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Levelling a rifle scope

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Levelling a rifle scope

Postby Ovenpaa » Wed May 09, 2012 3:49 pm

A mate pinged me a few days ago with an idea for a method of levelling rifle 'scopes, now based on his constant mutterings about the 'scope on his F/TR rifle being out of plumb I can understand why he had been thinking about it.

A quick scan of his idea was enough to show it would certainly work but wow it was complex however it set me thinking, how could I keep moving parts out of such a device, make it all but fool proof and easier to make. Simple ideas are best so I opted for a simple set of wedges that slide together maintaining the upper and lower surfaces in parallel, and when I say parallel I mean within .0004 (Four tenths of a thou, AKA not a lot) To say I was pleased with such accuracy is an understatement as it was a bit of an experiment.

The wedges, the slot in the top is for Nightforce 'scopes which have a spring housing for the erector tube on the underside of the body.

Rather simple and very effective, I checked the offending F/TR rifle for him and sure enough the ‘scope was slightly out of plumb, with this it was a matter of seconds to set the ‘scope. Simply slacken the screws off slightly so the tube can rotate in the rings with some resistance, slide the wedges into place with finger and thumb and squeeze them together whilst rocking the tube, once the tube stops rocking nip the screws up very slightly remove the wedges and torque the rings down, check once more by pushing the wedges back in and hold them up to the light.

Of course it does depend on the flat base of the 'scope being perpendicular to the reticle... Now the interesting part, would it work on a round top action without a flat surface to pick up on? Yes it does :grin:

One of those things I am rather pleased with, I can see myself making a few more of these in the not too distant future.

Thanks ENS for sparking my imagination, I even checked my AI with it this morning with the rifle lying across my knees.
Last edited by Ovenpaa on Sat May 12, 2012 5:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
/d

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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby The_Dogge » Wed May 09, 2012 3:57 pm

:thup: I like it!

I particularly like that it actually assists in making the scope level, it doesn't just tell you how level it is, getting it level in the rings with the rings tight is a right PITA.

Will they be available commercially?
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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby TJC » Wed May 09, 2012 4:09 pm

I use the feeler gauge method but suspect yours is more accurate
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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby Buffy Vampire Slayer » Wed May 09, 2012 4:37 pm

i use the clamp the gun in a workmate or in a maintenance station with a bubble level across the action,align the elevation crosshair with a plumb line hung from the garage door method :thup: :thup:
Clunk click every trip :grin: :grin: and less than 5 mins with no expense ;) ;)
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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby TJC » Wed May 09, 2012 4:57 pm

Buffy Vampire Slayer wrote:i use the clamp the gun in a workmate or in a maintenance station with a bubble level across the action,align the elevation crosshair with a plumb line hung from the garage door method :thup: :thup:
Clunk click every trip :grin: :grin: and less than 5 mins with no expense ;) ;)


Unless you don't have a garage and have to build one :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby Ovenpaa » Wed May 09, 2012 7:20 pm

My interest is purely long range shooting and getting my scope level is important to me. I have tried everything from rested on a workmate with a spirit level on top which is a bit precarious (I supposes a good quality machine level would help matters) through to using engineering slip gauges and feeler gauges stacked underneath which resulted in me faffing around with a torch trying to look for light to show the 'scope lower was out of parralel and eventually tightening the scope down so far I could not get the slips out and having to start again :mad:

This took a couple of attempts to get right as the angles are more critical than I initially thought, plus it had to span all of the rifles in our house and the wife shoots as well. Oddly enough the MkIII I built which was supposed to fine tune the design was a backwards step. No matter I know how to build them now and if I can get the top and bottom surfaces to better than .0005" I will be happy.

The nice part about it is the use is intuitive and it just feels right as well dimensionally, it fits both mine and the Vikings finger span and is one of those things I keep picking up, in fact it is missing now so no doubt Christel has walked off with it. Best part is I can just rest a rifle on my knees and do the job in sub 30 seconds. Downside is it is not a one fit suits all as it will not work with some open top receivers and/or round bottom scopes, in fact I have no chance of getting it to work on one of my rifles.

I am going to head back to the Shed in the morning and see if I can perfect the build process and confirm how long it will take to build them and then maybe build a dozen sets to see what interest there is in them. Right now I am trying to work out how to keep them together to save loosing one.
/d

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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby hungryrob » Wed May 09, 2012 7:21 pm

I'd get that patented ASAP!!!

Great idea.
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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby Hornet 6 » Thu May 10, 2012 4:06 am

Nice simple idea, I have been using a sliding adjustable parralell, but now need something to work on an open top receiver like my CZ527.

Ovenpaa wrote:. Right now I am trying to work out how to keep them together to save loosing one.


Dovetail the two parts together, stop pins to limit the travel :thup:

Neil. :)
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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby Buffy Vampire Slayer » Thu May 10, 2012 6:17 am

TJC wrote:
Buffy Vampire Slayer wrote:i use the clamp the gun in a workmate or in a maintenance station with a bubble level across the action,align the elevation crosshair with a plumb line hung from the garage door method :thup: :thup:
Clunk click every trip :grin: :grin: and less than 5 mins with no expense ;) ;)


Unless you don't have a garage and have to build one :lol: :lol: :lol:


in that case you hop on continental from newark to manchester and come and use my facilities :grin:
i might even make you a brew ;) :roll:
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.22 FAC MK2 RAPID/AWT MOD
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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby Ovenpaa » Thu May 10, 2012 9:05 am

Hornet 6 wrote:Nice simple idea, I have been using a sliding adjustable parralell, but now need something to work on an open top receiver like my CZ527.

Dovetail the two parts together, stop pins to limit the travel
I used this on a CZ on Monday and it did work but only because it had large flat pads for the rings to bolt to and I managed to pick up off one however that was more by luck and was down to the position of the 'scope and front ring, certainly not an ideal solution.

The system in the picture is MkIII which is not as effective as MkII which I was rash enough to give to someone. Today I will machine one with dovetails and based on the earlier dimensions.
/d

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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby Viperteks » Thu May 10, 2012 9:24 am

TJC wrote:I use the feeler gauge method but suspect yours is more accurate


Expand...?

Please.

I use, a gun rest with leveller, combined with a 'reticule leveller kit, plus MK1 Eyeball.

Ovenpaa's system does look VERY good, apart from I have come across a few scopes where the reticule collimator body inside the scope is NOT square with the actual adjustment turrets.

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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby Ovenpaa » Thu May 10, 2012 9:59 am

Viperteks wrote:Ovenpaa's system does look VERY good, apart from I have come across a few scopes where the reticule collimator body inside the scope is NOT square with the actual adjustment turrets.
This is one of the potential flaws in the idea, I have to assume a manufacturer uses the base as a datum and if the base is out of square to the reticle then then my system fails.

Which ones have you come across that were out of square?
/d

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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby gun nut » Thu May 10, 2012 12:57 pm

Nice idea. I use an adjustable parallel like Neil. I have found quite a few scopes where the reticule is not square to the turrets, however these have mostly been in the cheaper range of scopes - most of the higher end models seem to be square.
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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby Hornet 6 » Thu May 10, 2012 2:00 pm

Before useing the adjustable parallel I just used to level the rifle in a vice, and then place a small level on top of the elevation turret.
For the CZ527 I cheat, remove action from the stock, then sit the actions down on a level table, the recoil lug will hold it nice and level, then
just back to a level over the turret top.

Neil. :)
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Re: Levelling a rifle scope

Postby Triffid » Thu May 10, 2012 4:19 pm

Sounds like too much faffing around to me . . .

Lock the scope loosly in the rings so it's just held, but you can rotate it. Then find a straight line on the floor, like the edge of a floorboard and line up the toe and heel of the rifle butt along this line, with the barrel pointing upwards. Then look down through the scope and you should be able to see the reticule superimposed on the line on the floor . . . rotate the scope until the two line are parallel and jobs done.

I'm sure I found this trick on ShootForum, so have no claim to it, but it works for me.

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