Quote Originally Posted by rancidtom View Post
Soft shims used correctly will not bend a scope tube, hard shims will unless the screws are left too slack to gip the scope properly and seeing as this is a recoiling rifle it can cause crimping and bending to the scope tube if done tight enough to prevent the scope moving in the mounts.
I stroungly suspect a barrel misalignment problem or quite possibly the rear of the mount has been fitted OVER the recoil arrestor stop thus not allowingg it to clamp correctly on the scope rails. A one piece mount will need to be mounted in front of the arrestor stop.
Or the mount itself has a recoil pin which is protruding so the mount cannot seat on the rail correctly, OP states the clamp is on the left which would put the recoil pin under the front scope strap, if the pin is proud it would be raising the scope objective thus raising the POA.