I have never mounted a scope on a gun before, always bought locally then had bass pro pic out rings, base and mount. This time, i jumped on a scope online and wonder if you can suggest tools and tips to mount, which may simply be to take it to bass pro and pay to have bore sight, mounted, etc. but i wouldnt mind tackling myself

Also, replacing existing 40mm scope and med rings with one that is also 40mm but the new scope is 1 inch vs old being 30mm. Can i keep the base but will need new rings? Do the brands need to be compatible between base and rings?

I bet bass pro might mount scope for free as long as im buying rings from them but havent asked. Is that my best route?

if you have never mounted a scope before your best bet would be to take it to a gun shop and have them do it for you. they will tell you what best bases and rings to use and usually bore sight it for you.

Mounting a scope is a basic do-it-yourself project that is easily accomplished. View a couple of videos and dive in. There are countless videos of varying quality available for free on the internet.

I once watched an employee at a gun store mount a scope for a customer so that one of the turrets was on the bottom (that is really wrong). The guys behind the counter at places like BPS may or may not know how to do it properly.

A torque wrench that reads in inch pounds (as opposed to foot pounds) is helpful, but not necessary.

Thx. I found a good video from larry potter of midway It was interesting. Btw, to your point, bps mounted my swarovski last time and they mounted the scope cock eyed. It has bothered me from day one but i never had them fix it bc it is sighted in perfectly. Every time i look at it, for last 14 years, i think about those morons.

Just back the screws out a bit and rotate the scope to level. Crooked crosshairs are a bad thing at longer ranges. Most likely your rifle will still be on target after you fix it if all you do is rotate the barrel of the scope a small amount.

Larry Potterfield makes some good videos but he sometimes pushes Midway products that are nice but not really needed. For instance lapping the rings is not often done by many fellows in the real world. High quality rings usually hold scopes just fine without lapping. I lap the rings on heavy recoiling rifles (375 and up) but do not bother with it otherwise.

I use blue Loctite on the screws in the bases after cleaning them. A small bottle of Loctite, perhaps a proper torque wrench, and a bit of common sense and Bob's your uncle.

You didn't mention what kind of base or rings.

I personally epoxy skim-bed all of my mounts and lap all of my rings - a guy can use metal shims to bed the bases, and I do so when I'm wanting to create an offset for range shooting, but I don't usually do so for simple fixes on machining tolerance. As Big Uncle mentioned, higher end rings like Talley's, NF's, or Farrell's won't need lapping, but when you run the lap the first few strokes and check contact on the mandrel, it'll confirm contact, and you're done. On other rings, you might spend an hour or more lapping to get 75%+ contact (Leupold is not immune).

The Wheeler Lapping kit is easy to use, worth the money - but it's consumable. The hardened spindles do wear over time, so keep that in mind.

The Wheeler FAT wrench is always in my hand when I install bases and rings.

I use a couple cheap magnetic levels, occasionally a Wheeler action bubble level for my scope installations.

More often than not - and I learned this from Ridge Runner a few years ago - if you optically center the scope (count clicks for elevation and windage, then click it to the center of each - OR, better, look through the scope at a mirror, roll it over, adjust until there is only one reticle), then dial your drop at desired range plus the height of the scope over bore, you'll end up very close. I rarely waste time with boresighting at all anymore.

That's the high notes. I could walk more detail through the process, but I'm turning a new leaf...



EDIT: I forgot to mention - I wouldn't trust anyone at a big box hunting store (gander, scheels, cabelas, bps, etc) to mount my scopes. Their "techs" or "smiths" can ruin someone else's firearms, scopes, or bows, they don't get to touch mine. Most of those stores to mount and boresight in house, whereas they'd send out to a retained smith for broken base screws or trigger jobs - meaning there isn't even a decent smith in house... Crooked reticles are easily fixable, bent, dented, or malformed scope bodies because some jack-wagon didn't align rings, or over tightened really isn't.

NoMercy,

Don't try to quite cold turkey - LOL

I appreciate the details !!!

That makes 2 of us. Much knowledge learned from information packed posts.

BTW, most of the folks at the BPS, Gander, Cabelas, Academy etc are nothing more than sales clerks. No way would I let any of them touch my equipment.

I mentioned in your other post that I have a nice base I will send you for just the cost of shipping it to you. Then all you have to do is buy a nice set of rings. Mounting a scope is actually pretty simple to get right. Just make sure you don't over torque the rings.

Yes you did offer the base and I apologize for not responding I meant to and then got sidetracked. For now I'm still determining what I'm going to do but have found some rings and bases In my gun safe that may work so for now I'll take a rain check but thank you very much