Optics story: Worst day at range ever!

[UBFRAGD]

First lame-arse excuse is, I was coming down with the flu and chose to ignore that unavoidable fact in the excitement of completing the initial assemble of a LR308 and going to the range. Mentally, I was able to count to potato, and my nose had been replaced by a mucous valve stuck wide open.

The range was crowded, but I got a table and proceeded to go thru a lengthy, inaccurate bore-sighting process. After messing around for about 30 min, I took it into the clubhouse and the rangemaster did his boresighting, and it appeared I was about 40 clicks off combined v/h combined--wow.

Back to the bench, assemble the rifle, wow again, look at all the people just standing around watching, waiting for a table, get the rifle set-up for some dry-fire, 1, 2, on the third bolt reset the fine optic puked itself off the rifle clattering to the stone table. Hopefully I don't become some epic youtube video rifleman fail. I just packed it up and left before anyone came up with some good lines.

I guess when weakened by the flu, don't trust your seat-of-the-pants torque feel. The optic is fine; ACOGS need intentional abuse to go south. Whether I can show my face at the range again is debatable. Yeah I used Loctite.

Ah well, back to the flu.

[Raralith]

Too bad for you, and it sucks to zero in an optic when you are sick.

A trick to sighting in semi-auto's is to take the rifle apart, on the upper look down the barrel so that you can see any target (the POV of the bullet), and match the scope to what you are looking at by 2" lower. Done up to 50 yards, it can get you on a letter sized paper. Make sure it's on something steady (ammo box, rifle case, etc...) so it isn't moving around.

[ExtremeX]

Lol… The lesson of the day should be to buy a torque wrench…

[anthem]

and my nose had been replaced by a mucous valve stuck wide open.

This is a great line. I may steal it.

[Merc1138]

I still find it strange how many people don't have a torque wrench. Firearm related things, especially mounts for optics, tend to have torque specs.

That aside, even without optics issues a day at the range while sick, sucks. A while back I opted to go home after a sneeze resulted in a trigger pull(safe direction, did actually hit the target backer).

[Packy14]

not sure what kind of mount you have, but a QD is the way to go.

[Spyguy]

I'm still not sure how it could have come off the rifle if torqued by "feel" (instead of a torque wrench). Even if the scope wouldn't hold its precise zero or position, it should have been tight enough to not fall off by the bolt going into battery.

[mr2thomas]

Great story. It's okay to be embarrassed. You'll get over it quickly once you start shooting it again. Live and learn

[ExtremeX]

I'm still not sure how it could have come off the rifle if torqued by "feel" (instead of a torque wrench). Even if the scope wouldn't hold its precise zero or position, it should have been tight enough to not fall off by the bolt going into battery.

[Spyguy]

That makes sense if he was "torquing" by using his fingertips. I had figured there was at least some kind of tool involved.

[Spyguy]

For fine, low torque applications, a torque driver (AKA torque screwdriver) is much better than a torque wrench.

[Spyguy]

A trick to sighting in semi-auto's is to take the rifle apart, on the upper look down the barrel so that you can see any target (the POV of the bullet), and match the scope to what you are looking at by 2" lower. Done up to 50 yards, it can get you on a letter sized paper. Make sure it's on something steady (ammo box, rifle case, etc...) so it isn't moving around.

Just so that I understand your instructions: You sight the bore on the bullseye, then sight your scope at 2" below the bullseye?

Shouldn't the scope be sighted 2" above the bullseye to account for the centerline of the scope being ~2" above the bore of the rifle?

[Merc1138]

For fine, low torque applications, a torque driver (AKA torque screwdriver) is much better than a torque wrench.

Well, technically the borka is still called a driver, looks more like a wrench to me

But yes, a torque tool in inch/pounds rather than foot/pounds would be the thing to look for.

[rero360]

What I have found works great for those mounts is to tighten it finger tight, then using a really broad screwdriver or a stripper clip, turn it another quarter of a turn. Then to be safe I mark its location with a paint pen or sharpie to ensure it doesn't work its way loose (haven't happened yet)

[Packy14]

What I have found works great for those mounts is to tighten it finger tight, then using a really broad screwdriver or a stripper clip, turn it another quarter of a turn. Then to be safe I mark its location with a paint pen or sharpie to ensure it doesn't work its way loose (haven't happened yet)

I've found it works even better to dump those crappy mounts and put my ACOG's into a TA98 or similar QD mount. Looks cleaner, quick to come off, excellent return to zero. Larue is good as GDI. Personally I prefer the Bobro's.