Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Actual Use of Scope Alignment Bars

I followed the scope alignment bar discussion with great interest here recently. I decided to increase my looneyism a notch and ordered up a Wheeler Kit (1" + 30mm + lapping bars + torque wrench) for $85 from Cabelas. The first thing I wanted to do was check the alignment on my rings for my Ruger #1 as I had my doubts. Now this particular rifle has extension rings so I can get the scope close enough for proper eye relief.



So I placed the 1" alignment bars with pointy tips facing each other. This didn't look too good.



As most folks here were saying that it was better to have the cylinder ends facing each other, I tried it the other way around. This looks even worse and gives a better visualization of what's amiss.



My question is: can this much misalignment be lapped out? If not, what's a better solution? Things are ok in the vertical plane and the alignment problem is pretty much in the horizontal plane.

I'm not that familiar with Ruger rings but have you tried flip flopping them? That looks like an awful lot to be lapped out.

It looks like your rear base is drooping a bit and
so that makes the misalignment you see. I would
first try to make sure that is tight and true. You
could lift the rear of it a bit and retighten.
You could probably lap those rings as is, but
you'll need to remove a lot of material.

I don't think so - the pics of the bars are from straight above. They align in the vertical plane.

Well, not all of them. miles

Try loosening the rings (from the rifle) and then "install" the lapping bar in the rings, tightened down as you would a scope. Retighten the rings to the rifle, and then remove the the lapping bar and check for alignment.

If still off as above, I don't think those a close enough for lapping personally.

There's a thought. I'm also considering a shim of some sort to move the rear extension ring base over the 0.050" +/- to get it better aligned.

I had the same situation to deal with. I learned that the bases have some play in their fit to the #1 rail. I loosened the two cross bolts, put an old scope in the rings (didn't have a one inch bar at that time)and snugged the rings. That aligned them. I then tightened the cross bolts and found that everything stayed aligned even after several hundred rounds. Never moved. I think you'll find that there is enough play in the ring to base fit to accomplish this.

Best to you.
Jim

That's true of a lot of bases and rings, one reason using an alignment bar with slots in it, allowing a screwdriver to reach through, can be very useful at times.

D'Arcy Echols makes and sells a scope alignment bar that has slots for a driver.

Please school me - what is the function of the slots?

to tighten the bases while the rod is keeping everything aligned

Yep - this worked to perfection. I just used the lapping bar that came with the Wheeler kit. Looked so good, I'm not going to bother lapping.

I was using a smooth lapping bar. Still don't see how a slotted bar would have been any better.