Bo’s Gun Shop
Elizabeth City, NC
MOUNTING A SCOPE
First, a good rule of thumb about scopes is you should expect to spend at least as much on your scope as you did on your rifle. And really, does it make ANY sense to mount that $700.00 scope on your rifle with $20.00 rings? If you paid less than $80.00 for your rings for anything other than a .22 rimfire or smaller round, your rings are not going to hold up to the job. If those $20.00 rings even stay on the rifle you can be guaranteed your scope will slip under recoil and your shot group will be all over the place. One other thing of note - you are almost ALWAYS better to purchase a SINGLE-PIECE scope base to attach to your receiver instead of two separate mounting pieces. Separate pieces will never align to one another without some serious work to properly align them AND they seldom stay in alignment, making shot placement unreliable.
So you have your brand new scope and are ready to mount that puppy on your favorite rifle. And all you need is a screwdriver, star, or allen bits right? WRONG!!!!!!!!!!
First, let’s talk about what scope rings are supposed to “do.” Of course they hold the scope to the rifle, but they do more. They keep the alignment lines inside the scope stable and parallel to the bore axis by locking the scope tube in place after it is properly aligned. They have to not move on top of the rifle, not move in relation to one another, and not allow the scope to either rotate within them or allow the scope to slide back and forth as a result of reaction to recoil.
For the do-it-yourselfer, sure, you can physically attach all the parts and it might look sort of right, but there are some potential problems with your installation and you might not even be able to see them!
First, are your rings actually in-line with one another? Even the BEST manufactured rings are not exactly the same. At best, your scope won’t actually be aligned to it’s center. At worst, and I’ve seen this several times, either the scope tube gets crushed (say goodbye to that scope!) or the scope barrel is slightly twisted, not so much you can see it, but such that the scope adjustments become more difficult to move. None of these are good for your scope or for your accuracy.
Second, how much contact do your rings actually make with the scope? You need at least 70% contact or your scope will probably slip in the rings under recoil, changing your point of aim. Ever had a buddy who complained every year he has to adjust his scope before the start of the season? Ring slip!
Third, even with good contact do you know what you need to add to your rings to ensure the scope can’t slip? And I’m NOT talking about lock-tight!
Fourth, how much torque do you apply to your ring’s base to the rifle? How much to the scope rings? Star-torque (torque it until you see stars)? NOPE, and in what order do you torque the screws down such that the torque is even across the screws preventing twisting the scope base and/or rings? What a shame – you got everything aligned, then twisted everything out of shape when you didn’t properly torque down your screws!
Fifth, is your scope parallel to your bore axis? In other words, do the scope alignment line align with your scope or are the canted one way or the other? Why does this matter? When you are attempting to dial your scope in to zero it gets REALLY complicated to complete if your scope isn’t parallel to your bore axis because when you dial, for instance, left, your point of aim will not only shift left but also up or down at the same time. Now what do you do?
Sixth, if you followed the scope-rule of spending at least as much on your scope as on your rifle, what a shame not to have it properly mounted! Kind of like buying a Ferrari and having Joe the backyard mechanic tune it up, eh? Oh, and I should mention the same applies to how much you spend on your scope rings. Don’t get $15.00 Wal-mart rings and slap a $500.00 Leopold scope in them and expect good results. Decent scope rings run around $100.00 a set. DON’T OPEN THE PACKAGE! The rings are manufactured as matched precision parts and their orientation in the package matches how they should be installed on the scope. If you DO open the package I can fix it but it will cost you - it will take more time to hand-lap the rings such that they are in alignment again. Buy cheap rings and you’ll be paying me to last them into shape too.
A little discussion about what effects your point-of aim versus point-of impact with a scope. Everything matters and here is a list in no particular order:
- • The round you are shooting (different manufacturer’s different models, different bullet weight)
- • The age of the rounds and the environment they were stored in
- • How true your reticle is to being parallel and perpendicular to the bore axis
- • Wind direction and velocity
- • Ambient temperature
- • How many shots you’ve made from the rifle since cleaning (bore condition)
- • How long it has been since you made your last shot (barrel temperature)
- • Your elevation
- • The elevation difference between you and your point-of-aim, and whether you are higher or lower than the target
- • The distance of the shot - as range increases the curator of the earth becomes a factor
- • Your eyeball
- • The distance your eyeball is from the objective lens of the scope and how centered your eyeball is to the objective lens
- • How tired you are
- • And there are more subtle things too
Yes, this is an advertisement for your bringing your rifle to me to properly mount your scope. But more importantly, I want you to get the best results from your rifle and I can help you do that. In general it takes around an hour to properly mount your scope and because of parallax I may need you to be present at the end to do the final adjustments to finish bore-sighting it so your first alignment shot will be on paper. One last thing - some folks claim they can dial your scope in so it is “dead-on” at whatever range you select without shooting your firearm. Theoretically this is possible. Practically, not so much. In the end, eyeballs do funny things. I’ll get your windage dead right for my eyes. And I’ll get your elevation such that you should be on paper at 100 yards. Beyond this, everything is up to you because - your eyeballs, and the specific round you chose to shoot matter. Only shooting at the range will allow you to dial-in your scope for you. So collect your rifle, rings, and scope, and give me a call to schedule installation!
