Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Home made scope leveling jig...

Was watching one of Lowlights videos and saw him use a table top jig for leveling his scope. It was made by Badger. I looked it up as I thought it was a pretty simple tool that could potentially save a little time and aggravation while setting a scope up. Found out the Badger jigs sell for upwards of $150. I couldn't believe the price...

Dug through the accumulation here and had all the major components minus the fasteners. One short trip to the Ace solved that problem. After about an hour and a half in the garage I came away with this for about a $20 investment.

It would be best to verify level with a plumb line as the turrets don't always sit square to the reticle.







The base is made from a piece of what I believe is Corian (sp?) countertop material which had been gifted to me by my neighbor, a simple trailer leveling two way level (a bullseye level could easily be substituted) , a piece of blank stock Picatinny rail and various fasteners.

CR

Very nice. Good inexpensive way to square your scope in the rings before mounting. Should save lots of time. Thanks for the pics.

Neat.

That application would have to be confined to scopes mounted on Picatinny rails.

DF

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-t...ertical-reticle-instrument-prod6097.aspx

you should try one of these. it allows you to level your gun and scope. just look through the scope which you can see through the slot and level off a straight line, in my case its my neighbors back window frame on their house.

Check out the Reticle-Tru by Fire contributor, Hi_Vel. Not the cheapest, but one of the best ideas for alignment of scope to axis of the rifle. No need for levels, external reference points, etc.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/8273094/1

DF

For an inexpensive alternative that doesn't require levels, external references and such, there's the Segway reticle leveler.



Add a rubber band and it's good to go.

Seems I remember something about those Segway levelers going pretty cheap.

Are they still available at the good price?

DF

They're back on the market, about twenty bucks.

They added a bubble level in the thing, though I don't know why. The theory of operation doesn't require one.

I think I'll pass on the plastic, rubberbands and guessing where the centerline of my rifle is.

CR

The only thing of any importance is whether or not the reticle is square to the bore. No external references are necessary.

Of course, every system has built in assumptions. For example, you mentioned turret tops/caps not necessarily being square to the reticle.

I mount scopes with the "plastic and rubber bands" all the time. I've tested vertical tracking, cranking up and down between various elevations from dead on to +25 or so MOA, on a target set up with a vertical plumb line. With very accurate rifles (Rem 40X et cetera) the bullets make groups right on line where they should.

If I'm guessing, then I'm pretty damn good at it.

Don't know if I'm good at it but use the Segway plastic and rubberband system also, with ok results.

I'm using the Reticle-Tru. Same principle as the Segway. With a rail, I use the feeler gauge method, but with two piece bases, the Reticle-Tru seems to work just as well. Not much guessing where the bore centerline is. Just get behind the rifle and put the point of the Reticle-Tru right in the center of the bore�

John

The Reticle Tru, from the way I've seen it explained and shown, is "the stuff" and is what I'd get if I go upmarket.

It's actually built on a better principle than the Segway, since it aims the vertical reticle bar directly at the bore centerline.

Jerry needs to get to the point where he can invest in injection mold dies and crank them out in big numbers at low cost. Big initial outlay for the dies, much lower production costs over the long run.

CNC machining them from Delrin, a few at a time, is expensive.

DF

This is great at leveling the scope to the base but it assumes that they receiver holes are perfect also.

Quality is always expensive and I doubt he could see the volume necessary to recoup the cost of dies and such. There just aren't enough shooters that care about such things. I'm grateful he makes them at all........

Yes it does, as with other reticle alignment tools, for perfect alilgnment, reticle with action.

DF

I'm grateful, too.

That's a marketing question and I don't know the answer.

Jerry will have to study the market and make a business decision. It's such a good design, a major firearms retailer/supply house could pick it up and make it happen.

DF

Another thumbs up for the Segway. It serves a secondary purpose of showing other people at the range how far off their scope mounting jobs are.

Just align your crosshairs in a imaginary line from the top straight through the centerline of your bolt.

Your done.

Nutting to buy.