Scope ring lapping?

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lamerem

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DO you guys lap your scope rings? I ordered a pair of Weaver integral scope rings and need to know more of this lapping if it even needs to be done. I have checked the kits online and it looks like a $50 investment. Can I get it cheaper elsewhere? Gander Mountain offers mounting, bore sighting and ring lapping for $50. But, I don't know if they will do it on a scope and rings I bought elsewhere.
 
I have the wheeler scope mounting kit that I use now. I have had it for a couple years. It comes with the torque wrench which is nice. Im not 100% sure that I can do a better job mounting the scope with this kit vs just eye balling it like before. But its a nice piece of mind I guess.
 
I use no scope mounting kit. Be sure to wipe the barrel free of oils then mount the bases. Same with the rings and scope, make sure to take some alcohol and wipe out the insides of the rings and the scope off.

I then set the scope loose in the rings. Loose enough that I can turn and pull it, but it will not fall off and slip away. Then I take them outside where I will be shooting and shoulder the rifle. I keep adjusting the scope until the eye relief fits me, and the cross hairs look straight up and down.

Then I put the scope in a gun rest so I know it is straight up and down and set a line level on the scope. When the scope is level, I recheck the cross hairs to make sure they look straight.

When I am satisfied with the scope and the way it is set, I start to tighten the scope screws in an X pattern. Moving from corner to corner and ring to ring. When the scope is so tight in the rings I can not move it, I then set a target out at 13 yards. with the breech plug removed, I adjust the gun vice so the bull is the center of the bore. And then I move the cross hairs to center of the bull. This will put me on paper at 25 yards.

Now when all this is done, I tighten the scope ring screws. Be careful here. I have actually broke the screws. So I only use two fingers to tighten. It has worked for me for far too many scopes to mention.
 
Thanks for the quick response guys. I have read a lot of information on new scope rings not fully contacting the scope. I am not worried about scratching the scope as my gun will be a utility tool to harvest animals for food. I just don't want the scope to budge once it is mounted. I chose the Weaver mounts that utilize 4 screws per post, totaling 8 screws holding the scope to the rings.

Maybe I'll just mount it and see how that goes and if it moves then buy the lapping kit.
 
If you mount it and it just does not seem to settle in.. take some emory cloth and a wood dowel. Wrap the dowel and then spin that around inside the rings. In fact it does not hurt if you do it before mounting the first time. Just don't over do it. All your doing is cleaning ruff spots. I only do that if the rings show age.
 
Yeah, after some research I can't sense spending $45+ on a lapping kit unless I absolutely have to. That is powder and primer money, lol.
 
cayuga said:
If you mount it and it just does not seem to settle in.. take some emory cloth and a wood dowel. Wrap the dowel and then spin that around inside the rings. In fact it does not hurt if you do it before mounting the first time. Just don't over do it. All your doing is cleaning ruff spots. I only do that if the rings show age.

That is one way to do it.

Here is a pretty basic video that simplifies and helps the novice understand what aligning and lapping rings benefits and how its done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czbriA7tvus

lamerem said:
DO you guys lap your scope rings? I ordered a pair of Weaver integral scope rings and need to know more of this lapping if it even needs to be done. I have checked the kits online and it looks like a $50 investment. Can I get it cheaper elsewhere? Gander Mountain offers mounting, bore sighting and ring lapping for $50. But, I don't know if they will do it on a scope and rings I bought elsewhere.


Once could simply buy a piece of 1 inch steel rod, tack weld a handle on and have one of those "fancy" tools that cost mega money.
 
Weaver rings

I purchased this style of Weaver rings. How do you bore sight with this style ring? I know that rings with separate bases have alignment screws but these do not. Help! I haven't mounted them yet but test fit them last night, and I really love their look.

029-48546.jpg
 
after you have the scope in the rings on the base mounted to the rifle. Take the breech plug out of the rifle. An easy way is to take a large cardboard box and cut a V on the opposite ends. This is where the rifle will sit.

Now look at say a door knob that is about 13 yards away, through the bore of the rifle. Put that door knob dead center in the circle picture the bore makes as you sight through the rifle. When you have that done, without moving the rifle, adjust the crosshairs of the scope to the center of that door knob. Be sure and check both the bore and the crosshairs.

When you have that done, on the range (if they allow it) set a target at 13 yards and shoot for dead bulls eye. Shoot a three shot group, making sure to swab between shots. If you have a good load, it should be almost a single hole at this point. Adjust the cross hairs any needed distance to the bull.

Now move back to 25 yards and do it all over again. You should be hitting almost dead center bull at 25 yards.

When you have a good load and are comfortable with the rifle, move the target to the distance you want to sight it at and shoot for a dead center bulls eye.
 
ok, excellent. so basically with these rings it should be aligned with the bore itself and just need tweaking via the dials on the top and side of the scope housing? So I don't need a laser bore sighter or to pay Gander Mountain $50?
 
lamerem said:
ok, excellent. so basically with these rings it should be aligned with the bore itself and just need tweaking via the dials on the top and side of the scope housing? So I don't need a laser bore sighter or to pay Gander Mountain $50?

Bore sighting and "aligning" the rings are two entirely different subject matters.

The rings you posted are of the fixed verity and have not horizontal alignment that need to be made to them. That can be good or bad depending on how well they are made.

The advantage to adjustable rings are you can get perfect alignment. With fixed rings you either have it or you don't. There are some fixes and tweeks for fixed style rings but they take some work and effort.
 
I lap all my rings whether Waren, Burris Tacticals, & Leupold. These are all I use for my weapons. I want 100% contact with scope tube & ring surface. Most wont because they dont know how, or their dont want to put the time into it. Your weakest link in a shooting system is your scope mount, rings & rings to scope. IMO ideal mounting system secures your optics to your firearm as low as comfortably possible, with the fewest parts necessary, more parts equals more chances for something to go wrong. IMO solid steel mounts, rings are the strongest less likely to go wrong. Another is I like going (doing myself)is larger on my base screws than the common 6-48 scope base mounting screws. I believe more "meat" holding your mounts are added asurance of no problems so I like going to drill & re-tap .146"-48. Like I mention your weakest link on your shooting system is your mounts, rings & rings to scope.
 
ArkansasDon said:
I lap all my rings whether Waren, Burris Tacticals, & Leupold. These are all I use for my weapons. I want 100% contact with scope tube & ring surface. Most wont because they dont know how, or their dont want to put the time into it. Your weakest link in a shooting system is your scope mount, rings & rings to scope. IMO ideal mounting system secures your optics to your firearm as low as comfortably possible, with the fewest parts necessary, more parts equals more chances for something to go wrong. IMO solid steel mounts, rings are the strongest less likely to go wrong. Another is I like going (doing myself)is larger on my base screws than the common 6-48 scope base mounting screws. I believe more "meat" holding your mounts are added asurance of no problems so I like going to drill & re-tap .146"-48. Like I mention your weakest link on your shooting system is your mounts, rings & rings to scope.

That's what I thought lapping was intended for - good post Don.
 
ArkansasDon said:
I lap all my rings whether Waren, Burris Tacticals, & Leupold. These are all I use for my weapons. I want 100% contact with scope tube & ring surface. Most wont because they dont know how, or their dont want to put the time into it. Your weakest link in a shooting system is your scope mount, rings & rings to scope. IMO ideal mounting system secures your optics to your firearm as low as comfortably possible, with the fewest parts necessary, more parts equals more chances for something to go wrong. IMO solid steel mounts, rings are the strongest less likely to go wrong. Another is I like going (doing myself)is larger on my base screws than the common 6-48 scope base mounting screws. I believe more "meat" holding your mounts are added asurance of no problems so I like going to drill & re-tap .146"-48. Like I mention your weakest link on your shooting system is your mounts, rings & rings to scope.

I do the same. Steel bases if I can get em, steel rings and lap for 100% contact. Steel can be a bear to lap though...

Another benefit is zero scope ring damage, if properly lapped.

I built my own lapping tools from some old 1" bearing rail. Also built alignment rods. I'm not sure if I can get pics loaded up here, but I'll give it a go tomorrow...
 
If you are going to go the whole route with lapping and so forth, a good company is Kokopelli for the bars and lapping tools. It will set you back about a $100 for both the lapping tool and scope bars but IMO the Kokopelli bars are better than the Wheeler's.
 

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