Southernfryedyankee
Well-Known Member
I was just wondering. I have Dednutz scope mounts on my rifles which claims no lapping required. On my next build I dont plan on using the Dednutz mounts and might need to lap my new rings.
How many of you lap your scope rings?
- Thread starter Southernfryedyankee
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7mmSendaro
Well-Known Member
I have not used that particular brand of rings, but I ALWAYS lap my scope rings before mounting a scope.
jimbires
Well-Known Member
I lap mine now. I didn't before . Jim
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I start the lapping process and check the wear pattern on the lower ring. If its a good fit, then I leave well enough alone. If I see the lapping bar is only making contact with a small portion of the lower ring mating surface, then I lap until I get about 75% contact and call it good. I find that most often, some lapping is required to get good scope tube contact on one or both lower ring halves.
6BRBB
Active Member
I lap all of my rifles. All have Nightforce scopes, Nightforce or IOR rings, and full lenght (Picatinny or similar) mounting rails. I figure after spending so much money on the action, scope rings, and scope you want to apply a similar amount of accuracy and fit between the scope and the rest of the rifle. I use the lapping tool & compound that Sinclairr International sells. My process is as described by Phorwath above. Sometimes very little lapping is required, other times it takes a little more; but usually its takes no more than 10 minutes. If I remove the scope rings from the rifle then I always re-lap when they go back on; however it is always a very good idea if the rings are going back on the same rifle you record their orientation so they go back in the same order, direction, and position on the rail (if possible) to minimise the lapping required! Applying this process for example when an action is re-barreled and not changing the scope zero I have found the point of impact may hardly change at all (e.g. within 1 MOA!! - or maybe i just got lucky).
Southernfryedyankee
Well-Known Member
Ok cool, thank you all VERY MUCH for your help
silvertip-co
Well-Known Member
Never had the need to lap.
How do you know? do you have a lap bar? how do you check?
If you don't lap there is no way to know how bad the fit is.
lots of rings say no need to lap, but they bolt to a base thats bolted to the action
I think it is almost common sense, if you have a lap bar to check all rings some need very little some will surprise you.
I can't believe a guy would spend several hundred bucks on a scope and not check with his lap bar.
Cam
Varmint Hunter
Well-Known Member
I always lap my Burris Signature rings but you have to be careful because it's easy to take too much plastic off the inserts.
Seven Oaks
Well-Known Member
Varmint Hunter, you made me laugh. Thanks.
I lapped my dovetail Rings. I also have a DNZ 30MM Gamereaper mount and I didn't lap them per instructions not too.
For years I didn't bother doing it as I shot rather mild recoiling calibers (.35 Rem, .308, & .270 Win.) I started doing it with my magnums and knock on wood I have not had any shift in zero on those rifles.
I lapped my dovetail Rings. I also have a DNZ 30MM Gamereaper mount and I didn't lap them per instructions not too.
For years I didn't bother doing it as I shot rather mild recoiling calibers (.35 Rem, .308, & .270 Win.) I started doing it with my magnums and knock on wood I have not had any shift in zero on those rifles.
Varmint Hunter
Well-Known Member
On the serious side, I have a few tacticle ring & base set-ups that were lapped by my smith. However, I am now totally sold on the Burris Signature series (insert) rings. Properly installed, they can solve any alignment problems that may exist, can provide quite a bit of elevation, do not bind scope tubes, do not mar scope tubes, and have never slipped on any of my rifles that have them.
MontanaRifleman
Well-Known Member
Reading this thread with interest. I've just ordered NF 20 MOA Picatinny base and Ti alloy rings for my NSX going on a Sendero. I've read some posts that said NF rings on NF bases probably dont need lapping which is something I want to avoid if possible.
I want to use the scope on one or two other rifles as well until I get rich enough to but more scopes If I have to lap the rings on one setup, where does that leave me in mounting on another rail on another rifle???
-MR
I want to use the scope on one or two other rifles as well until I get rich enough to but more scopes
If I have to lap the rings on one setup, where does that leave me in mounting on another rail on another rifle???-MR
Only way I know of to find out how good a fit you have on any of your rifles with the scope base and lower ring halves installed would be to start the lapping process with a lapping bar and then look at the lower ring surface and see what % of contact is being made by the lapping bar.
I mounted scopes for many years without any lapping and I'm still alive. I know of no way to quantify how much lapping helps maintain scope consistency, or how much a lack of lapping hurts consistent performance. I'm convinced a lapped, full-contact fit is best. How bad of a fit you can get away with before you might start to see some inconsistencies? I couldn't pretend to know, and don't see how anyone could say. I know it takes so little time to lap, that I prefer not to risk this potential source of problems. But I'd still mount a scope and hunt with it if I had no way of lapping the scope rings in. At this point I'm pretty much set up to lap the rings and there's little reason not to.
A health analagy could be cancer or the flu. How does one ever know exactly what caused them? Or what combination of causes? Since I started lapping scope rings, I'm finding that most of them are off at least a little, and it generally doesn't take too much lapping to obtain 75% contact. I have had one set that was off quite a bit. I use Seekin's aluminum scope rings. I've never lapped a set of steel scope rings yet. I imagine steel would likely take a little more time and effort than my 7075 grade of aluminum.
I mounted scopes for many years without any lapping and I'm still alive. I know of no way to quantify how much lapping helps maintain scope consistency, or how much a lack of lapping hurts consistent performance. I'm convinced a lapped, full-contact fit is best. How bad of a fit you can get away with before you might start to see some inconsistencies? I couldn't pretend to know, and don't see how anyone could say. I know it takes so little time to lap, that I prefer not to risk this potential source of problems. But I'd still mount a scope and hunt with it if I had no way of lapping the scope rings in. At this point I'm pretty much set up to lap the rings and there's little reason not to.
A health analagy could be cancer or the flu. How does one ever know exactly what caused them? Or what combination of causes? Since I started lapping scope rings, I'm finding that most of them are off at least a little, and it generally doesn't take too much lapping to obtain 75% contact. I have had one set that was off quite a bit. I use Seekin's aluminum scope rings. I've never lapped a set of steel scope rings yet. I imagine steel would likely take a little more time and effort than my 7075 grade of aluminum.
