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Rifle Scopes The allen key required for an old leupold tactical scope

The K

Private
Minuteman
Jan 5, 2022
37
16
Netherlands
Hello all again.
Thanks to your awesome help, I was able to receive from one of you the old manual for my scope from this thread:

Old Leupold Scope - Can anyone help with manual/details?

Now I have another issue. The rifle and scope combo is awesome and I did hit 8" targets at 1000m (about 1100 yds) so everything is perfect, except I needed to do a bunch of clicks to get it to where I wanted it, zeroed in at 500m.

Now I want to be able to leave the setting as is but return the tactical turrets to the zero point so I have full range again, in order to do this I need to unscrew three little Allen key type screws on the top of each turret to be able to rotate the turret without changing the position of the reticle and place it at zero before once again tightening the screws.

The problem I have is that as I am in Europe, most Allen keys are in decimals and the ones I have tried are not working.

In metric, the 1mm key is too small and the 1.5mm key is too big. So It has to be a dimension between these two values, which I am assuming is some kind of imperial measurement. The manual does not give any indication of what size it should be and I don't recall if the scope came with one or not, but even if it did it's been lost to the sands of time. Can one of you let me know what the size ranges for Allen keys in imperial are?
The 1/16 is again too big since it works out as equivalent to 1.59mm (25.4mm which is one inch in metric, divided by 16 gives 1.5875mm).

I could probably try and google around for this info, but you guys are better than google so... here I am again.
Thanks in advance, and I hope one day I can contribute a bit more than just asking for help.

In case anyone cares, the rifle is a Ruger Precision Rifle in .300wm and I used match ammo, but all out of the box, and the 1000m hits were across a small valley with some cross winds (not very strong but enough to make you miss by a foot or two at times if you didn't gauge it right)

G.
 
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It could be .050
A set of small hex keys are cheap and handy.

16533053537737030934475569064015.jpg
 
ok this is very frustrating. I got a set that has the 0.50 Allen key and it is just a hair too small. The key ALMOST grips but doesn't. So given that I'm metric it's a 1.27mm key, I am thinking maybe there is such a thing as a 1.3mm key which should work.
Thank you all for the advice. Let me know if one of you knows what weird propriety key Leupold may have had back in the mid 90s.
 
It could also be stripped out a bit. Have you called leupold customer service to see if they have any advice? If it is just a set screw, maybe replacement?
 
I hereby declare that small allen head screws shall no longer be used. Anywhere. Ever. They round-out way too easily, and should go away.

Please, pass along my decree.
 
I doubt it's been "spannered" or stripped or rounded out as you guys call it. The scope was fixed on the rifle and I doubt the screws were ever touched even once since issue by the factory some 26 years ago or so. And the turrets have been kept immaculately clean etc. It really is that the 1.27mm key is just not the right size.
I ordered what is supposed to be a 1.3mm key (I hope it is and not just a rounding off of the 1.27mm one I already have) so I should find out by tomorrow.
 
Mystery solved. Because the scope had been set long ago in the shop I had assumed the gunsmith was not a moron and the screws were solid. On closer inspection with a magnifying glass, it's clear they were in fact stripped. Which really would take some doing as they are supposed to just be finger tightened. It took some slight "bush mechanics" but I got them out and I will be replacing them asap with new ones. I hope Leupold still carries these type of screws.

And it was originally indeed the 0.050 imperial L key. Thank you all.
 
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