Indians For Guns

How to mount a rifle-scope without cant

Whilst my way of doing it isn't engraved in stone, it works and very well at that.

For those unfamiliar with the subject please bear in mind that the following pictures show a tip-off/dovetail mount being mounted on dovetail grooves. There are other type of scope mounts and bases but the principles of alignment of the vertical reticle and thereby the horizontal one as well, remains the same in all cases.

To start with, you will need a device to hold the rifle steady, a string or line (preferably coloured) suspended from above and with a weight at the bottom (a C-Clamp in this case) to keep it steady, torque wrench (preferred but not essential), the appropriate Allen/Hex key/s, a small spirit level and obviously the rifle, scope and scope mount.



Now before you go any further, ensure that the gun is unloaded.

Next, remove the top straps from the mounts and fix the mount base to the action. In my case I know exactly where I want to place the mount but in case you do not, you will will have to place the scope in the mount and move the base to acquire the correct eye relief or you could just fix the base and then move the scope forward or back to get the correct eye relief provided you have enough scope tube on either side of the turrets.



Put the top straps back on and screw in the fasteners a little - enough to make sure the scope does not fall off accidentally but loose enough to move the scope back and forth to get correct eye relief.



Once you have got the desired eye relief make a reference mark with a pencil just in case the scope slips within the mount.



Now suspend your reference line or string with a weight at the bottom to keep it steady.



Place the rifle in the gun rest and use something that wont damage the stock to keep the rifle from shifting unless pressure is applied to it.







If your rifle action has a flat part put the spirit level on that, failing which use double sided tape (if necessary) to stick the level to the flat part of the stock as shown.



Move the gun rest so that you can see the reference line / string more or less in the centre of the scope.

Now twist the gun a bit until the spirit level shows that the rifle is not canted to left or right, i.e. the bubble is in the centre. Henceforth, do not touch the stock, action or the table that the gun rest is placed on.

Rotate the scope so that the vertical reticle is either parallel to the reference line or overlapping it. I prefer it to be parallel.



Re-check spirit level to ensure that the bubble is still centred.

Now you start tightening the strap fasteners very gently and only one turn at a time. Keep rechecking whether the vertical reticle is aligned and that the bubble in the spirit level is in the centre. This must be done constantly.



Do not apply any sideways pressure whilst tightening the screws. Do not overtighten or else you will crimp or mark the scope tube. Tighten all screws equally, so that when you are finished doing so, the gaps between the top and bottom straps on the left and right are the same or almost the same.





You will have noticed some silver coloured markings at the 12 o'clock position on the base and strap screws. I use these as a sort of 'witness mark' as they tell me if a screw is working loose.



Please degrease the screw heads before making the marks with a permanent marker.

I usually use Loctite 243 Removable Threadlock to keep the strap screws from loosening. Please degrease the threads before applying the threadlock.

Mack The Knife

Very Nice way. You would tremble at the way I normally do mine, but then some guys have to earn the sloppy middle name.


Regards,

Dev

Thanks lot Rusty,

Though I have seen you doing it but having some kind of reference material like this is just gr888... Thanks a lot once again.

I suggest we should keep these threads in a different repository so that one can access them easily without going through old posts

-Inder

Mack The Knife

thou art a god o master! accept felicitations from a humble follower!

i agree, we should create a seperate folder for masterpieces like this! something that's easily accesible, and does not involve backwater tribesmen like me who use dial ups to twiddle their thumbs waiting for the screen to move

anand

Mack The Knife, Crystal clear instructions and photos.No one should go wrong with them.It must be made a sticky.Thanks for your time and efforts and sharing your knowledge.

Best-
Vikram

Good.
Part 2??
I see that you didnt forget your trade mark-Gold Flake Kings !
Best
Axx

Thank you for the thank yous.

Now I would very much like to hear how others, especially the experienced members like Mark, Grumpy, et al, set up their scopes.

Part 2??

You mean bore-sighting and zeroing?

I see that you didnt forget your trade mark-Gold Flake Kings!

Oi, look here you two bit quack, I only smoke posh coffin nails like B&H! Made right here in Bangalore, if you please. Now don't talk about smokes, Grumpy's trying to kick the habit.

Mack The Knife

Excellent Post!!

I actually had the oppourtunity to watch all this - when Mack The Knife was kind enough to mount a scope for the 97K and also lent a good Mount for that..

Ranjeet

You and Inder are making it sound as if I was turning water into wine.

Do tell the punters why you were lent the mount...

Incidentally, that gun rest wasn't a bought out item.

I saw a pic in a Frankonia catalogue. Used the scissor jack as a scale reference, made a drawing and had it fabricated. I do have the drawing somewhere and will post a pic of it when I find it.

You can also make a gun rest out of wood. All you need to do is shift those brain cells into gear and get sketching.

Mack The Knife

Mack The Knife wrote:Do tell the punters why you were lent the mount...

Well, I was at Mack The Knife´s place with the scope, mounts and the gun and first of all, being a novice, I had already mounted the scope myself, albeit in a very shabby manner-less told about it, the better..

And, I forgot to get the hex-wrench -or however it is called, and this damn mount had such strange dimensions that Even using Mack The Knife, entire range of hex wrenches, from Imperial to metric in every known standard size, (BTW, Mack The Knife has all of them). We couldn´d find the right wrench..

Somehow, Mack The Knife managed to open them, and anyway the mount was not for an airgun, neither the scope is, but I had only that..So Mack The Knife lent one of the mounts that he had

Well, atleast Thanks to Mack The Knife, I could shoot the rifle for a few days..

Cheers
Ranjeet

PS.- Never forget the hex-wrench

Put these instructions as a sticky. Perhaps we should have an Optics and Gadgetary section.

We all mount it in much the same way, but the real test comes at an indoor range, where pellets in groups of 3 to 5 are fired at 10m, 20m and 35 m.

Mention about AO scopes as well. Remember to set the AO ring correctly for parallax error.

It is also better to use low rings and single piece mounts for Air Rifles. Scopes always perform better if placed closer to the reciever of the rifle. This may not always be the case with air rifles although.

When adjusting the elevation and windage turrents, do it gradually and in steps. If both need adjustment, do it intermittently, not too many sudden clicks.

A sticky on care of optics will come soon.

On air rifles, scope arrestor blocks are a big help to prevent scope creep.

Care is also required in fixing the mount. Ensure it is perfectly parallel to the reciever or else the bullets will hit at an angle, left or right as the target distance increases.

hmm is the the latets scope by any chance?

Most air rifle scopes above the very basic models have AO rings now on the objective bell. Further advancements are focusing wheels, sliding wheels with rangefinder and of course the range compensating Milli Dot Scopes.

Reputed makers like Nikon and Simmons too have entered the Air Rifle scope field now.

Yes Navdeep, that's the scope you brought back.

No scope, no article. The board owes you as well.

Mack The Knife