Rifle noob needs help with rings

[The Tiger]

I bought a scoped Remington 783 in .223 to play around with. Can't beat it at $290 for a cheap range toy. It was cheaper, on sale, as a combo than the rifle without a scope. And you can only get the gun in the scope combo in .223 according to Remington.

Well I want to change the scope and need help with rings. I tried to do the math and I think I will muck it up.

Gun has a no name 3x9-40 with a 1" tube. The rings measure .5" from the bases, and 1" from the center of the scope. The large end of the scope measures 1.85" at the objective

I want to get a Vortex Viper 6.5x20-44 with a 30mm tube. Per Vortex the scope is 2.03" at the objective

I'm thinking high rings, but don't want it to be too high. Seems I only need an extra .1" of height to clear the objective lens right? Seems like its hard to compare apples to apples going from 1" scope to 30mm scope.

[JMP]

Yes, you need clearance to mount the scope, but I'd have a hard time imagining "medium" or even "low" rings not working with a 44mm objective on a bolt action rifle. If the bell of the scope protrudes beyond the barrel's initial contour, you end up with more clearance. In rifles where you need to clear a forward picatinny rail, that's when you end up needing more clearance.

Also, to be safe, you can first buy the scope and put in on the rifle to see how much actual clearance you need. On the other hand, it is better to err a bit high than a bit too low.

[FourT6and2]

If you already have the rifle and you know the diameter of the scope's objective BELL (not the objective lens), then you can easily figure out what ring height you need. Measure the height of the rail above the barrel. Add half of the objective bell diameter. Done. If you want to use scope caps, add in a little bit more to allow for their clearance.

Let's pretend the distance from the top of your barrel to the top of your rail is 15mm. You say your scope's objective bell diameter is 51.5mm. So half that is 25.75mm. 15 + 25.75 = 40.75. Add another 3mm for caps. So you would need 43.75mm high rings, measuring from rail to center of scope tube. Again, this number is fictional, you need to actually measure everything for yourself. If your rail is canted, it can also affect clearance a little. So you need to account for that, depending on how far forward your scope will sit.

For reference, my scope's objective bell diameter is 65mm (34mm tube, 56mm objective). And 1" rings clear both an MTU and M24/M40 contour barrel on a typical Rem 700 style receiver with 20 MOA rail and scope caps. Then if you want your scope higher, you can always get taller rings. I like my scope a little lower. But that can induce a little more heat mirage from the barrel I guess.

[The Tiger]

Thanks for the help as this is new to me. I will take my time and try to get some precise measurements so I don't buy the wrong rings

[The Tiger]

My parts showed up.

I went with the medium rings and a 20 moa 1 piece base. it looks about right but maybe it is too high. I have about .5" clearance with the scope bell and the barrel. The gap looks kinda big. Is that just me or is a .5" gap ok?

Looks like low rings would drop it another .25"

Should I swap the rings for low ones?

[NorCalFocus]

I would. A 1/2 inch gap is pretty tall.