Adding a shim inside the scope rings

[kt]

I have got an issue that is getting rediculous. bought leupold rings for my new 700 after one smith wouldnt touch them the next installed the rear base backwards so that the bolt wouldnt open. now he's fixed that but i notice there is a thin piece of metal laid in the bottom of the rear ring with the scope clamped on top of it. Is this a normal practice or a short cut of incompetency? thankyou
kt

[skeet]

Well..it used to be a normal practice years ago..and it is even now..but with the newer machining techniques the practice has become less necessary. BUT there are old bases and rings out there even today. They surprisingly do not go bad liek the rifles under them LOL. LarryJK can answer this better than I as i quit Gunsmithing a long time ago. If it was necessary I tried to shim under the mount but in the rings was ok too. The real question is..do it shoot like it should??

[buckhunter]

I had to do that at one point. When I sat in my deer stand that all I looked at. Drove me nuts. Ended up changing everything and now I'm happy.

[kt]

havent got to shoot it yet. just has me a little po'd that i spent the money on leupold rings and bases for something to not line up. never had the problem shooting warne bases. will report back as soon as i shoot a few brands and see what the gun is capable of. thanks for the quick responses
kt

[Larryjk]

I would prefer to shim the base rather than the rings because youare putting the scope in a bind if you shim the rings. I don't understand why the Leupold bases and rings don't line up perfectly on a Rem 700. It would be interesting to see if the bases would be correct on a different Rem 700 action. There are so many current Remington recall notices out that I am beginning to shy away from them.