Rifle Scopes Question on vortex viper problem

[macfly]

Hey all,
Question about a problem i am having with a viper pst 6-24 i bought used off the forum.
I think the seller is good to go so that isnt my issue , i am trying to see if anyone has encountered this problem and if i should send it in.
I havent had time to mount and zero so just did it today. I dont have a torque wrench so i just tightened the rings pretty solid.
Odd thing was that when i got to the range and started trying to set the paralax knob for the distance i was at it was very tight and actually even started making an odd clicking sound, like a spring getting wound past where it should.
Focus would be spotty and turning the knob the whole range might result in sometimes focus, sometimes not.
I read on another forum that someone else had a similar problem but their windage knob was the one affected. They called eurooptic and spoke to a factory rep who said the rings might be too tight and not to torque them over 12lbs or so.
Could this really be the issue?
Why would over torquing rings on the main tube affect the windage or paralax?
I dismounted the scope and now the knob see,s to turn freely without any of the resistance or creaking-/pinging i noticed before at the low end of the distance scale.....wtf?!
Just wondering if anyone has seen this type of thing and if anyone can answer about this torque issue and how that would affect the lateral knobs
Thanks

 

[fdkay]

I agree with the factory rep.
Yes, this can absolutely happen when over torquing the scope rings.
It is a tube within a tube, when you compress the outside tube it impinges on the inside tube.

Luckily for you, even if you damaged it by ape fisting the rings, Vortex will fix it.

 

[Tracker God]

I didnt have the same problem per say but i did have a similar problem. i bought a nikon 3-9 for a winchester 300sm and over tightened the rings and for some reason i couldnt adjust the elevatin or windage to sight the scope in. After getting the rngs loosened it started working fine! perhaps someone wiser than myself in the optics field can shed some light on exactly why this happens.

 

[TOPGuN050]

this issue has come up a few times in different areas that I have read. I own a viper PST and I agree with the rep. vortex tubes seem to flex or be softer than others. mine were over tightened and caused my elevation knob to be very tight especially when I was around 10 minutes above my zero stop. luckily I didn't hurt the scope. took the scope out of the rings and problem was fixed. after having my smith lap the rings and properly torque the screws down there were no further problems. scope still tracks very well and I have had no other issues with any of my adjustments.

when I was first told about this issue I felt the same way you do. a friend of mine told me I was probably binding the hell out of the tube and to pull the scope and try it then. I seriously thought he was crazy. lesson learned for me he was exactly right.

good luck. and if it did damage the scope, fdkay is correct, vortex will take care of it.

 

[BCP]

If you tighten it too much then it will squeeze the tube and the internals will bind up. If you have no torque wrench then tighten the screws with the long end of an allen or star wrench evenly and then maybe a 1/4 turn with the allen wrench the other way. That should get you about 15 in lbs.

 

[macfly]

Thanks for the info guys. Who would'a thought. Just figured those tubes were pretty solid. Watched one too many USOptics torture test videos.
Just ordered a torque screwdriver. They all arent made the same!