Scope ring half gaps?

[rmiked]

I just mounted a pair of Vortex Pro 30mm rings, 1.54” height, on my Seekins SP10. I’m mounting a Nightforce NX8 2.5-20 , 50mm scope. The rings have 2 screws on each side of each ring, 4 screws per ring total. The torque spec is 18 in-lbs. I’m using a Wheeler Fat Wrench which has seemed fine in all other instances mounting many scopes. I set the torque to 16-17 in-lbs, and alternating sides to even out the gap. After torquing it down, it looks like the ring halves are touching. If they touch, you may not have adequate friction holding the scope. I have never had scope ring halves touch. I prefer to have a visible, with naked eye, gap between the ring halves. I removed the top rings and reinstalled at 15 in-lbs (marked on Fat Wrench) and was able to get a feeler gauge of thickness 0.002”, in between 3 of the 4 ring gaps. Has anyone ever had rings touching like this or so close you can’t get a 0.002” feeler gauge in between? I’m going to try and return the rings and get another brand that has an appreciable gap. I would say 0.010-0.030 is what I am use to seeing. The Nightforce NX8 scope tube has no marks on it. I measure the rings ID vertically at 29.69mm and horizontally at 29.97mm. So the design must be for the fairly weak aluminum ring to conform (elastically bend) to the 30mm scope tube. Seems they are made to have practically no gap.

 

[trob]

I’d stress if I didn’t have a gap too.
Try the vortex pmr rings (made by seekins). I have several sets and never had a problem.

 

[oldrifleman]

I know that ZCO suggests when mounting using sphur mounts that you have a gap on one side of each ring.

 

[JWG]

A gap is not necessary. The scope tube is "springing" against the joint whether there is a gap, or not. Tension is no greater or no less if there is 0.00001 gap (or let's say, in theory, BARELY TOUCHING! but no more) vs a 0.1" gap. What is wrong, is when the rings go solid before you are anywhere near proper tension. Then the tube is not springing against the halves properly. Just my take on it looking at the physics of it.

 

[Birddog6424]

I have 3 pairs of Seekins rings (made by Seekins for Vortex) They all touch without gap. They all function perfectly even on my heavy recoilers..

You won't have a problem with those rings.

 

[Makinchips208]

I have 3 pairs of Seekins rings (made by Seekins for Vortex) They all touch without gap. They all function perfectly even on my heavy recoilers..

You won't have a problem with those rings.

The vortex precision rings are manufactured by seekins, I don’t believe the pro are. Not that I’ve seen anyway.

Regardless, @rmiked you could try tightening one side of the ring cap completely down, then torque the other side, if there is any gap at all, however small, then you are good to go.
If both sides are touching (ie. No gap), I would not trust that they are fully tight on the scope tube.

 

[Skeptic1]

Some rings come with instructions. TPS rings come to mind. They are designed to only have a ring gap on one side

 

[Haney]

It looks like Vortex thinks there should be a gap . The suggestion above by skeptic1 will tell you if you have a problem or not though .

 

[JWG]

It looks like Vortex thinks there should be a gap . The suggestion above by skeptic1 will tell you if you have a problem or not though .

View attachment 8303020

A gap is a surefire visual indicator that correct tension (provided you tightened it correctly), is had.

 

[Quick1]

This is why I switched to ARC M-Brace Scope Rings, no need to worry about gaps and much easier to install scopes.

 

[rmiked]

I have 3 pairs of Seekins rings (made by Seekins for Vortex) They all touch without gap. They all function perfectly even on my heavy recoilers..

You won't have a problem with those rings.

I was able to get my 0.002” feeler gauge in both sides of rear ring and one side of front ring when using Fat Wrench at indicated 15 in-lbs. My gut feeling was that was acceptable. At the low torque setting, I know the calibration of the Fat Wrench is not within 1 in-lb. The included calibration data with Fat Wrench showed at a setting of 10 in-lbs, it could read as high as 12 using precision tool. One positive is that if the rings touch any increased torque on screws is not applying any more clamping force to the scope tube. I called Nightforce and they said their tube is easily good to 30 in-lbs. The clamping applied to the tube is related to the tension in the screws, provided the rings don’t touch. My other scope rings have a gap of approx 25-30 thousandths. My last install was a set of Burris Extreme Tactical 30mm on a REM 700 5R in 300 Win Mag. The gaps are 0.025” and scope is solidly mounted. If I keep these I’ll just set wrench to 14 (if I can read that fine). The width of the line looks to be about 2-3 in-lbs. I’ll tighten to 0.002” gap at all 4 places and call it good. Being a 6.5 CM gas gun, recoil will be minimal.

 

[Millron]

If you have a set of calipers, id measure the inside of the scope rings when touching halves, to make sure they are machined correctly----should be just a touch under 30mm, maybe like 29.8-29.9mm. I have used those rings before and they typically have a small, but visible gap.

 

[rmiked]

I was able to return the Vortex Pro rings even though I think they would have been fine. I ordered a pair of the Vortex Precision machined rings in 30mm, 1.45” high for my Seekins SP10. I saw on a Seekins video they make the Vortex PMRs so they should be as good as it gets.