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Scope Rings - Any Pitfalls?

BoxcarPete

Stainless
Joined
Nov 30, 2018
Location
Michigan, USA
I recently got a new deer gun - a .308 drilled and tapped for a scope mount. I got a deal on a scope and now have both bits in hand, this is my first gun that I'm putting a scope on so I figured I'd wait to have both ends before dealing with the middle.

Now, I'm wondering if it's worth making scope rings specifically to mount to the tapped holes rather than getting a base and then adding rings to that. Since I'm a newbie to scoped rifles I figured it would be worth dropping a line here to find out if there's anything I'm missing since it looks pretty straightforward.

So, any hidden pitfalls I should worry about, or just match up the scope and hole pattern? On hand my top choices are 6061, 7075, and 17-4ph that I could conveniently work with.
 
Depends on the action and how straight it is on top. Direct mount rings being a problem if it's not. I can rant on for hours about one I have. But a day or two of radius dressing wheels and surface grinding made it usable.

There are direct mount rings available. Again, depends on the action. Most likely you won't have any major problems with a factory action.

Made from scratch would allow you to 'fix' this as you go, if needed. Machine the bottoms to fit, take some reference cuts on them while attached, and then pull them off to finish. I knew a guy 40 years ago who made his own bases so they could be surface ground straight while attached to the receiver. He did a lot of custom Mausers and M-70's. I don't remember what rings he used, probably Buehler. He made the most beautiful octagon barrels I've ever seen. All surface ground, with integral ribs, sight bases, and sling studs.
 
Depends on the action and how straight it is on top. Direct mount rings being a problem if it's not. I can rant on for hours about one I have. But a day or two of radius dressing wheels and surface grinding made it usable.

There are direct mount rings available. Again, depends on the action. Most likely you won't have any major problems with a factory action.

Made from scratch would allow you to 'fix' this as you go, if needed. Machine the bottoms to fit, take some reference cuts on them while attached, and then pull them off to finish. I knew a guy 40 years ago who made his own bases so they could be surface ground straight while attached to the receiver. He did a lot of custom Mausers and M-70's. I don't remember what rings he used, probably Buehler. He made the most beautiful octagon barrels I've ever seen. All surface ground, with integral ribs, sight bases, and sling studs.

"Available" is a relative term in today's market. In this case, I was able to confirm that they are made for this rifle (so I am on the right track) but didn't find any in the size I need. My scope should come with plenty of adjustment for your method, cutting the bottom, mounting them, and taking some light cuts while mounted to gage the sizing for parallelism. But, the barrel is tapered so it'll be a bit of a trick for me to indicate it in for this method.

My brothers want to go to the range this Saturday, figured it'd be the perfect chance to sight in, and I'm not likely to get any rings between now and then unless I put a few hours in making them myself.
 
Go off of the bolt bore. And throw a 1/4° down slope on while you're at it. It's 15 minutes of free elevation for long range. And won't be noticeable up close. Or not, your choice.

What action, BTW? A round action, Remington or Savage, can be held in a simple v-block with the action screws.

If you can find some 'Picatinny' style rings, here are the dim's for the base. Fairly straight forward to do while on the action, if you can hold on to it.

Picatinny rail - Wikipedia
 
The action is a Browning AB3, which I understand is distinct from the old A-bolt style.

browning.jpg

Round on top, and without taking off the stock, looks round below the angled sides as well. The direct-mount rings have the appearance of a v-block themselves, having a flat land between two shallow angled faces.

That being how it is, I'm not 100% sure if I want to hold it. I have a vision system that could use the bolt itself to check my in-process mounts to the axis with a high degree of accuracy, if you think the exposed section of bolt will get me close enough to the true axis.
 
The action is a Browning AB3, which I understand is distinct from the old A-bolt style.

View attachment 311171

Round on top, and without taking off the stock, looks round below the angled sides as well. The direct-mount rings have the appearance of a v-block themselves, having a flat land between two shallow angled faces.

That being how it is, I'm not 100% sure if I want to hold it. I have a vision system that could use the bolt itself to check my in-process mounts to the axis with a high degree of accuracy, if you think the exposed section of bolt will get me close enough to the true axis.

It's a Browning. It's Japanese made. It's straight ;-)

Just make some bases and screw them on.
 
It's a Browning. It's Japanese made. It's straight ;-)

Just make some bases and screw them on.

Good, glad to hear that it should be about as straightforward as it looks to a newbie looking to crack into the realm of gunsmithing with something simple. Don't know if this really even counts as gunsmithing, but we're taking baby steps here.
 
I recently got a new deer gun - a .308 drilled and tapped for a scope mount. I got a deal on a scope and now have both bits in hand, this is my first gun that I'm putting a scope on so I figured I'd wait to have both ends before dealing with the middle.

Now, I'm wondering if it's worth making scope rings specifically to mount to the tapped holes rather than getting a base and then adding rings to that. Since I'm a newbie to scoped rifles I figured it would be worth dropping a line here to find out if there's anything I'm missing since it looks pretty straightforward.

So, any hidden pitfalls I should worry about, or just match up the scope and hole pattern? On hand my top choices are 6061, 7075, and 17-4ph that I could conveniently work with.

is it worth it NO because rings and bases can be had for cheap. is it fun or you want to try yes.
There is a few things about making rings even bases , if your making rings make then .001-.003 smaller than scope dia then lap them in after mounted as if not you will twist your scope (even on factory rings and stuff lap them in) Lapping them in meaning using a long aluminum rod with lapping compound the size of your scope. and screw the caps down evenly till they clean up.
on factory rings sometime you will see a .010 difference between front and back.
it has alot to do with how you tighten your bases to your receiver as well not to mention the receiver screw holes can be out a few thou as well, one reason quality stuff cost big bucks and some of that isnt that good.
Ive lapped weaver/ leupold bases to match the curve of my receivers in the past.

I personally think making them is cool, but you cant be cutting corners and hacking stuff. Alum is fine and works perfectly 17-4 15-5 and tool steels are fine also but cost more to work with.
 
is it worth it NO because rings and bases can be had for cheap. is it fun or you want to try yes.

Call it a peculiarity, eccentricity, or mental sickness, but I derive significantly more pleasure from using a tool or device that I made myself. Since I purchased the firearm and scope from someone else already, making even this small part of it on my own is a way to make it mine in a way that it was not before. So, is it worth it from a $$$ perspective? Probably not, but it has value to me.

That said, if I go with aluminum, wouldn't it be best to lap with a plastic rod to keep grit from embedding? The idea being to match the diameter all around the ring, not to get some rough bits embedded on both sides to bite into the scope surface.
 
I've bedded them with Devcon. Wax the scope tube and sides of the rings. Set the scope in and push it down at the rings so you're not flexing it. Leave the caps off. After it's cured,remove the scope and flake away the epoxy that squished out. Much cleaner than trying to wipe the excess off while it's still sticky.

Some rings are good out of the box, but need work because of the bases. And some are just trash to begin with. I spent a day setting up my CNC to reprofile 5 or 6 sets that were out of line horizontally by a significant amount. Stuck them on a rail mounted vertical,and profiled them with a 2" LOC 1/2" carbide endmill.

The last set I made on an integral base for a pistol. I 3d profiled them and all fit just fine.
 
Weaver type base and mid price rings. Am sure someone offers an off the shelf combo for that rifle.

Deer rifle in Michigan don't need MOA. Standing shot no bench is the reality so 5 - 6 inches at 200 meters will get the job done.
 
Since nobody has mentioned them yet, you should know that Burris Signature Rings come with spherical plastic inserts so they will never mar your scope. They are nice, but not a practical DIY project.

In addition,if you ever did want to do any long range shooting they offer asymmetric inserts to give you various degrees of initial slope to your scope.Signature Rings.jpg
 
I half-considered tossing a pair of o-ring grooves in each one, but decided that might make it "float" too much. Maybe not after all. But that would require me to set up in the 4-jaw, which I'd like to avoid if I can.
 
I make scope rings. So far only for dovetailed rifles. The tendency is for people to think since the big guns have bolt on bases that's the best/strongest. It shouldn't be too hard to convince people here that a dovetail milled right into the action is better and more precise than some screws through clearance holes. Anyway, I suggest getting or making some decent bases and bolt them to the rifle. When you do put some devcon epoxy between the base and action. This keeps the base from sliding. You can still take it off if you want, take the screws out and pop the bases off, but it won't move on its own. Before it all sets up check alignment with a straight edge. Then buy or make some rings. Mine are 6061. The screws break before the threads strip so I can't see much advantage to 7075. The top caps are .07" thick mostly. I think this makes sort-of a band clamp. Seems to grab very well and allows the ring to deform a little to fit the scope rather than gouging the scope finish.

Regarding the Burris signature rings. It sounds like a good idea but I had a set once. I wasn't impressed. The inserts are just molded plastic and the rings themselves, at least mine, were not very precisely made. Mounting the scope just seemed like a squishy mess the way the plastic fit into the rings. There was a guy that made the similar idea but out of metal. That were very nice. I think it was Jewel.

Part of the last few days work below. These are for the CZ527.
File_000.jpgFile_000 (1).jpg

Here are some of my 11mm dovetail rings on a Rem 700 308. I made these bases. The rings are some of my early ones with kind of crappy anodize.
Rem 700 D3 Ringsa.jpg

I don't know why the pictures look so small. The web site seems to squash them down a lot.
 
I don't know why the pictures look so small.

Those are thumbnails; click on them and they will expand.

Sir, could you please clear some room in your inbox.

"GGaskill has exceeded their stored private messages quota and cannot accept further messages until they clear some space."
 
Regarding the Burris signature rings. It sounds like a good idea but I had a set once. I wasn't impressed. The inserts are just molded plastic and the rings themselves, at least mine, were not very precisely made. Mounting the scope just seemed like a squishy mess the way the plastic fit into the rings. There was a guy that made the similar idea but out of metal. That were very nice. I think it was Jewel.

Part of the last few days work below. These are for the CZ527.
View attachment 311374View attachment 311375

Well, since you're in the ring business it wouldn't do to say anything too nice about Signatures.
At the moment, I have 6 mounted scopes. Four are in Signature rings. As long as they are available I won't buy anything else. Now, If I ever get that CZ 527 I've long wanted, I might have to try yours.
 
Since nobody has mentioned them yet, you should know that Burris Signature Rings come with spherical plastic inserts so they will never mar your scope. They are nice, but not a practical DIY project.

In addition,if you ever did want to do any long range shooting they offer asymmetric inserts to give you various degrees of initial slope to your scope.

Im ordering a set of those for my ATN LT thermal scope. When you adjust the sights it doesnt move the optics, it moves the dot on the screen so my dot is now not centered. Im going to use the rings to move the whole scope and keep the dot centered.
 








 
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