kjclark7,

You can do it yourself, and if you are like me, you enjoy doing the work yourself. Like they say, preparation is half of the hunt and just as much fun. Let me offer a few tips that will ensure your hunt will be as fun as your preparation.

1.) Whether or not your base and rings use slotted or torex headed screws make sure your tools properly fit or you will end up doing more damage than not to the heads of the screws. Also get yourself a hand driver, like screwdriver, they work better than the small, usually cheap, allen-wrenches provided.

2.) When mounting your base/bases, make sure any and all oil is cleaned from the gun surface and threaded hole, Gun Scrubber or Remington Action Cleaner, from Walmart, work great for this. On your base screws go ahead and use loc-tite, these screws are no longer accessible after you mount your scope and you don't want them coming loose. Use the blue loc-tite and not red, the red is permanent. Key Tip, assuming we are working with a steel gun receiver and steel screws here, run the base screws down hand tight with your driver. Then, while still applying pressure tap the butt of the driver with a hammer, you are simulating an impact wrench and will get about another 1/16 turn. If you receiver and screw are steel you will not strip the holes or screws. Do not use the impact tip if either of these two pieces are aluminum.

3.) If you are using Leupold style rings that have a windage adjustment then you will need a scope alignment tool. A 1" doll rod or broom stick will work but recommend getting a better toll if you are going to continue mounting other scopes. This tool is crucial. If you mount a scope in rings that are not aligned you will bend the scope tube and which could result in scope failure.

4.) Remember, when bore sighting from the gun barrel, you scope adjustments will be backwards vs. adjusting from an actual point of impact on paper.

5.) I almost forgot, do not overtighten your rings. No more than hand tight and that is even more than required in some case. You do not want to dent the scope tube.


Edited by - Toby from MO on 12/22/2002 12:48:57