Davy Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 I am looking for feedback on this.... A mate pinged me a few days ago with an idea for a method of levelling rifle 'scopes, now based on his constant mutterings about the 'scope on his F/TR rifle being out of plumb I can understand why he had been thinking about it. A quick scan of his idea was enough to show it would certainly work but wow it was complex however it set me thinking, how could I keep moving parts out of such a device, make it all but fool proof and easier to make. Simple ideas are best so I opted for a simple set of wedges that slide together maintaining the upper and lower surfaces in parallel, and when I say parallel I mean within .0004 (Four tenths of a thou, AKA not a lot) To say I was pleased with such accuracy is an understatement as it was a bit of an experiment. The wedges. The slot in the top is for Nightforce 'scopes which have a spring housing for the erector tube on the underside of the body. Yes it is not as shiny as it could be but fine for me considering it will mostly sit in a zip lock bag in a draw. Rather simple and very effective, I checked the offending F/TR rifle for him and sure enough the scope was slightly out of plumb, with this it was a matter of seconds to set the scope. Simply slacken the screws off slightly so the tube can rotate in the rings with some resistance, slide the wedges into place with finger and thumb and squeeze them together whilst rocking the tube, once the tube stops rocking nip the screws up very slightly remove the wedges and torque the rings down, check once more by pushing the wedges back in and hold them up to the light. Of course it does depend on the flat base of the 'scope being perpendicular to the reticle... I even checked my AI with the rifle lying across my knees and with minimum hassle. Now the interesting part, would it work on a round top action without a flat surface to pick up on? Yes it does! One of those things I am rather pleased with, I certainly have not reinvented the wheel however it is a logical solution in my eyes, yes it has limitations and will not work with some open top receivers or round bottom scopes and I am rather depending on the flat base of a scope being perpendicular to the reticle but...... Anyway, thank you ENS for sparking my imagination. Today I am just finalising the design, the pictures show Mk3 which is not as good as Mk2, getting the slip angles right took some work and the elevation range on it is quite important. Right now I am off to the Shed to build another couple to finalise the process and get a feeling for time to build without impacting accuracy and then I will build a couple of dozen to see how people feel about them. Unless of course some stripey deckchair steals my idea which I have seen with something else quite recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terryh Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Davy, I like it, this would save me finding various bits of shim and flat bar to pack up under the scopoe only to find they're wedged in once the rings are done up!! Please keep me posted on progress etc. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotch_egg Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 I like it. I use the feeler gauge method so this would make fitting far quicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveW Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Fantastic idea, I'm intrigued to hear it works with round top actions as well. Get the patent in quick Davy. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elwood Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Neat idea, let me know when you have a few in production, I would be interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyR Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 I like the idea but would be concerned about weather there is enough clearance under the scope for it to fit, some of mine sit very close to the rail. Spuhr make one based on a similar principle: http://www.spuhr.com/Separate%20rings.html Third pic across on the bottom row but this does look like it will work with a much lower scope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy Posted May 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Fantastic idea, I'm intrigued to hear it works with round top actions as well. Get the patent in quick Davy The top of the round action has to go over centre, hopefully this shows the principle, the C shape is the action cross section with wedges on top, push them together and the scope base assumes a parallel to the central axis of the outside of the receiver, of course it does depend on how well the receiver has been manufactured and I have only tried it on a Schultz & Larsen with a K312 on top, so two manufacturers that *should* maintain reasonable tolerances during manufacture. Quite how it work our with a cheapie Chinese 'scope and fifty quid air gun is anyone's guess...I am taking steps to protect the design principle however I have to be realistic and assume it will be copied, in fact someone somewhere may already be building a set, if that is the case I am doing there market research Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy Posted May 10, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 I like the idea but would be concerned about weather there is enough clearance under the scope for it to fit, some of mine sit very close to the rail. Spuhr make one based on a similar principle: http://www.spuhr.com...te%20rings.html Third pic across on the bottom row but this does look like it will work with a much lower scope. Of course I would like to build a one size fits all but that would mean building a system that is large and fragile, these will suit a good percentage of the rifles and scopes on the market and I have a slimmer set for my Accuracy Internationals which both use an AI one piece with S&B PMII on one and SA on another so a limited gap on both. That Spuhr system is incredibly elegant, I am very impressed. I am seriously thinking about CNC right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6.5shooter Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 I am also interested in one David. Pm sent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnthonyR Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Of course I would like to build a one size fits all but that would mean building a system that is large and fragile, these will suit a good percentage of the rifles and scopes on the market and I have a slimmer set for my Accuracy Internationals which both use an AI one piece with S&B PMII on one and SA on another so a limited gap on both. That Spuhr system is incredibly elegant, I am very impressed. I am seriously thinking about CNC right now. I have a Spuhr one piece mount, they are are really lovely well made pieces of kit, the downside is the price, the scope levelling tool is 150 euros on it's own Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannywayoflife Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Really interesting tool that Davy, Please let us all know when you have something in production Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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