Scope mounting talley rings/Swarovski scope

Many people believe in lapping rings. I don't. I mount 10-15 scopes a week and feel if rings need to be lapped then they are defective. There are many many people who will disagree with me. Also, lapping certainly won't hurt unless you take it too far.

If you mount the scope yourself, understand the odds are that your levels will work, but about 20% of the time they don't work, there are a number of reasons for this. Levels can be off, sometimes the turret cap and/or turret isn't level and sometimes you can't find a flat, level spot on the receiver or base.

nice gun I have never heard of them before. any pics?

If you are worried about it, take it to a gunsmith and have it done correctly and/or to your specifications.

Seriously how much would it cost in relation to the overall price of your rig??



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Acera said:

If you are worried about it, take it to a gunsmith and have it done correctly and/or to your specifications.

Seriously how much would it cost in relation to the overall price of your rig??



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I can agree and disagree. on one hand it maybe not be the gun/scope combo to learn on, but on the other hand it feels good to learn a new skill and do it yourself. I have never done it myself and have never had a problem I am aware of. Not sure how much damage you could cause like someone else stated unless you go over board though too.

I mount all of my own scopes. Its not difficult and some times twenty mins after getting it home you realize that how you held the rifle at the shop when they set the length, isnt how you actually want it. If you do go the shop route, id suggest mounting your own bases atleast (can mount dry and take them off for the shop to do properly if you want). Then put the scope in and snug the rings down till the scope moves but dosent slide on its own. Now go get dressed in your hunting clothes, and try the rifle from any position you might encounter in the field and move the scope forward and back to see whats comfortable. What you are doing is finding the happy medium for your eye relief, once you find it id mark the scope tube at the back ring with tape or an easily removeable ink. Now the shop can most likely put your scope on where youll be haply with it.

Again i usually mount my own. What i do is clamp the rifle in a soft jaw (heavily padded) vice with just enough pressure to hold it there, and attach the mounts.
Then place a picture hanging lvl on a flat spot on the action. If there isnt any a flat projection on action then on the lowest flat spot on the scope mounts. Then i level the rifle in the vice and again tighten down enough to keep it in place. After that its just tossing the scope onc checking for any kind of obvious miss alignment. Then tightening rings down till they are snug but not tight, and the gap is even between the top and lower parts of the ring. Align your eye relief mark from earlier, level your scope by placing the lvl on the cap, then tighten the rings evenly to torque.

The hardest part of the whole thing is keeping from bumping the gun hard enough to shift it in the vice.

I also do the same basic thing at the range when necessary by cutting a v in two sides of a open top card board box, it will hold a rifle well enough if your careful.

If you don't lap the rings then you wont know if they are round. If the rings aren't round then you wont have maximum contact between the scope and rings. You don't have to remove a lot of material, no more than 80% contact is necessary and if your rings are already round then you'll see a lot of contact area almost immediately. Don't over-lap, that will reduce the amount of contact between the scope and rings and your scope will move under recoil.

I've been mounting scopes for 40+ years. Never heard of lapping them till the internet. Never had an issue. Talley's are good mounts, it might need to be done to some of the cheap Chinese stuff, but I've never used any of those mounts.

If you don't know why rings should be lapped then I doubt if you would know if there were any issues with the installation. The lapping process has been around for a long time and the benefits have always been real, it's only been the last decade or so that it has become more mainstream, mostly since long range target shooting and hunting became popular. Lapping was one of those things that a very picky gunsmith would have done, especially a gunsmith that started out as a machinist. A machinist has a tendency to always want to verify that things are flat and in the proper location relative to some common point. If you buy a high dollar scope and rings then you probably wont even see a need to lap the fit, especially if the mount is a one piece design. But cheaper rings in a two piece design should definitely be checked, in fact, I'd check any two piece mount/ ring setup. A two piece ring design can bend the scope tube or simply pull the center axis of the scope off to one direction or another. Horizontally split rings benefit more from lapping than vertically split rings.

"Horizontally split rings benefit more from lapping than vertically split rings".

This.

I've never lapped rings. I used Talley rings for the first time on an Anschutz. The only mistake I made was getting low rings. I would not be surprised if you have to return them and get medium. But, not to worry, they exchanged them with no questions asked. By the way, I used the standard horizontal split rings.

I have a Cooper Model 52 in .30-06 with a Swarovski Z6i 2.5-15x56 mounted with Talley rings in the style with an integral base direct mount to receiver. Before mounting, I set the scope to mid-scale with both adjustments, then bore sighted with my Bushnell analog arbor tool. I was very close so I left it alone w/o lapping. I have a Wheeler scope mounting kit with lapping bars, but really see no need to lap rings unless you are forced to do so for adjustment reasons. Even then, I shimmed (not lapped) a Weatherby base last week with the help of a THR member. Lapping can ruin a ring pretty quickly, so lapping is by no means mandatory to make your rifle better than it already is.

As Sniper66 says, I'd figure you may need medium rings too. Talley will exchange the lows for you unless you lap them.

And I agree with your original statement....you DO have a dream setup!

Morrey said:

...really see no need to lap rings unless you are forced to do so for adjustment reasons.

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Just curious, what does lapping rings have to do with "adjustment"?

macgrumpy said:

Just curious, what does lapping rings have to do with "adjustment"?

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I had a ring/base set that ran me out of vertical adjustment. Instead of shimming under the rear base which I preferred, I lapped the bottom half of the front ring. I put a thin shim on top of the scope tube and shot this gun for years. This may be a last resort but it worked for me. With a different type of base than what I used on that gun, I'd prefer to shim under the rear or remove material from the bottom of the front base. This particular configuration did not allow for either.

Morrey said:

I had a ring/base set that ran me out of vertical adjustment. Instead of shimming under the rear base which I preferred, I lapped the bottom half of the front ring. I put a thin shim on top of the scope tube and shot this gun for years. This may be a last resort but it worked for me. With a different type of base than what I used on that gun, I'd prefer to shim under the rear or remove material from the bottom of the front base. This particular configuration did not allow for either.

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Unique solution, not the best but unique. Personally, I'd rather use lapping to solve the problems it was intended to solve - improving the ring to scope tube contact area. I'm not a fan of using Rube Goldberg solutions when there are more proper solutions available.

I learned long ago to get the best rings and bases you can. I have used Talley Rings and I found them difficult to perfectly square the scope to the bore. I prefer Steel Leupolds quick release and Leupold steel bases but that is just me. Use a one piece base if you find one that works well with your action. Some are not as elegant as others.

I have a one inch steel rod that I use to align the rings to each other. Beats using your scope! Then I mount the scope.

I have never dented a scope or had one that shifted after I mounted it and I have never lapped a ring set.

I use a Leupold Zero Point and have had great success getting my scopes perfectly square to the bore. Before the Zero Point I found it really difficult to get the reticle perfectly square. Now its a snap and takes just a few minutes. In addition I can get the rifle on paper from the setting I get with the Zero Point. So there is no guess work at the range, just a few minor adjustments for a perfect zero.

There is a great range of latitude in what we do ourselves and what we pay for. If you are not inclined, take it to a smith. But some things are just not that hard and your not likely to make a costly mistake mounting a scope.