Do you guys mount your own scopes?

American_Fusilier said:

Do you guys mount your own scopes, or do you take them to a Smith to mount?

What do you guys do?

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I mount my own.
Use a 1 inch riser in a machine vise.
I level the vice, then add the scope rings / mount and recheck for level.
Add the scope, and check it for level.
Tighten it up making sure it stays level, remove it from the riser and mount on the gun. Has worked perfectly for me.

I am with Spats McGee. But then I do not buy $2500 scopes either. So far I have had no problems. I have had to shim mounts and to reject bad rings though. I am pretty careful but also probably a bit ignorant. Most things in my life have been approached that way.

I mount my own scopes. I do have a Wheeler kit and use it. Before that I bought a low tech item that you level on the receiver with rubber bands. It has wings (for serious lack of a better description) with leveling lines that you line up horizontally with the reticle. I use the light fixture on the side of my neighbor's house or the neighbor's mailbox across the street from him to bore sight. They're exactly 100yds from the front of my garage. Center them in the bore, and I'm on paper at 100 yds. If I can't see down the bore, I use a laser pen and my garage door that gets me close enough although I start zeroing at much shorter ranges. Even if I use the Wheeler kit, I still double check it with that little gizmo. And, I still use the light and mailbox for bore sighting probably making my neighbors a little nervous.

Spats McGee said:

I mount my own scopes. I probably have neither the correct tools nor adequate skills, but I do it anyway.

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I'm a graduate from the same school.

In a few minutes I'll mount a Leupold VariX 3-9 Compact on top of my new-to-me Kimber Hunter in the new-to-me 6.5 Manbun-moor. I think I'm going to like something light that has light recoil and is easy to load for.

Well since every rifle I've ever bought and kept is an erector set of spare parts
Yes I mount and dismount everything myself. Every scope I own has been on every rifle I own. I'm am not alone

I mount most scopes myself as long as it is a mater of aligning parts and no machining required.

It is not rocket science if you are handy with good tools.

If the frame needs some precision machining, then I’d use a competent gunsmith.

I have the equipment and experience for drilling and tapping a Weigand scope mount on a 1911 frame. It works well (sorry, I cannot access the photo from my phone).

As Dirty Harry said, “ A man’s to know his limitations.”

Personally, I’d prefer a frame mounted optical sight on my semi-auto 10mm than a slide mounted sight.

I always mount my own scopes. It helps to have a set of levels and a laser. The laser lets me get close enough but final adjustments are made on paper at 50 yards.

Steven

I’ve always mounted my own scopes.
i didn’t know you weren’t supposed too.

Spats McGee said:

I mount my own scopes. I probably have neither the correct tools nor adequate skills, but I do it anyway.

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As Mr. McGee has stated, I have no special tools, or definitely any skill.
I set up my rifle in my cleaning vise, on my kitchen counter, and aim it at my fireplace in which the mantle is level.
I make sure the top of the rifle is level, and level the crosshairs with the mantle of the fireplace tighten everything down and test it at the range.
i hunt out to 300 yards and I’m usually able to get inside a six inch target at that distance.

I have seen mismachined bases, rings.
Also seen receivers not D& T correctly ( alignment ).
Dropping a machined rod or scope alignment bars in the rings BEFORE trying a scope can avoid an expensive oops.

Got a boogered up rifle.a while back and had to shim one of the bases and use a lot of windage adj to the rear ring. Got it perfect.....because of my Brownells scope alignment kit.

I do have a few pairs of rings from previous use, and theyve checked good. So plopping them on a pic rail is of no concern

Ive had one base messed up by the maker. Discovered before any scope mounted.
Worked in a shop yrs ago and saw a couple bad sets of rings and receiver D&T errors.

Not common, but does happen.

Im just using mid or low level Leupolds, not S&B or Swaro. And I still double check LOL

I do it myself. I don't consider it any harder than cleaning the same guns I'm mounting said scope to.

Just did another today.
Got my new scope rings, did per instructions (light torque settings recommended by manufacturer).
Then took it all apart, yup............no marks on scope.

Scope was level too LOL

Oh well, didn't like the aesthetics of these rings, back to the drawing board.

FWIW bought one of those Arisaka leveler tools a while back, for my Savage TR and it didn't work for me.
Seems as though crosshairs not always square with turret body bottom, or scope cap.
Gave up and went back to eyeballing em.

I have to keep reminding myself, some folks cannot be trusted with a screwdriver or wrench. They'll find a way to break a hammer and no threaded hole is safe. I've known people like that. I make my living pecking on this keyboard and I thank the Lord for it but I'd rather be working with my hands. It's difficult for me to fathom 'not' being adept at using hand tools, fixing and building stuff.

‘Gun Smith’, like Hero kinda gets tossed around rather loosely.

Getting a scope mounted at the shops in Cabelas, Sportsmans or any other retail store doesn’t ensure it’s a smith that’s doing it. In fact, it’s almost a sure bet it isn’t in those instances.

Even if a ‘smith’ went to a certified school there is a difference in skill levels between most. I stopped in at a store that focuses on the tactical end of the business because they advertised they had a cert. smith on staff. Shop mounted scopes, provided cleaning, swapping out rear stocks, forehand guards, dropping in triggers and I think cera coating. That’s not gunsmithing in my book.

A good smith is hard to find and worth their weight in gold. The one I use has a milling machine in his shop larger than my side by side fridge. Bought it at a gov auction from an AF installation. His motto is “if I can’t find the part I’ll make it”. THAT’S a smith.

Now back to the bat channel…I mount my own scopes using some of the techniques already mentioned above. Learned some things here and there over the years but it don’t make me a smith.

Dont be too hard on all the " parts changers ", some have excellent troubleshooting skills.

Have seen some smiths and others blow it.

Frulk said:

‘Gun Smith’, like Hero kinda gets tossed around rather loosely.

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Amen to that!

I've been doing my own for over 50 years with no special tools. I bore sight bolt actions by removing the bolt and looking down the bore. Anything else I just start from scratch.

Ok maybe I’m an idiot, (I am very inexperienced with optics in general) …if a scope has appropriately sized rings and the receiver is appropriately equipped with a rail, dovetail, or drilled and tapped holes, what do you need a level and a bar and a plumb bob and a vise and all the other stuff for? I probably wouldn’t want to drill and tap my own gun because obviously getting a hole position wrong or at an angle would be a bad day. But assuming that’s already done, what’s so hard about screwing it all together? Assuming I can go to the range and adjust the scope after, to get it all zeroed, of course.

A level scope will (should) be specific in its vertical and horizontal adjustments.
Kind of a thing when shooting/dialing for longer distances.

Mosin77 said:

.....what do you need a level and a bar and a plumb bob and a vise and all the other stuff for?

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To level the reticle.

Mosin77 said:

if a scope has appropriately sized rings and the receiver is appropriately equipped with a rail, dovetail, or drilled and tapped holes,

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All of these things only connect pieces together.

None of these things level the scope reticle or elevator assembly to the align to the bore. None of these things control relative alignment between the pieces.

Why do autoshops align steering linkages? Why do they balance tires? All of those components will bolt together - why do they still need to be aligned? Pretty simple, right?

Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification! The couple I have done, I’ve eyeballed, and they’ve been pretty much spot-on. In a former career I did adjust mechanisms to very precise tolerances, mostly by eye and feel, so maybe I’m making light of something that’s a challenge. That said, I bet the actually plumb and level crosshair is going to be more accurate than mine at ranges greater than a hundred and fifty yards which is normally as far as I shoot. Anyone recommend a good YouTube video for this?