Do you lap the whole ring or just bottom half only

[Rum River]

It's my opinion that if whatever brand rings have aligned correctly upon installation (no binding - true to the bore) no lapping is needed.

If lapping is needed I always lap both top and bottom, otherwise how do you know if you're addressing whatever problem? It's also possible to lap too much - resulting in loose rings. I clean the abrasive off the rings periodically to test fit the scope tube so I don't go too far.

 

[shortgrass]

On 'regular' style rings, where you'd have the 'flanges', where the screws go thru, just take some off where those 'flanges' meet.

 

[COBrad]

Most of my rings anymore are high end known for tight tolerances mounted on pic rails. I run Talley light weights on a custom ultralight rifle, and they are bedded to the action with the scope bedded into the lower rings. I don't own a lapping bar anymore.

 

[ntsqd]

Some put way too much faith in "CNC Machined"

This can't be said enough it seems. Somehow "CNC machined" has come to mean that anything made that way will be prefect. Nothing could be farther from the truth, but Marketing triumphs over reality once again. For those that insist on CNC'd rings not needing to be lapped, you need to know that CNC machines do not move in circles. They move in straight lines and a "circle" to them is a sequence of many short, straight lines. The results look round to the naked eye, but it is pretty much impossible to make something that is actually round that way. When you lap something made this way you will see the high and low areas.

Lapp with the tops on the rings. You aren't just getting the rings into perfect alignment, you're also making sure that the ring bores are perfectly round.

I lightly lap every ring set as that is how I determine just how well aligned they actually are. This is a fitting process very similar to using machinist's dykem to find the high and low points between fitted parts. The lapping bar is a proxy for how the rings will fit the scope and lightly lapping the rings show where the rings will and won't make contact with the scope.

I wonder how the Old snap on Weavers ever worked?

Poorly.

 

[Bob Wright]

This can't be said enough it seems. Somehow "CNC machined" has come to mean that anything made that way will be prefect. Nothing could be farther from the truth, but Marketing triumphs over reality once again. For those that insist on CNC'd rings not needing to be lapped, you need to know that CNC machines do not move in circles. They move in straight lines and a "circle" to them is a sequence of many short, straight lines. The results look round to the naked eye, but it is pretty much impossible to make something that is actually round that way. When you lap something made this way you will see the high and low areas.

Lapp with the tops on the rings. You aren't just getting the rings into perfect alignment, you're also making sure that the ring bores are perfectly round.

I lightly lap every ring set as that is how I determine just how well aligned they actually are. This is a fitting process very similar to using machinist's dykem to find the high and low points between fitted parts. The lapping bar is a proxy for how the rings will fit the scope and lightly lapping the rings show where the rings will and won't make contact with the scope.


Poorly.

CNC is a product of how well it was programmed, tooled and the guy pushing the button. All human intervention. It's not some "AI" thing that never fails. It does. Don't get me started on the word "BILLET" either, lol.

 

[ntsqd]

Even when the guy doing the programming understands the desired results and sacrifices machine time to make the step-over's really tiny, they're still there.

Well, would you rather have Cast Billet, or Extruded Billet? LOL.......

 

[KoolBreeze]

Any of you guys tried one of these alignment tools? Curious how it compares to the something like Wheeler.

 

[Pdvdh]

With a quality set of rings, I would only lap the bottom half.

I don't care for Talley. I do like and use Seekins rings.

 

[adam32+P]

Don't get me started on the word "BILLET" either, lol.

Don't forget "aircraft" or "military" grade...

 

[gslinger]

Any of you guys tried one of these alignment tools? Curious how it compares to the something like Wheeler.

He also uses good rings and they don't line up.
I have a nightforce rail and rings that don't line up.

 

[ntsqd]

Any of you guys tried one of these alignment tools? Curious how it compares to the something like Wheeler.

Maybe that tool will help others and I think that it is a far better design than those with the pointed ends (although I think that the sliding sleeve should be longer and know that it's own operational clearance introduces some error), but to me it seems like a lot of effort to replace what a lapping bar will tell me.

 

[Floridaboy123]

Even when the guy doing the programming understands the desired results and sacrifices machine time to make the step-over's really tiny, they're still there.

Well, would you rather have Cast Billet, or Extruded Billet? LOL.......

Nothing wrong with cnc processes if correct tooling and set up is used. I've made them before on conventional mills and cnc. After interpolation of holes with end mill the holes are finished with high quality boring head. I've held tolerances .0002 - .0004 in titanium.

 

[JWhitty]

Had a nationally known builder show me how to lap and install. Lapping only the bottom of the rings making it harder to need new rings. Install on my plain-Jane 700 in 7mm08 serves me well out to 700yds (distance limited by base/ring setup -no +moa).
I've done close to 100 installs since w/ 0 issues

 

[ntsqd]

Nothing wrong with cnc processes if correct tooling and set up is used. I've made them before on conventional mills and cnc. After interpolation of holes with end mill the holes are finished with high quality boring head. I've held tolerances .0002 - .0004 in titanium.

I didn't say that there was, just that it won't be truly round.

If you're using a boring head to follow up then either you're doing the rings one at a time or you've got a fair amount of tool deflection due to stick-out length that you need to compensate for in order to hold those kind of tols.

When I see a Sunnen MBB or better honing machine in the shop photos of a ring mfg, particularly a one piece ring mfg, then I'll consider not checking alignment with a light lapping because at that point the rings are quite probably straighter and rounder than the scope tube is.