Lapping or not?

[rocky]

When you install new rings and scope, do you lap your rings?

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[r2d2]

I have always thought lapping was a solution in search of a problem!
Also all my rings and mounts are Leupold and I do not think those require lapping because the back mount/ring is used for windage adjustment and when you adjust those screws you are going to change the sitting of the scope in the front ring. Also some lapping supporters will tell you to only lap the bottom ring because there is enough 'flex' in the top ring. If this is true there must be enough flex in the Leupold front ring to slightly turn when you tighten things up.

If you lap you should do it just a little bit to remove some slight surface imperfections and then reblue your ring, but what do you do on silver rings?

I am sure some will disagree strongly with me.

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[hunter]

I do not lap either but I know some guys at the club would never mount a scope without lapping the rings first. To me it seems if you lap you are going to make the ring bigger than intended and the fit won't be as good. I just use the lapping rod to align the rings.

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[sniper]

I always lap my rings. If you don't you will run the risk of bending your scope and possibly loose accuracy or break the windage and elevation adjustment on the scope.

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[Admin]

I just mounted a scope on a new rifle using Leupold standard rings. When you tighten the back screws for windage you end up turning slightly the ring so that it is not perfectly perpendicular to the barrel. The problem is that you are turning the left and right screws clockwise on a different side of the chamber and that results in a slight turn of the ring to the left. This is a case when you need to lap.

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[sniper]

The Burris are a tighter but I do not like this system anyway because as you say tightening these big screws will always turn the ring counterclockwise.

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