I have a CZ 550 in 458 Lott and have mounted a Leupold VXIII 1.5x5 (Matte Finish) in Talley Quick Detach Lever Mounts.

The mounts are tight at the bottom; however, they lack .025" in completely touching together at the top.

I have a CZ in 416 Rigby with the same mounts with a Leupold VXIII Gloss finish and the rings came together completely together at top and bottom.

Questions:
** Should I be worried about the gap in the rings (a thin fingernail width) due to the 458 Lott's general reputation for "tearing things up?"
** If "yes, you have a problem" then what do you recommend. I did not lap the rings. All screws are threadlocked (blue) except the lever screws.
** I sure can feel a difference in texture between the gloss and matte scopes. Are the gloss finished scopes more reliably a true 1" in diameter than the matte finished scope?

I have not fired any rounds yet as I await your sage advice, lest I screw something up.

Thanks in advance.
EKM

This is not a Lott question, it's a scope mounting question.

Take the scope and mounts off. Take it to someone who can fix it asap. You may have mounts that aren't machined properly. All you'll do is launch that scope and bust your mounts if you light it off as is.

I've mounted 4sets of talley rings this year (one last weekend). None of them touch at the top of the split ring. The first ones I ever did did touch... and the tube of the scope got crushed in the process.

If you tighten them until they touch, you will most likely crush the tube of your scope too.

The upside of the torx-head screws is that they don't strip out like the old flat-head style... the down-side is that you can put way more torque on them than you really need.

I put a dab of epoxy on the ring halves and then tighten them until they are tight... and ensure that the tension between the two screws is even.

If you have to have them "touching" then you'll have to have them lapped (and quite a bit if material removed).

There is supposed to be a gap between the ring halves. That way they are acting as a spring and prevent the screws from loosening. Most all rings have a space somewhere. Those mounts are top of the line and will hold the scope just fine. The scope is the weak link and you should always take a sighted-in spare along on your African hunt. I recommend lots of shooting prior to your hunt. Besides making you a better shot it will expose any gun problems you might have. Good shooting.

I had a similar problem with Warne rings that touched out at the top before sufficient friction was applied to hold the Burris 1.75-5 in place. no matter how tight you torqued the wrench no further pressure was applied to the tube, the remedy was to strip out the rings and holding a medium cut file flat on the bench, carefully ran the inside top face of each ring along the file teeth, roughly 5 light passes on each ring half saw enough material removed to permit the rings ti lock up sufficiently to hold things in place.

With over 400 rounds fired with full Lott loads the problem was solved.

Also as metal is removed from the inside edge, no visible bluing is imapired nor is re-bluing required.

If you go down t6his route just make sure you hold the fing flat against the file so as to end up with a square face.

quote:

Jonathan Tomlinson: I had a similar problem with Warne rings that touched out at the top before sufficient friction was applied to hold

I had the same thing happen last week while helping another shooter with 30mm Warne detachable rings. We put a strip of friction tape inside his rings to get them to hold but I didn't like that solution and was not impressed with new-style Warne rings, painted finish and all. When he gets back from his hunt, I will suggest your solution. Thanks for the post.

Johnathan,
That would be a similar but opposite probelm from what I have. In my case I have p-l-e-n-t-y of grip on the scope; I am just bothered by the (small) lack of complete closure over the top portion of the scope (.025" --- about a fingernail thickness worth).

EKM

NewGuy & BiggestGun,

You guys win the prize! Now that it is business hours in the Carolinas, I contacted Gary at Talley and he indicated that scope diameters do vary and that as long as the scope is "tightened in" prudently tight, that having a .025" gap at the top where the two ring halves come together (as described earlier) is no problem at all.

In fact, he noted that if he had any concerns at all, it would be for my 416 Rigby where the scope rings DID touch, i.e. is there enough "scope grip" at play.

He did also mention that the Matte scopes tend to be a wee bit "plumper" which might explain the rings closing on the gloss Luepy and not the matte Luepy. He did note that he felt the Matte scopes hold in place better than the gloss, especially on Big Bores.
========================================

I apologize to those who may feel this was not the proper forum for this question; however,

** If I was mounting it on a 30-06 I wouldn't have worried....

** Posting in the "fly weight" rifle forums, you run into those who don't know or appreciate the destructive power of Big Bores on scopes and mounts.

** Similarly, the "fly weight" rifle gang probably would be totally unfamiliar with the Talley Quick Detach Lever Ring & Mount System and its construction and operation; hence would not have a clue what I was talking about; however, the BigBore and African Hunting crowd (a bit of cross-over) tend to be much more familiar with this style of equipment.
========================================

Again A/R is a great resource and thank you for your input. Time to put the reloading press to work.

EKM

quote:

Originally posted by ELKampMaster:
NewGuy,
You win the prize!

Did Gary offer to send me a free set of rings???

What you want is a very thin line on top, in other words almost coming together to the point you have to really look to see it....

To do this in your case you back off the bottom screw about a turn at a time until you get the desired effect above...

Be carefull with Torx screws the can really screw up a scope if over torxed...I love them but caution is required...

I've got exactly the same rings and scope on my Lott-- and the same gap. About 200 rounds later, no problems have been noted.

Other than a sore shoulder...

Pertinax,
Probably not a problem but your rings are improperly installed...you need to take a turn off the bottom so that you will have less stress on the top, in other words balance the gaps to be even on top and bottom, its an easy fix....

Then I would be more concerned about the scope in question on a Lott...I would find a 2.5X fixed compact for the Lott and deligate the 1.5x5 to another rifle in the 416 and under class....The Lott will kill any other scope IMO if you shoot it much and those that think not probably keep thier Lott in the gun cabinet...

Wouldn't backing off on the bottom loosen the grip on the base?

quote:

Originally posted by Sodakhntr:
Wouldn't backing off on the bottom loosen the grip on the base?

No, Ray is right, there's enough there to move the bottoms apart and allow the tops to come together while maintaining sufficient grip between the rings and bases.

And it works, it's just not how Talley says to install them.

Left it as was, which was as Gary at Talley indicated was proper.

Did the sight in (about 15 rounds) and then 5 more rounds to run on up to maximum loads per Barnes.

Took my reloading caliper and monitored the scope mounts and scope in the mounts.

Nothing moved, not even one twit.

I have a lot of boomers with scopes in Talley rings and I have never had a scope slip in the rings. The double screw magnum rings are hell for stout.

Properly mounted Talley's are tops in my book. You have a lot of good advise here I would add one thing and that is to lap the rings in as well.

It takes only a few minutes and will yield great benefits as far as scope life and dependability. JMO but I lap in all of my rings now. From 22 lr up to the 600 OK. You also don't need as much clamping force to grab the scope as there is more surface area for contact and that greatly increases the holding ability of the rings with less screw tightness. It avoids over-tightening which I believe is one of the #1 reasons why scopes fail. That and the rings being out of alignment both problems lapping solves BTW.

JMO
John