Lapping rings

[Dirtlaw]

OK, I know back in the day lapping was obligatory (and it may still be). But today higher quality rings such as Leupold say its not needed. Thoughts please. If the Leupold rings are OK as is why should I scratch them up with compound?

[slamfire1]

OK, I know back in the day lapping was obligatory (and it may still be). But today higher quality rings such as Leupold say its not needed. Thoughts please. If the Leupold rings are OK as is why should I scratch them up with compound?

Lets understand two things:

I think I could attempt to measure in ID, which would tell me something about the concentricity of my scope rings, with my telescoping gauges but my experience in the past is, my errors of measurement tend to be larger than manufacturing errors.

Given today's CNC precision machining, I am very skeptical that there is anything you can do, with grit and a polishing bar to improve on what comes off a factory floor.

But, I am interesting in hearing from those who claim their rings were not internally round, and how they found out.

I am of the opinion that most of the "scope" alignment problems are due to receiver warpage after heat treatment.

[SafetyOptional]

Nowadays, you're more likely to introduce more errors by lapping. Quality rings from reputable manufacturers dont need to be ****ed with

[theLBC]

i would think if you use normal rings, it may depend on how good your rail is.

[FeuerFrei]

Lapping scope rings is something I leave to long range target shooters or similar wonks that are uber an-al about blueprinting the rifle for milking every ounce of accuracy out of it.

Buying good scope rings/mounts generally negates having to lap dance the rings for us every day shooters.

I cut to the chase and buy good rings as part of the scope buying experience. I see lots of shooters use crap mounts on good scopes and beach about having to chase accuracy problems. Or crap scope and good rings.

Buy a good scope, good rings/mounts and thread locker. Proper fitting bits that actually fit the fasteners is a must.

[wpod]

I lap mine, the minimum amount necessary.
I've never ruined rings or made things worse, for me, by lapping.
At the very least it confirms you got a good set of rings.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Catch]

I might consider lapping steel rings as they could damage a scope tube easier than aluminum.

[hermosabeach]

If you have the tool, it’s also a great way to verify the rings are aligned before tightening them around a scope.

[sigstroker]

Go look up the same question on snipershide. I bet it's been asked before.

[ocabj]

At this point in quality control of manufacturing, if I ever needed to lap rings on a new build, I'm sending something back.

[SouthCityShooter]

I'm not any expert on this. IMO, modern rings, done on CNC machines; i.e. Seekins, the matched pairs a few companies sell I would think you're GTG.

Unless you're a hunter, where every ounce is an issue, why not just get a one piece mount? Those aren't typically a lot more money than those high quality rings.

[PaperTarget]

I lap mine, the minimum amount necessary.
I've never ruined rings or made things worse, for me, by lapping.
At the very least it confirms you got a good set of rings.

Even though, modern manufacturing and inspection is more precise than those days of manual machining, quality escapes still happen for too many reasons to list. Those escapes could involve the receiver, bases, and ring tolerances. An escape in any one of those could affect the ring alignment.

Lightly lapping will confirm that the holes for the scope tube are really aligned as they should be aligned.

It is better to lap. However, it may no longer be worth going to the effort of lapping if you don't enjoy it, don't have the lapping tools and would have to buy the lapping tools.

[Tracers]

I once called up NightForce and they told me their mounts are made to very tight tolerances. They even consider the thickness of anodizing when making their mounts. Lapping would void warranty is not required by any means for their scopes. I imagine the same is true for other quality manufacturers.