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Rifle Scopes Mounting a scope

Corneliuss

Private
Minuteman
Jan 20, 2011
14
0
36
Is this something easy enough to do myself or would it be better to take it to a gunsmith and have it mounted up?

Thanks
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Re: Mounting a scope

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JelloStorm</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That doesn't tell us a lot. I would get a boresighter. </div></div>

I got a Remington 700 5r .308, nothing ever mounted on the rifle, still brand new. I got a seekins 20 moa base + seekins medium rings. A Vortex Viper PST 6-24x50 FFP mrad will be arriving on thursday. I have never mounted a scope before and don't have any specialty tools to do it. Would it be easy to just pick up a little kit and read instructions and mount it myself? Or will there be a good chance of messing something up, not mounting it exactly level or straight and causing a mess? Also I was reading that lapping is a good idea since you can tweak a new scope if they aren't exactly round, how true is that?

Thanks!
Corey.

If you need more info please let me know, the more help I can get the better
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Re: Mounting a scope

Check down a few posts for mine. Might help you a bit.

I don't really have faith in bubble levels since they're far from precise. Get yourself a nice boresighter. I used this today:

http://www.opticsplanet.net/bushnellboresighterbanner.html

To me, the reticle looks canted, but hopefully tomorrow I can take it out shooting and test it. Hopefully it's just me.

I would put it on and just snug the rings and then pull the rifle up like you're going to shoot it with your eyes closed.

Open them and then adjust your scope accordingly.

My rings have little bitty grooves in them so I didn't want to lap them. You'd really have to crank down to tweak a scope but YMMV..
 
Re: Mounting a scope

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JelloStorm</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Oh and welcome to the HIDE! </div></div>

Thanks
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I've been reading this site for a while, but just got my first rifle a couple months ago.

Looking forward to shooting soon.
 
Re: Mounting a scope

Spending a little time reading up on the process, while realizing that some advice is intended to make things more difficult than necessary or to get you to buy stuff, is a worthwhile investment. However, I recommend you give it a try. If you overtighten things you can bend the scope tube or strip out a screw, but considering that rings should be tightened to about 10-15 INCH-pounds (that's 1 pound of force on a 10-15 inch-long wrench handle) you shouldn't have any trouble staying below damaging things. If you are so inclined, it is an opportunity to convert gunsmith expenses into tools, like a good screwdriver set and a good torque wrench (the Borka seems popular and I like mine). If you just want to save the money, only use the short end of the allen wrench to torque.

Knowing how to do things yourself is very handy when you want to swap scopes or need to remove the scope to work on something else or just decide you want to change the eye relief, and is a good confidence builder.

Boresighters can be handy, but I have boresighted all my rifles using a neighbor's vent cap down the street, and it was free.

Oh, and by the way, not all "gunsmiths" are good at what they do, and taking work to them is no guarantee it will be done correctly unless you know something about them. I spent almost 4 months getting a relatively simple bit of 'smithing fixed earlier this year.
 
Re: Mounting a scope

I was in the same boat as you not long ago. I took my rifle and scope to a gun smith and watched him as he mounted my scope. The smith stuck the scope in the rings, held the gun up, looked through the scope and said, close enough. The prick charged me $25.00.

I went home and took it apart. I read the articles I found on here, bought a Borka torque wrench and did it myself the right way. Half the problem was getting over my fear of doing it myself and *ucking something up. Once you get over that fear and have a couple tools, you'll have the confidence to do it at any time. As long as you torque to the proper specs you shouldn't have any problems.

Good luck!
 
Re: Mounting a scope

Pretty much the way I have done it for years. Pretty simple after you do it.
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