It is bottomed out. From my understanding, the OBR's built in 20 MOA cant is supposed to negate the need for a canted scope mount.

Also, if I'm 45 MILs high... 20 MOA = 5.8ish MILs... that means a 20 MOA mount will only bring me about 11.6 MILs down?

Disclaimers: I have checked and rechecked the mount and it is both seated on the rail correctly and orientated the correct way(it's a 0-cant mount anyway). I do not currently have a 20 MOA mount to throw the glass in, but will be hopefully and if another solution does not preclude me from doing so, going to grab one tomorrow.

Any advice on where to go from here, especially if a 20 MOA mount does not work, would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like it has a zero stop and you are hitting the zero stop before you reach adjustment...

ETA:
Most likely you will need to bore sight this on a target, remove the turret knob, crank down the turret until it is centered on target, reinstall turret knob and actually shoot for zero then rezero the turret knob......
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OP;

45 mils is over 13 feet @ 100 yards...  Are you using a 14' tall target/backer?!?!?  How did you come up with the 45 mils number?

Okay, apologies, I'm new to this. It's,  I guess, 4.5 mils high as each click is .1 mil and it would take 45 clicks to get to where I need to go.
So I guess a 20 moa mount would bring it to where it needs to be, if that's the case.

Yeah that's just to adjust the knob. The actual dope doesn't change with adjusting the knob. There's not an actual "zero stop" as I understand.

I suppose a 30 MOA cant mount will give me more play in elevation. But it seems odd to me that a piece of glass would need 50 moa in cant to be roughly centered in elevation.

Seems odd to me too!...  It feels like there is a missing ingredient in the mix...

Try a pair of plain old rings to see if that makes anything any better...

Have a look at the top rail.  Does it look as though it is seated correctly (no bottom edge gap anywhere)?  The skinnier (thinner) part of the rail is at the front?

If you can't find anything wrong, you might consider calling LaRue customer service to see what they have to say...

Find someone in the Texas htf that is close or someone who knows it well.

It’s probably right and you are just not familiar with it. It should be darn close to 20moa off center / center. I would center the elevation, then dial down 20 moa and see where your at.

Update:   so I was able to zero my trijicon 3-9x in 5 rounds. So that ruled out gun and ammo.

Im going to talk to Leopold and see what we can do and will probably return it and just get a nightforce like I wanted. This whole experience has soured me on em I think.

Edit: I thought I posted last night that I went back to the range and tried again after talking to the guys at the shop about it and having them check it. Still no dice and the groups really opened up by a few inches. Not all of which I'm convinced can be attributed to my growing frustration.

I know you are new to this - and there is a lot to learn - so I mean this constructively:  DOPE does not mean what you think it means.  DOPE is "Data On Previous Engagement" - and it refers to the adjustments that are needed under certain circumstances.  DOPE does NOT mean "point of aim" (as you used it here) unless it is referring to the change in point of aim based on certain conditions (i.e. Distance, temperature, humidity, etc).

Now, I'm not sure what to make of your scope issue, but it does sound like a zero-stop - but the specs on that scope don't indicate that one exists, so there may very well be something screwed up.  Either way, you'd be better off with an ATAC-R, so you should do that if you can.

The good news is that you have a fantastic rifle.  I'm 99.99% sure that any accuracy issues you have will NOT come from it.

WHEN YOU FINALLY GET A WORKING SCOPE, BE SURE TO DO A TALL TARGET TEST.  Litz has an example of how to do it on youtube.  I had a US Optics scope that had an unacceptable correction factor once.  If I hadn't done the tall target test, I would have been missing without knowing why.

Best of luck.

Loosen the turret screws. Spin turret to 4.5 mils. Tighten turret screws. Spin turret to 0.

No..it does have a zero stop....

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http://www.snipercentral.com/leupold-vx-3i-lrp-scope-review/

Ah, I definetely missed that. I feel a wee bit sheepish now.

I did already pick up the nightforce. Zero issues getting it set. All in all a much more pleasant and straight forward process.

I'm going to end up seeing if I can return the leupold. If I can't I'll see about maybe posting it in the EE along with my trijicon accupower. I really appreciate everyone's input. I definitely have a lot to learn from my days of using an ACOG and an MGO.

No problem Josh, hope you like the NF  as well......

Thanks for this. I  have a trip this weekend, but will try to do this the week after we get back. That's a good piece of information to have.

Might as well combine the tall target test with a box test, kill 2 birds with 1 stone...

Basic idea is lay out a target to test the dial in of your optic..so 1 single aimpoint for all ammo fired...then you dial the optic and see how close it dials to true measurements.. all done at precisely 100yards... remember 1 Moa is exactly 1.047" inches.. 1 mil is exactly 3.6" at 100 yards.. use a plumb to set the target and you can also test if your reticle/turrets are plumb...

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