Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters How tight should rings be on the scope?

Basic question for someone. When mounting a scope how tight should the rings be on a scope? I had just sighted in a rifle then the scope started sliding in the rings
I just had a scope mounted by a gunsmith. I just got back from the range and my scope shifted. How tight should I tighten the rings? I am afraid to overtighten and damage the scope
regards
Dan

take it back to the "gunsmith", as you call him, and see what he says... he sounds like a real professional.. 721

Remove the scope and clean off oily fingerprints etc. with alcohol. Clean the inside of the rings as well as the scope tube.
Then re-tighten, probably about as tight as it was. You want it damn snug but there is no need to tighten to the point of being concerned about stripping out threads.

Thanks 721 I am pretty pizzed by the smith. Last week I took it out "after it was boresighted" and found the aft mount had to be shimmed to get on paper at 25 yards. Today I sighted it in and all was well then I stared to get fliers . I then noted that the scope had shifted forward a half inch. I will do them up snug this time but I don't want to damage anything

About 12 to 15 inch pounds. Depending on the type of rings (2 screw vs. 4 screws and size of the scope) as whether or not you need something in the rings inorder to create more friction. Powdered rosin is probable the best for this purpose,just put a little rosin on the inside of the scope rings and it will not slip again.

Powdered rosin is good, as is plain old grade-school rubber cement.

JB

What jwp and Mule Deer said. That said, any time I don't use Burris Signature rings (which is hardly ever the case anymore), I lap and/or epoxy bed the rings. Doesn't take a mechanical engineer to figure out that the greater the surface in contact, the less pressure will be needed to hold the scope firmly.

Paul

A lot depends on the scope and rings you use as well. If you use matte-finished black rings, for instance, such as Talleys, and either Burris or Leupold matte-black scopes, it's darn hard for the scope to slip inside the rings, because the finishes tend to grip each other.

A perfect instance of this is a Burris 1.75-5x Signature Safari that I have had on several hard-kicking rifles from .338 Winchester up to .416 Rigby. This is not exactly a lightweight scope for its size, but it has never shifted at all in several different kinds of rings, due to the friction of its finish. Yet another reason not to use "gloss" finish scopes on hunting rifles.

Some other matte finish scopes are much more slippery. Swarovskis come immediately to mind, as well as Nikons.

JB

Thanks for all the replies. I will try the rosin. The screws in the rings seemed pretty slack to me.
regards
Dan

I have used silicon seal in the rings with some success on sharp kickers. A 30-378, though, was literally digesting some Leupold type mounts )shearing off the dovetails beneath the windage screws). A set of Talley's fixed that problem. 1Minute

The scope company's say use 20 to 25 inch pounds. On some scopes you can put over 100 and it will not hurt them. The best thing is alot of contact on your rings.

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> Please don't try this at home. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

May I ask where you came up with your numbers? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

I don't know if it's a great idea, but I solved the problem on my rifle with some automotive type 2-sided tape. It's kind of rubbery and thick, and when I tightened my rings down, it flattened out nicely. Scope hasn't moved since.

A hundred inch pounds? Gee, the cam caps on my bike, with 104 inches on 6mm (10 head) might take a hundred, but scope screws? Me no think so.

A piece of friction tape applied to the bases and the caps keeps scopes still. Electrical tape works too.

The #'s for the torqe is on the web page's of the scope company's. 102 inch pounds is only 8 1/2 foot pounds. I hope you can put alot more than this on your bike. Most threads will handle alot more than this. I think the #'s are so low that they are covering there product. At 20 inch pounds you can turn the scope if you do not have good contact.

[Quote] by hotjob
The #'s for the torqe is on the web page's of the scope company's. [Quote]

Can you post a link? Which scope company recomends those torque numbers? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/help.gif" alt="" />

Try Loctite. It's a liquid that takes a little while to set, so you have some time to turn the scope to realign the reticle vertically if you have to.

Brownell's has more than one grade. (Enter "Loctite" in the search box on their home page.) The green general-purpose stuff is probably the best for this. The thread-locker grade may not be strong enough, but I'd stay away from the permanent grades, if I were you.

Thanks Ken, would never have thought of that. Much better kind of post to read, than some taking bites out of you!

I hate those little sticky paper shims thing, and the ooze they eventually produce. Guess even old guys can learn something, just got to remember it, LOL.