How much can I lap my rings ?

Just got a scope mounting kit. Never lapped my rings before. Mounting scopes and reloading like my father taught me was always simple, then I was introduced to this site…I Spend way to much time reading and sucking in information over the past year or so.
Mounted my scope and it was shooting wild, so I pulled out the new kit. Using Talley rings and bases on my fathers old browning Mauser action 3006.
How much can I sand off ? Is this to much ?
Will the scope work again ?
Closely looking at the pic I think you should very carefully re set the pointed bars along with uniform circular tightening the top half of the rings just enough to put slight pressure on the bars. If there is no more misalignment or less than this pic then I say you are good to go ahead and lap. Probably reposition the bottom half to begin with before rechecking the bar alignment, basically double check it.
 
Garbage in garbage out. No they don't read up on all good rings, do not lap! If thats an issue it's not the rings... you're masking the problem
If you are mounting individual rings to an action that is not perfectly machined and drilled, lapping the rings is probably preferable to machining the action. Even a rail can be slightly deformed when torqued to an action that is not perfect. I agree that good rings may not need lapping, but even if it's not the fault of the rings, lapping may be the best option.
 
Old Rooster sent you Midway Video, on Lapping rings. It shows very good technique form Larry Potterfield.
 
If you are mounting individual rings to an action that is not perfectly machined and drilled, lapping the rings is probably preferable to machining the action. Even a rail can be slightly deformed when torqued to an action that is not perfect. I agree that good rings may not need lapping, but even if it's not the fault of the rings, lapping may be the best option.
It can also be a problem even if you are mounting rings to a pic rail if the pic rail has been distorted.
 
The FN Browning may be 65 years old. Exterior dimensions were not carefully controlled - pre CNC days ^^ ("action that is not perfectly machined and drilled"). Varying exterior dimesions rifle to rifle were common, like .005 or more. Screw holes may be slighly misalinged. One piece, 3 hole, ring turn in bases were common.

Mounting 2 piece bases having uniform dimensons on a receiver having variations on height of bridge & ring, along with misalinged screw holes (like 4) is certain to create scope mounting problems. $176 rings (throwing $ at problem) will not fix this.

Ring lapping will promote uniform contact between scope & inner ring surface but won't fix problems caused by failure to have axis of both rings common. The fix is to shim or bed mount bases. The best remedy would be to epoxy bed both bases using something like JB Steel Weld.

My suggestion is to buy appropriate cross slot Warne bases and Burris Signature Zee rings and shim as required. The front Warne base may be had with an extension for mounting short scopes.

IMG_1099.JPG

Here is a FN Mauser, very similar to the OP's. Same vintage give or take 3-4 years, same manufacturer, FN, about 55 years old. Observe the Burris 1 inch Signature Zee rings and Warne rear & extension front bases. Upon placing my Wheeler alignment bars in both rings with "0" inserts a noticable drop in the rear ring and left side inclination was noticed. The rear base was elevated .007 with a shim cut from a Miller Lite beer can. The left inclination was fixed by using a + 5 insert on the left side of the front ring. The scope reticle was centered by centering the reticle with its reflection in a mirror. Additional insert adjusting resulted in an otimum (best possible under restrictive conditions) scope installation without dial adjusting. No bending of scope tube, or receiver flexing.

No amount of lapping would fix the misalingment problem but would increase surface contact between scope & rings by grinding down high inner ring surfaces.




Any electrolytic corrosion between the steel base & aluminum shim (not much EMF between both) should be prevented by an application of blue grade thread locker between shim & steel. Checking out shims that have been used near salt water for many years shows no corrosion on either surface. If in doubt, steel shim material can be had at Brownell's. The aluminum shims have not been squashed by mount screw tension.
 
General question for all those that are in favor of lapping... How much lapping do you need to do fix the problem the OP originally posted about? When do you stop lapping to avoid any risks to the integrity of the rings holding a scope zero?

or can't you just get good rings like Seekins, SPUHR, ARC , skip the lapping and adjust your windage? How much windage are you dialing?...
 
Just got a scope mounting kit. Never lapped my rings before. Mounting scopes and reloading like my father taught me was always simple, then I was introduced to this site…I Spend way to much time reading and sucking in information over the past year or so.
Mounted my scope and it was shooting wild, so I pulled out the new kit. Using Talley rings and bases on my fathers old browning Mauser action 3006.
How much can I sand off ? Is this to much ?
Will the scope work again ?
General question for all those that are in favor of lapping... How much lapping do you need to do fix the problem the OP originally posted about? When do you stop lapping to avoid any risks to the integrity of the rings holding a scope zero?

or can't you just get good rings like Seekins, SPUHR, ARC , skip the lapping and adjust your windage? How much windage are you dialing?...
From the original poster's picture, assuming the alignment bars are 1", there is about a 1/64" misalignment. The alignment bars amplify the misalignment, so the amount of lapping necessary is probably a few thousandths of an inch. I would make sure the bases are set and torqued properly, with no visible gaps. Then lap for a few minutes and check how much progress is made. That would tell you the likelihood of success.
 
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