I just read an article about a gunsmith who lapped his rings before mounting his scope. If it's a good idea, how do you do it properly? I am fixing to buy a zeiss 6.5-20X-50mm for my .22-250 rem 700 VLS, would this be a good idea? The article said it would prevent the rings from cutting into the scope.

That is why you lap scope rings. Sinclair International has the proper tools as do some other places.

I do not lap. As an engineer, lapping makes no sense. By lapping, you are enlarging a 1/2 round shape, thereby making it oval. If the ring design is the type which has some gap on both sides, this maybe ok, but for other's not.

There are several other as good or better solutions. . .
I bed a quality 1 pc base to my gun with epoxy. Then I mount the scopein quality rings by the same manufacturer.

If I were to not be able to use this setup, I think I would give the TPS 2 pc mount bedding fixture a try or use the scope tube as a bedding fixture.

Next, Burris signature rings use plastic inserts to allow for some misalignment.

Last, I would lap rings to the bases making sure to buy quality bases and rings to minimize the work. I would also mark these as a matched set to this gun only. I would use the tool from Sinclair international. Only lap the bottom part of the rings and make sure after tightening the top ring on the scope that there issome gap( few thousandths)on each side tobe sure the scope is being clamped properly.

Also, for turn in rings, I would buy the pointed ring tools which you align as part of the process. Again Burris signature rings may help with this.

Lapping rings is a must for me. Sure, you can get by without it, but when you start questioning your scope or your gun, its another thing to question. And that is torque on your scope.

All you need is a wheeler lapping kit or simular. It is time consuming depending how much material you want to remove. You need to cold blue the inside of the rings when done. Any cold blueing kit works. It can take over an hour and half, and need to wait probably a day before mounting your scope when done.

Some people like to only lap the bottom half of the rings, but I like to put my lapping bar in like a scope and put the top halfs of the rings on, and lap both. This can make it time consuming, as you have to constantly remove the ring halfs, and make sure you do not get any lapping compound in the screw holes.

Another advantage I found was a better grip on your scope for hard recoiling guns. My 300RUM's recoiled fairly stiff, and would move my scopes. Burris signatrue wouldn't hold up, so I had to lap my leupold rings. They never failed.

Another tip is, its close to impossible to lap talley and maxima ring because you have to assemble and disassemble around the scope connected to the gun.