Originally Posted by
Unobtanium
Aight...
1) gather supplies...
A. Acetone
B. Q tips
C. Loctite 243 or 222ms, depending on your mindset.
D. Torque wrench and proper drivers.
E. Cell phone
F. Badger Dead-Level, or the receiver of the rifle, mounted in a rest or otherwise secured.
G. Feeler gauges
H. Plum bob and string and 20ft minimum to view it from.
I. Toothpick
J. A well lit work area free of clutter
2). Prep for install
A. Use the qtips and acetone to completely clean and degrease the screws, blind holes of the mount, ID of the rings, and OD of the mounting area of the optic.
B. Level the dead level/or receiver using the leveling app on your phone
C. Set up the plum bob.
3. Begin the install.
A) figure out eye relief and mounting placement of scope in the rings fore and aft. Make sure not to touch the bell, turret cluster, or get over a lens, with either ring.
B) place the ring caps over the bottom halves, making sure they are matched, if they came with matching serial numbers such as Geissele. I never separate them even on other brands, marking their position and orientation as soon as I open the packaging using a lead #2 pencil (wipes off later, but stays long enough to do the job)
C) use the feeler gauges to make sure all 4 gaps between cap and bottom are equal, after dropping all 8 screws into the holes and tightening them to where they first make contact. No torque. None. Just at contact, so the scope is easily turned in the rings.
D) remove the cap on top of the optic (elevation turret) and your phone from its case.
E) True the turret to the rail of your receiver or the deadlevel.
F) verify that the scope is level with the plum bob, in case the internals are not 100% true to the housing.
G) apply 5 inch pounds of torque to all 4 screws of one ring. Front or rear, doesnt matter.
H) Verify E and F has not changed.
4. Finishing the install
A) assuming the above has checked out, remove, and apply loctite to the 4 screws of the ring that you did not tighten to 5 in lb.
B) apply loctite to the inner threads of the blind holes that will interface with the ring cap screws.
C) place the ring cap over the scope, and insert all 4 screws to the blind holes, tightening them until all 4 make contact.
D) true the gaps L and R to each other, using feeler gauges. My threshold is 0.002 +-. Also, and this is best done using feel with your finger pads, as well as keen vision and good lighting, make sure that the entire ring is not shifted fore or aft of the base, but sits perfectly square above it, before beginning the final torque.
E) set your torque wrench to the appropriate maximum desired torque. I use 20 inch pounds on most rings and optics I deal with. Vortex recommends less.
F) Tighten the screws in a crisscross pattern. The top left, bottom right, bottom left, top right. You will torque by angle, initially, disregarding the setting of the wrench. I prefer to tighten each screw by 1 "turn of my wrist", which amounts to maybe 90 degrees per screw, per tightening. I proceed in the order outlined above through the sequence of screws, until the tension is such that the wrench clicks. I then proceed through them once more.
G. Verify via the phone level, and plum bob, that the scope has not shifted. Verify with the feeler gauges that you've maintained your ring gap equally L and R. Verify that the ring cap still sits true, above the base.
H. Remove the ring that was torqued to only 5 inch pounds, and repeat steps B through G.
*Keep in mind that steps C through F need to be proceeded through in less than 5 minutes, preferably less than 3, due to the loctite, which is inert until placed in an oxygen deprived environment, ie, the screws seal the blind holes.
**Loctite has a K factor of roughly 0.20 on the slicker end.
Congratulations. You have now mounted your optic.
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