Hi there,

Just a quick one.
Do you lap your rings?
Sorry if this questions sounds a bit rude. Not intended.

Thanks
Fortysomething

No. I suppose it is a good idea, but I have never experienced any scope mounting problems that I thought could be resolved by lapping scope mount rings.

I lap rings after mounting them in bases. I picked up the lapping tool at Sinclair Int.
I also use a scope alignment rod.
When a scope is posted for sale the first question usually asked is "does the scope have ring marks" Lapping the rings prevents ring marks.

I never have.

Glad this topic came up. I had some questions on this as well. Looks like a good way to ruin rings to me. I mean if you take off metal looks like the scope would be loose in the rings once mounted. I've never seen the tool, thus my ignorance. So my questions are if you do this, is the tool precise enough not to take off too much? and if you remove the finish will the rings eventually rust on the inside and leave rust marks on the scope?

Friends-

I lap all of my scope rings once set in the mounts on whichever rifle it happens to be. Lapping serves two purposes. One, to improve the bearing surface of the ring that fits up against the scope and you would be supprised how uneven the inside surface of scope rings are. And two, lapping will improve the alignment of the scope within the rings as you set the rings up with the lapping tool prior to mounting the scope thus, you subject the scope to fewer stresses.

There are a couple of different tools, so to speak. The first tool is basically a piece of bar stock that you can attach a handle to. You then place the bar stock in the rings with some abbrasive paste, which is ususally not that aggressive and you run the bar stock back and forth until you remove the uneveness within the rings. Clymer and probably some other folks make a reamer for scope rings that you can use with some cutting oil. I have not tried the reamer method as I have the bar stock tool.

One can lap a set of scope rings in about 30-45 minutes. I think it would take a person a considerable about of time to remove enough material to make the rings fit a scope sloppy. In the lapping process you are removing material on the inside surface of the rings thus, there is no esthetic damage to the rings.

Just my dos centavos.

Of course, you could always do what I've started doing...

Using Burris Signature rings with inserts on everything.

Takes care of alignment, ring marks, holding force, etc, all with no extra work or hassle.

Put them on, drop in your scope, screw them down, go shoot. Easy.

I had a machine shop turn a piece of 16" stainless steel bar stock down to 1" +/- .001
I had them put a bevel on one end. I use this bar for turning my rings into the base and aligning them , I then apply a light coat of lapping compound to the rod and slowing run it back and forth.
I got into a habit of doing this after a new set of rings scratched the hell out of a new scope because of a small unseen burr. It does not take much of a ding in the rings to mar the finish of a new scope as you adjust for level and eye relief. It's a quick and simple process that gives you a better fit and eliminates a lot of possibility for scope bind.

JBMICH

I would encourage you to try lapping a set of rings. I too align my rings and find that when I lapp them after aligning them there is usually a "high" spot or two that is removed during the lapping.
As stated earlier the Burris rings with the inserts eliminates the need for all of this but ranks low on eye appeal for me.
I doubt if I spend 20 minutes of actual lapping time, perhaps I am not working enough. Simply removing the high spot is enough for me. I do not lap them long enough to have the finish worn off across the entire lower ring. Lapping for me is only on the lower half of the ring. Unless using a reamer I believe this is correct. The upper half of the ring will set correctly without any corrective action.
I installed a set of Jarrett one piece ring/base on my Rem 700 and found that very little if any lapping was necessary. Just piece of mind that I won't mark up a expensive scope.

This will work too. I do this on all my steel rings but I use a 1" reamer. No mess except some metal shavings when your done.
First off, get a 1" diameter bar of cold rolled steel about a foot long for
twisting in the rings and lining them up. Get your windage ring in
position, then tighten down the twist in rings on the bar. This holds the
windage ring in position as you tighten a little at a time from one side
then the other until you have them snugged down. Remove the 1" bar, leave
the rings screws loose, and insert the reamer. Make sure it turns ok, then
start tweaking the ring screws a very little at a time.

I use a short Crescent wrench..... about a
6" for turning the reamer. Too much leverage and you can get too heavy
handed too quickly.
Easy does it with the wrench, turning and very, very gentle tweaking of the ring screws to put pressure on the reamer. And if the reamer grabs on a corner, don't force it. Back the
screw off so the reamer turns freely, and sneak up on the high spot again. All your doing is remove the high spots to square up the inside of the rings.

DON'T TIGHTEN THE RINGS ALL THE WAY DOWN WHEN REAMING or you won't have anything left to hold the scope. You'll have removed about 2/3 of the finish from the inside of the rings when there done. This reamer is very sharp and cuts really fast. After your done reaming install sticky labels inside the top and bottom halves of the rings. I never had any trouble with rust.

1" reamer>>>

I lap horizontally split rings and ream vertically split ones. Haven't marred a scope yet.

I'm curious about the Burris insert rings. I understand that will self align to the scope ut what id the bases aren't aligned? Won't the scope be held in rings that are aligned to the scope but still not aligned to the bore?

I use Signature rings when possible but when I want low rings I lap them.I also use Oxpho-Blue on them when done. This works well for me.

quote:

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Originally posted by Fortysomething:
Hi there,

Just a quick one.
Do you lap your rings?
Sorry if this questions sounds a bit rude. Not intended.

Thanks
Fortysomething

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Yes.

quote:

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Just a quick one.
Do you lap your rings?

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No and I can't tell what I've missed by not doing it either.

The first time you lap a set you'll see how badly they are aligned by the way the metal is being removed from the ring bases. After lapping, I glass bed the scope in the bases for a perfect fit and zero scope bending. No ring marks on the scope either.
Don