What are the common mistakes people make when mounting a scope.

[Chili Palmer2]

Good sound information that should stop scope abuse & wasted ammo.

 

[gshayd]

Good info for putting a scope on. I invested in a Fat Wrench for torquing down mounts and rings and a scope leveling system. Plus a good stand to put the rifle in while working on it. I once asked the gunshop how they boresighted rifles. He pointed down the length of the long counter where a target with an orange sticker was in the bullseye.. He put the rifle in a stand. Took the bolt out of the barrel then lined the bore up with the center of the orange sticker. He then lined the crosshairs on the scope with the orange sticker. No fancy equipment needed.

 

[perfor8]

Most common mistake when mounting scopes? Putting them on a lever gun. Looks about as appropriate as a GPS on a saddle horn.

 

[HKShooter65]

Raff all you want
I once witnessed a Fudd attempt to install a brand new Swarovski scope 3x12x56 on a Marlin 336.
With the incorrect height on the rings and the front bell sittng on the rear barrel sight it was a cluster.
Once he had it in the rings he cranked down so hard the tube kinked and chipped off several large flakes of paint.
It was a tragic fate for such a beautiful optic.

I'm thinking a couple of whitetail bucks, when praying at bedtime, thank their lord for his stupidity.

 

[HKShooter65]

Over tightening.
Not cleaning the oil off the base
Not loctiting the base screws.
Not leveling the scope.

Those are the main flagrant fouls.

I do all mine myself these days.

Big thumbs up for not over tightening screws.

Please everybody.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012AXR4S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Today helped a buddy move a 1,000 pound safe.
That degree of muscular force is not needed in tightening mounting screws.

 

[Hoji]

Most common mistake when mounting scopes? Putting them on a lever gun. Looks about as appropriate as a GPS on a saddle horn.

Well, with the 160gr Leverevolution rounds from Hornady I can reach out over 200 yards with an almost 50 year old Marlin 30-30 and take ethical shots on deer.

Could I hit a deer and kill it with iron sights at 200+? Probably, but I would have to look for them a lot longer after the shot.

 

[FireInTheWire]

Big thumbs up for not over tightening screws.

Please everybody.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012AXR4S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Today helped a buddy move a 1,000 pound safe.
That degree of muscular force is not needed in tightening mounting screws.

That's the same one I have. Works great. I sleep better at night knowing stuff is torqued to the correct spec. Not just "feeling" the right tightness.

 

[benenglish]

I get asked to mount scopes and “sight in” rifles for people from time to time.

I almost always say no.

Your list of problems is spot on.

A story about that: Decades ago, the "gunsmith" at Carter's Country told me that sighting in rifles was the single most profitable thing they did. Just before deer season, there would be a huge backlog, every day, of hunters who just wanted to pay someone else $35 to sight in their rifle while they strolled around the store. The guy who was doing the shooting (the only RSO there I ever knew that was competent) knew his business. We all know that it theoretically takes two rounds to sight in a rifle and this guy was generally capable of doing so if, and this is a huge caveat, the hardware was all correctly set up.

There were two results from those $35 sight-in jobs:

1. Success, meaning this guy was earning the range $35 every 5 minutes, or
2. Failure, meaning something was wrong with the set up and the $35 sight-in turned immediately into expensive repairs for the gunsmith, making even more profit for the shop.

Great work if you can get it, I suppose.

 

[easy rider]

I'm not out to tell people what they need to do, it's your money, do what you want, but this is my reasoning:

I lap all my rings. When you talk about machining you are talking thousandths of an inch. The average human hair is about .005" thick, so being a hair off in the machining world can be quite a bit.

Certainly rings now days are machined to specifications, but there are other factors that have to be considered when mounting a scope. Once rings are machined they are most often given a cerakote finish, although the finish isn't usually thick it's still could change dynamics by the thousandths. Also, when the rings are mounted on a rifle, the tolerances of the mounts may not be to the exacting specs as the rings.

I have yet to lap a set of rings where the cerakote finish wears evenly. Even if the alignment bars are very close, if the cerakote finish isn't wearing evenly during lapping that would mean there would be less surface tension holding the scope. There is a reason scope manufacturers tell you not to torque scope ring screws past their recommendation, not only can you harm the finish on the scope, but it can also cause distortion.

Lastly, people talk as if lapping is a big expense of time and money. Compared to most your better scopes, a lapping set is very cheap. Lapping adds about a half hour to my time in mounting a scope, to me that's a little time well spent.

 

[bigwheel]

I ask this question because I've gone shooting with friends that wanted to sight in their rifle scope. Some scope installs were factory, some retail stores and some kitchen table projects. If the scope won't hold zero or requires much adjustments, I find the problem usually is improper torque on screws or incorrect length of screw. What are your experiences?

Reminds me of an old deer hunting pal who turned his rifle over to an undocumented democrat employee to clean it. He did a good job even taking off the scope and gave it a good cleaning. The pal said when he next went hunting the deer looked like it was real far off when he looked at through the scope but managed to kill the Bambi Ok. An investigation revealed the nice worker had re-mounted the scope backwards.

 

[easy rider]

Reminds me of an old deer hunting pal who turned his rifle over to an undocumented democrat employee to clean it. He did a good job even taking off the scope and gave it a good cleaning. The pal said when he next went hunting the deer looked like it was real far off when he looked at through the scope but managed to kill the Bambi Ok. An investigation revealed the nice worker had re-mounted the scope backwards.

It took your buddy an investigation to realize it was backwards?

 

[bigwheel]

Yep he stayed drunk and stoned a lot. Hunted mostly at night while the perch pimps are fast asleep. Everybody in Jack County marches to a different drummer.

 

[Texasgordo]

I don't know how to mount a scope or sight it in so I don't do either. I only have a old bolt action 30.06 with a scope that was already mounted and zeroed.


Someday I hope to learn how to do both but avoid it for now.

 

[easy rider]

I don't know how to mount a scope or sight it in so I don't do either. I only have a old bolt action 30.06 with a scope that was already mounted and zeroed.


Someday I hope to learn how to do both but avoid it for now.

Not that hard with the right tools.

 

[Texasgordo]

Not that hard with the right tools.

Yeah but I'm a idiot without the tools or knowledge.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[easy rider]

Yeah but I'm a idiot without the tools or knowledge.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

MidwayUSA has videos online that I believe is very helpful for mounting scopes. There are tons of videos on the subject.

 

[Texasgordo]

MidwayUSA has videos online that I believe is very helpful for mounting scopes. There are tons of videos on the subject.

Thanks I'll be sure to check it out .

 

[ROGER4314]

I put scopes on a rifle with bubble levels and never trust my eyes. First, I level the rifle then begin tightening the scope mount bolts. As you tighten the hardware on each side R/L they rotate the scope in the base. Tighten the hardware while keeping the scope level side to side. Wheeler makes a kit that works like a charm for this.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/432752/wheeler-engineering-ultra-scope-mounting-kit-black

There is a less expensive version of this kit with fewer accessories.

Flash

 

[easy rider]

I put scopes on a rifle with bubble levels and never trust my eyes. First, I level the rifle then begin tightening the scope mount bolts. As you tighten the hardware on each side R/L they rotate the scope in the base. Tighten the hardware while keeping the scope level side to side. Wheeler makes a kit that works like a charm for this.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/432752/wheeler-engineering-ultra-scope-mounting-kit-black

There is a less expensive version of this kit with fewer accessories.

Flash

I already had the Fat Wrench, but that level set, which I bought separately, I use most often.

 

[TreyG-20]

My first thought that comes to mind since I mostly use optics on AR platforms are people who mount scopes like this. I see it regularly where half the mount is on the reciever and half on the handguard.