Need to Know Everything About Mounting a Scope on an AR...

[Cookie Monster]

I am really a pistol guy, my depth and knowledge on rifles and hardware is lacking. I have never mounted a scope.

So I got a Noveske Thunder Ranch Rifle and a Schmidt and Bender 1x4 Variable (30mm tube) on the way and I been thinking about how those will mate.

So it is about unimounts or rings? What is up with 10 MOA or 20 MOA or no MOA mounts? What height do I need for a co-witness? Do I need a co-witness? Most mounts seem to be QR, I don't see myself removing the scope from the rifle?

From plowing through the interwebs, I was looking at the Bobro Engineering Mount and the La Rue.

I plan on mounting the scope myself, is that a bad idea? Planning to get the torque wrenches.

Thanks for all the advice. This rifle is going to epic.

[jason.copas]

I'm no expert, but for a 1-4x variable you wont want to worry about co-witnessing or an MOA mount.

An MOA mount angles the scope slightly so that at short ranges your scope is adjusted nearer the bottom of the scopes range. That way you can dial up farther for long 800+ yard shooting. And co-witnessing through magnified optics is too distracting for a lot of people.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Luke]

I am really a pistol guy, my depth and knowledge on rifles and hardware is lacking. I have never mounted a scope.

So I got a Noveske Thunder Ranch Rifle and a Schmidt and Bender 1x4 Variable (30mm tube) on the way and I been thinking about how those will mate.

Beautifully!

So it is about unimounts or rings? What is up with 10 MOA or 20 MOA or no MOA mounts? What height do I need for a co-witness? Do I need a co-witness? Most mounts seem to be QR, I don't see myself removing the scope from the rifle?

The 10 and 20 MOA is the amount of slope or cant the mount has. For long range people use these to keep from running out of elevation on a scope, you won't need this with a 1x4

From plowing through the interwebs, I was looking at the Bobro Engineering Mount and the La Rue.

Good popular mounts

I plan on mounting the scope myself, is that a bad idea? Planning to get the torque wrenches.

That's a great idea! Follow the torque specs! Easy way to ruin a nice scope.

Thanks for all the advice. This rifle is going to epic.

Sounds very nice.

[Luke]

Check out snipershide forum too for a lot of good write ups on scope mounting and leveling.

[ranger]

If you do not plan on removing and reinstalling the scope - I would not use QD mount and would not use backup iron sights (gasp!). I am a big fan of the AERO one piece mounts and have been replacing all my AR scope mounts with AERO to save weight. You may want to look at the NIGHTFORCE one piece mounts too.

[Crews]

So I'm sure you've gathered most of this, but I'll take a stab at what I've learned over the years... A one piece cantilevered type mount is preferred because you'll want the 1-4 pretty far forward for the proper eye relief, and it's a bad idea to have rings mounted on the rail. Scope just needs to be mounted on the receiver. The LaRue and the Bobro are both very nice. They both claim to return to zero if you put them back in the same spot. My experience with both confirms that. You can just take it off in a matter of seconds and use buis, if you want. What are the odds you will ever tear up a S&B anyhow? As mentioned before, all you need to do is make sure you follow the torque specs when you put the scope in the mount. Also, I'd take some steps to make sure the scope is true level with the gun, if you're ever going to dial elevation or use the reticle for holdovers.

[Gray222]

Buy a Bobro 30mm mount (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O5HUXF6/). If you don't know how to level it properly, I'd suggest getting an optic leveler (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00W8AXZ98/). Follow instructions, don't divide by zero, and you are good to go.

[JM Campbell]

http://arisakadefense.com/collections/tools/products/optic-leveler-combo

Great leveler for little money and does large/small scopes.

ETA: Lol, beat to the link.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

[Unobtanium]

http://arisakadefense.com/collections/tools/products/optic-leveler-combo

Great leveler for little money and does large/small scopes.

ETA: Lol, beat to the link.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk
Bought one. Not impressed. A straight edge under the turret cluster fixed it.

[HCM]

A small carpentry level is helpful. FYI Cabelas's has the Wheeler engineering adjustable torque wrench (FAT) on sale $20 off -

http://www.cabelas.com/product/wheeler-reg-torque-fat-wrench/731992.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3D searchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProduc ts%26Ntt%3Dwheeler%252Bengineering%252Btorque%252B wrench%26x%3D10%26y%3D6%26WTz_l%3DHeader%253BSearc h-All%252BProducts&Ntt=wheeler+engineering+torque+wrench

[SkiDevil]

Nice choice of rifle and scope.

I went with an American Defense Manufacturing mount for my Schimdt and Bender Short Dot 1-4X and it has worked-out very well. The mount is solid and returns to zero. The standard height mount 1.5 should be sufficient for a 4X scope.

My scope is 30mm, so I selected the standard Recon AD mount.

Link:https://www.americandefensemanufacturing.com/view/product/5/

One of the great things about ADM is the wide range in selection.

Just a few tips (applies to which ever mount) use blue loctite for the mounting screws, and utilize a small allen type wrench and only torque down the screws to finger tight. Apply, the loctite to the tips of the screws only. Not much is required to keep it together.

When putting the scope into the mount, set the mount on top of a flat table, and place the scope on top of the lower mount or base. Use the reticle to center and align the scope. After placing the mounting rings over the scope base, tighten down the screws evenly on each side, prior to torquing them down.

Forgot to add that this where you would check eye relief as well. My scope is very generous and depending on your individual preference it may need to be adjusted. Just a suggestion, I usually put everything together once, BEFORE applying loctite. And shoulder the rifle in order to ensure my eye relief, reticle is correctly centered, etc. then lock it all down.

Mounting a scope isn't that difficult, and with reasonable care and patience easily accomplished. Also, some of the specialty tools help, but aren't necessary. Just a good set of screw drivers or wrenches.

Mounting a high-powered scope on a target, long-range, bench rest rifle is another story.

The SB scope should be centered from the factory, so sighting-in at 25 or 50 yards should be fairly easy. Utilize a large pistol size target or plain butcher paper with one of the 1" square sight-in targets. Once you dial in the scope, then move-out to 100 yards or your zero range of choice.

If you have any questions or get stuck, let me know. I have zeroed and mounted many rifle scopes.

http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx220/SkiDevil01/NoveskeandShortDot057.jpg (http://s757.photobucket.com/user/SkiDevil01/media/NoveskeandShortDot057.jpg.html)
http://i757.photobucket.com/albums/xx220/SkiDevil01/NoveskeandShortDot049.jpg (http://s757.photobucket.com/user/SkiDevil01/media/NoveskeandShortDot049.jpg.html)

[Unobtanium]

I've often wondered, after watching high speed video and seeing how much scopes and mounts flex, if slipping in rings, ever so minutely, is an inescapable reality.

Another quandry...many manufacturers do not spec "wet" or "dry" torque for ring caps. This can vary the amount of torque transmitted to the scope tube by roughly 20% -+ on the big end, if the screws are lightly coated with oil or loctite vs. dry and degreased.