All right guys, seems I remember posting a question about scope mounting a few months back but didn't get enough input.

Here is the specific situation, the scope on my 06 suddenly crapped on itself, 4x Bushnell that has less than 60 rds. fired under it, all of a sudden went out of focus and won't refocus no matter what.

Rather than mess with it I have an old 4x Unertl Hawk I can mount on the rifle. I can figure out the eye relief I think, without too much hassle. What I am wondering is how to get the crosshairs level?

any instructions for mounting it and getting them level would be very much appreciated.

Red

thanks! I think I will try mounting it tonight as I have some work to do on something else in the shop anyways.

Red

PS
it is the cheaper strap kind, that go over the top and screw tight on one side. From now on I am springing for nicer "looking" rings. I would like to start going to Conetrol, but talk about pricey!!! Ouch!

Red

[ 10-14-2003, 03:44: Message edited by: Dago Red ]

Red,

I made a jig that is basically a black plastic rectangle with a V cut into one narrow end, and a thin line cut into the center of the plastic, so when you put it in front of the objective of the scope all you see is a thin line of light, it makes it very simple to line up the vertical crosshair then.

Another simple way is to put the gun in a vise, then put a level on either the action or the scope mount base, then install the scope and put the level on the upper scope cap.

Another way is to put a piece of string or yarn on the bore and hold it in with a plug (a pencil works if you are careful!). Have someone hold the yarn vertical and look through the scope and align the vertical crosshair that way. Before I made my plastic jig I bent a piece of coathanger into an L shape, and wrapped the short end with electrical tape and stuck that in the muzzle, and lined up the crosshairs with that.

How I tighten the Weaver rings without having them make the scope rotate is I get Burris Zee rings. Those Weaver rings caused me so many headaches when I was a kid trying to mount 22 scopes on my guns that I've never bought any since! Ray Atkinson says they are OK though, you just need to tighten 1 screw in the front 1/8 turn then the back 1/8 turn, etc. So that is what I would do if I had no choice.

good luck and have fun!

Mark

Well guys, thanks for the advice, in the end I used the "to hell with it, what looks straight" method. Where I repeatedly shoulder the rifle and look through the scope and see if the cross hair is in line with a horizontal line I pick out. Still have to take it to the range and see how it shoots with this scope, I have no idea what the hell went wrong with the other one, taking it to the shop tomorrow to see about having it fixed.

thanks to all of you, between now and next time I will get some way of padding the vice so that I can clamp the rifle down next time, this time I did it by eye since I couldn't be sure I really had the rifle level. :-)

Red

Gentlemen,

I put the scope in the mounts, make sure the screws are not too tight so I can turn the scope around, look through it, and adjust it until I see it is straight. Tighten the screws and that is the end of it.

Sometimes people complain that some of my scopes are slightly crocked. They stay put, as long as they are fine for me.

Red,

A quick and dirty method you can use also is to remove the action from the stock and put it on the kitchen table and without touching it line it up with a doorframe or other vertical line.