tightening scope mounts ?
- Thread starter rebs
- Start date
^^^^^^this! Always!!!
I absolutely use a torque wrench!
In my case a Wheeler Fat Wrench.
With some of these scopes requiring 18 inlb(Vortex), i'm not about to chance damaging a $200+ scope.
Also there is a proceedure for tuning your action that requires it.
And make sure the driver fits properly.
In my case a Wheeler Fat Wrench.
With some of these scopes requiring 18 inlb(Vortex), i'm not about to chance damaging a $200+ scope.
Also there is a proceedure for tuning your action that requires it.
And make sure the driver fits properly.
I haven't had a chance to play with the digital version. The analog one seems fine and the calibration tag that came with mine showed it was spot on in the middle of the range when it left the factory.
The thing to be aware of with any of the spring detent style torque wrenches is the springs can take a set over time and they can go out of calibration. Always leave them on the lowest setting when you aren't going to use them for a while. Take them to a shop that can check the calibration every couple of years if you don't know how to set up to check it yourself. If calibration checks scare you, buy a swing-arm torque wrench and learn how to use the handle correctly and it will never go out of calibration if you treat it nicely.
The whole point of having one of these wrenches is to take the "personally" out of the equation. It should be right, and not too high or too low. If you think it is off, get the calibration checked. If it is calibrated correctly, then you are actually questioning the scope maker's specification, and that is always worth double-checking with them. They should have a range and they should be able to tell you how lubrication with oil or grease or an anti-seize compound affects the spec. Lubrication will let you tighten screws further with the same amount of torque. This actually holds on better than screws tightened without lube. The military figured this out long ago when, persistent wive's tale to the contrary, they determined that lubricated wheel lug nuts actually held wheels on better than dry ones because they were tightened further by the same amount of torque applied to the wrench when a flat was changed.
The thing to be aware of with any of the spring detent style torque wrenches is the springs can take a set over time and they can go out of calibration. Always leave them on the lowest setting when you aren't going to use them for a while. Take them to a shop that can check the calibration every couple of years if you don't know how to set up to check it yourself. If calibration checks scare you, buy a swing-arm torque wrench and learn how to use the handle correctly and it will never go out of calibration if you treat it nicely.
Pahoo said:
The whole point of having one of these wrenches is to take the "personally" out of the equation. It should be right, and not too high or too low. If you think it is off, get the calibration checked. If it is calibrated correctly, then you are actually questioning the scope maker's specification, and that is always worth double-checking with them. They should have a range and they should be able to tell you how lubrication with oil or grease or an anti-seize compound affects the spec. Lubrication will let you tighten screws further with the same amount of torque. This actually holds on better than screws tightened without lube. The military figured this out long ago when, persistent wive's tale to the contrary, they determined that lubricated wheel lug nuts actually held wheels on better than dry ones because they were tightened further by the same amount of torque applied to the wrench when a flat was changed.
I suggest four things for mounting your scope.
1) Torque wrench.
2) An assortment of quality heads that will actually fit in the type of screw head you are mounting.
3) I don't use Lock-tite. But I use black finger nail polish and I just coat the threads lightly.
4) A scope leveler.
Now are any of these things a must? Well of course not, but I have been doing this for years to many rifles and all is good.
1) Torque wrench.
2) An assortment of quality heads that will actually fit in the type of screw head you are mounting.
3) I don't use Lock-tite. But I use black finger nail polish and I just coat the threads lightly.
4) A scope leveler.
Now are any of these things a must? Well of course not, but I have been doing this for years to many rifles and all is good.
The leveler is a good point. I bought one from NECO years ago that rests a V on the barrel and an adjustable one on the scope bell with a bubble level on it. It works on the assumption the scope is straight above the bore line, so it won't work with an offset scope like a Garand or M14 scope mount has. But assuming your scope is straight up, as most are, you can then adjust the feet on your gun vice to bring the gun to vertical. Once you've done that, a plumb line or a vertical line from self-leveling laser projected on a wall may be used to set the scope reticule to vertical. I go around the screws like I was putting a head back on an engine, alternating diagonal sides while watching that vertical alignment. The idea is the rings will try to pull the scope off vertical when you tighten just one side, and I want that to happen by equal amounts all around.
Brian Pfleuger
Moderator Emeritus
I find the Wheeler Professional Scope Mounting Kit to be well worth the money, just for my peace of mind.
No. More. Guessing.
On UncleNick's point about the lube, the reason for that is simple really... most of the torque on dry surfaces goes to friction between either the 2 sets of threads or between head and surface... when those areas are lubed, the torque is transferred to clamping force. If you're not lubricating, you're wasting torque... unless the manufacturer calls for dry torque.
No. More. Guessing.
On UncleNick's point about the lube, the reason for that is simple really... most of the torque on dry surfaces goes to friction between either the 2 sets of threads or between head and surface... when those areas are lubed, the torque is transferred to clamping force. If you're not lubricating, you're wasting torque... unless the manufacturer calls for dry torque.
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Amen
^^^This^^^
Scopes are pretty tough but they hate being being distorted so I use torque wrench with no Loctite. A Vortex tech guy told me that Loctite can throw off your torque measurement and cause you to overtorque. Never heard that before but I haven't used it since and have never had any loosening problems without it