Is scope ring lapping necessary? Opinions?

[Aero Denezol]

Is scope ring lapping recommended for any/all scopes, or is this primarily reserved for high-end optics and 1000 yard rifles? Is it worth the trouble for a 100 yard plinker?

Is it possible to lap anodized aluminum rings without ruining them?

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated,

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[KKG]

Personally, I've never seen a need to lap Rings. But then I have chosen to purchase ONLY High Quality Rings, Bases and Scopes. I have found that if you use cheap it can be Very expensive in the long run.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I'm a heathen and have never lapped my rings. lol
Don't think I ever will either.

 

[Velzey]

Always even on cheaper ring sets. A friend of mine just shared these today.
And yes you can lap anodized rings. You would need to remove allot (.010+) to get thru the ano.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Well, I'm officially converted.

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Oh, so i shouldn't try and shove the Leupold in the Tikka rings then?

 

[thorborg]

Though I have other scopes that came with used rifles, I have only purchased Leupold scopes with Leupold rings and followed Mfg. guidelines; without lapping without issues: dating from Early 70's to this summer; .270 vari-x-3, 2.5 x8 gold band, BFR 45-70 2X ER, .243 M8 4X , 6.5X55 VX3i 4.5x14.
According to some, I may be either extremely lucky or still pending failure.
While it may be nice to have your engine balanced and blueprinted, you may not always realize improvement or payback, over a well made factory unit.

 

[albin25]

So, even if one buys some extra-super-dee-duper-special-magical, high-end, high-cost rings from the "right" manufacturer, they should still need to carefully and painstakingly file a zillionth off for them to function properly.?
Or, is this just something a too serious gun guy uses for an excuse when his wife shoots better than him in front of his buddies...

 

[F2CMaDMaXX]

Sometimes I really frown at the choice of theoretical examples some people use.

 

[orygun]

I'm not gunsmith, nor do I play one on TV, but I've never needed to lap rings. If I did I didn't know it!
Most all of the scopes we use have 1" tubes. I have a nice piece of 1" DOM tubing that I use to make sure the pair of rings are square, then I carefully bolt the scope in place. This in no way will correct rings that need to be trued, but I make sure they are pointing the same direction to ease stress on the scope tube.

 

[osprey]

The two reasons for checking alignment and lapping in rings is to correct slight misalignment and provide full contact surface area to hold scope more securely. I have seen some pretty bad cases of scope ring misalignment that couldn't be lapped out. Buying quality scopes and rings definitely up the odds of not having problems but even a good set of rings on a quality rifle can be slightly misaligned and put the scope in tension. A good scope usually will handle this but a cheaper one can be compromised. At the very least, a good scope in rings out of alignment that have not been lapped to provide full contact stands the chance of slipping in the rings and shifting zero. I check alignment every time and lap accordingly and highly recommend serious shooters and hunters do the same. Here is the alignment/lapping kit I use, it does 1" and 30mm tubes.

Jet.com - Prices Drop As You Shop

 

[jsparks747]

I have been a fan of single piece scope rings. Buy a high quality pair and I am good to go.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I have been a fan of single piece scope rings. Buy a high quality pair and I am good to go.

Yeabut if you cinch that thing down on a gollywhackerd receiver the rings won't be lined up any more.

 

[parallax]

hand lap-----yes.
misaligned rings can cause you scope tube to bend. changing the optical center, as well as possibly damaging your scope tube or internal parts. plus you want full contact on your scope to ring surfaces. also measure ring gap upper half to lower half,with feeler gauges and make them all equal, and torque ring mounting hardware.
I guess i am WAY to picky... HaaaaHaaaHaaaaa...

 

[Crohnos01]

Always even on cheaper ring sets. A friend of mine just shared these today.
And yes you can lap anodized rings. You would need to remove allot (.010+) to get thru the ano.

View attachment 391073 View attachment 391074 View attachment 391075 View attachment 391076

Wow! LOOK GUYS! Pictures from inside Santa's workshop!

 

[Certaindeaf]

Wow! LOOK GUYS! Pictures from inside Santa's workshop!

That blue wrapping paper ain't hidin' nothin'! lol

 

[Velzey]

 

[HB of CJ]

Sometimes it is difficult to get the scope exactly correct down the pipe right to left and up and down at your desired range zero with the reticle adjustments exactly centered. Ring lapping is one way of doing it correctly. Takes times but not hard. Doable.

Kinda like sorta but completely different maybe than using the Plastic Gage main and rod bearing clearance crush gaging setting up the bearing clearance on an engine build. If not correctly done the bearings don't mike exactly. Results is bad. Same? No.

 

[YippeeKiYoRed]

Bringing back a dead thread.

Recently had a situation where a scope was removed and remounted resulting in a noticeble change in alignment. The rings themselves were not removed nor loosened from the scope base. Just the top halves were removed so the scope would come off. This got me thinking about the need for ring lapping.

Here's my concern, I own maybe one rifle with rings which mount directly to the rifle. In almost all other cases a picatinny rail has been attached to the rifle and then the rings attached to the rail. This also includes a couple pistols. It seems both the rings and the scope base are sources of misalignment. Once lapped, if the rings are moved to another base, or even moved forwards or back on the same base, things could align differently requiring re-lapping. Or just change the base and the same thing happens. Lap them too many times and the rings might be ruined. For those who lap, have you had experience with this? Is it an issue?

 

[ilikegunspdx]

Is scope ring lapping recommended for any/all scopes, or is this primarily reserved for high-end optics and 1000 yard rifles? Is it worth the trouble for a 100 yard plinker?

Is it possible to lap anodized aluminum rings without ruining them?

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated,

No