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.

To the OP...nice job. I might have to build one of those too.

THAT is really a good idea!!

I still trust my best leveling tool which is the eyes I was born with. If my reticles are crooked, it's because I didn't put enough effort into it. 43 years of shooting & I have yet to have any trouble.

No longer have it, but the best leveling system I had going was out my backdoor when I use to have a range and backstop. I had a plumb line at the backstop, and I had a universal holding fixture that mounted upon a 3-foot square cement pad at the firing line. I'd hold the barreled action plumb and square in the fixture and then use the plumb line at the backstop to square the scope reticle. This system was always quick and simple, no fuss and no muss, everything was square to earths gravity. I saved the little portable gizmos and techniques for making a quick fix when afield. Even then, having some form of small reliable level, that easily fit upon the surface of the action, while it was held square in a makeshift fixture, when combined with a simple high contrasting string plumb bob, hung at a distance, makes for a very easy to use travel setup which is pretty darn accurate when mounting scopes on the go.

You're jumping through a lot of unnecessary hoops.

In what way? If you had a scope with rings to mount on a rifle, it is probably best to do so in a fixture that holds the rifle steady. You could just lay it across your lap when mounting and tightening things down, but I feel it always best to have the rifle held steady to keep your hands free to make adjustments and to button things down. I have an original Reticle Leveler, that is fairly square, but those I've seen of late have the brass rod, leveling lines, and the level itself, out of square from each other. If you were mounting the scope across your lap, you could be just as close to square by merely eyeballing the reticle square to the receiver. Still though, I tend to bring the rifle into the shop for mounting the scope vs over the trunk of the car out in the parking lot of the gun store.

In addition, my old holding fixture would allow me to shoulder the rifle in the shooting position so that I would have hands free to make minute adjustments for eye relief, reticle focus (my backstop also included an optical resolution chart), and such, while everything was held into place. Very convenient, very stable, and I love being able to walk away to answer the phone and come back 15 minutes later to find everything exactly where it was before being interupted. Also made an excellent platform while hand fitting the parts for a stress free mount. Best system I ever had.

But, absent needing to hold the rifle steady while keeping your hands free, you could do most everything by eye and snug everything down farmer tight. Eyeball the bore and reticle on a distant target, and then shoot a few rounds to center things up. In the shop, however, that to me is too much like monkeys working on a transmission with baseball bats.

Best

What I'm getting at is levels and outside references like plumb lines are not necessary, no matter how the rifle is being held during the procedure.

I can't explain why Segway added a level to their device, other than to satisfy the irrational need for one.

The problems you mention about recent production samples are worrisome.

I have and use a Segway just as you do but I think the OP's design has merit for a "knob twister" most especially.

If the reticle is square, it is square, never mind how it got that way or what its later use may be.

GaryVA, you're way over thinking this. It's a simple matter of extending an imaginary line greated by the crosshairs through to the center line of the action. No stupid gizmos needed.

You do it with the rifle in any position at all as long as the centerline extends as described.

The problem with most of the gizmos out there is the ability to get the gun level. Really hard to find a flat spot on a gun. Usually if I find a flat spot like on top of the base, then you lose that spot once you put a ring on it. And unless you have your scope sitting high, it is hard to slide a level underneath the scope to put back on the base.

I guess you could get it level and then mount your scope, but I have found it hard to hold the gun solid once i level it.

I said the very thing in my post, but back in the shop, it went into the holding fixture, the parts were hand fit for a stress free mount, everything was aligned with eye relief set, the reticle was focused for optimal clarity on the distant resolution chart, and then it was shot on paper at the same location and same backstop. No stupid gizmos whatsoever, it was rather ingenious, incredibly simple, a big time saver, and most precisely accurate. One of the biggest time savers I ever had for starting from scratch and ending with an incredibly accurate, well tracking, stress free mount. As I said, best system I ever had, but this range was converted over into an archery trail course, so I no longer have the pieces and parts permanently placed to make this system work.

There is no need to level the gun. All you need is a way to get the vertical part of the reticle pointed at the center line of the bore.

Easier said than done.

I do it all the time with my old Segway gadget. I'm a notorious scope swapper.

Very easy to do. Just move your eye up and down along the line of the vertical cross hair to the centerline of the bolt, bore, action.

Friend of mine turn me on to this and holds or has held over 30 world records with his guns in competition.

Rekon he has some experience.

You can do this hanging upside down from a tree limb and it will work.

Shooters focus on the action being level. Wrong and not necessary.

It doesn't matter the position of the action. It's the centerline of the bore and the vertical cross hair relationship

Save your $$$ and buy your kids some ice cream!!!!!

The very reason my fixture worked so darn well. It would square up the barreled action having the barrel axis lined up with the scope axis upon a fixed plumb line downrange. Most high end custom built rifles have the barrels mounted straight, but just about everything else is off. So the trick is not making the alignment off the ass end, but off the business end. My being able to go through every step in the process of fitting, mounting, and adjusting off the same fixture was great!! Wish I had the room to keep that range and my jig in place in tandem with the archery course, but I did not.

I get it, but you are still relying on your eyeball. Be nice to have a scientific method. I cannot count how many times I have mounted a scope straight, only to pick up the gun later and it looked crooked.

Agree and disagree. I t takes repetitive eye movements to accomplish our common goal

You will be pleasantly surprised how accurate the human is eye after some practice. We checked this with a machinist level and the method is solid and true.

Please try it and get back to me here or via PM.

I'm not saying your method doesn't work very well. What I'm trying to convey is the the human eye is capable of detecting the slightest variance in misalignment with a little practice and without the need in this case for a fixture.

Just my 2c and I don't mean to offend.

Try it, Sir.

Glad I didn't title this thread "DIY scope leveling jig".

Thread might of turned into a circle jerk if I had.......

CR

Our resident hero would surely have pics with charts and graphs.

You done good,hangunnr. No harm no foul. Nice thread.

I level off the action in a tipton vise. Takes about 3 minutes to mount a scope perfectly level.