Scope Troubleshooting; Scope, Bases, and Rings 

Great tips Tom. I see a lot of guys setting their final scope adjustments with a blazing hot barrel. I’d also suggest, check your scope during season a time or two, paying extra attention to that first cold bore POI. That’s the one that counts. I think a lot of scopes get blamed for “not holding zero” because they set it with a barrel you could light a cigarette off of. Hunting rifles are made to carry a lot and shoot a little, most of the hunting shots are with a very cold barrel. For a hunting rifle, take the time to sight in with a cold barrel. 👍🏻😎✌🏻

Well, waited up tonight for this one, its hot here and the nights are much cooler anyway...its funny how things work out....just something simple can mean everything...for me a lot of time the bases for military rifles, have been/can be a little bit sketchy..like your two-piece base...its good you found it fairly quickly and it was an easy fix. I'm very much looking forward to the next shooting of the rifle...as .303 set up correctly should be an accurate round. Also interested in how the Parker Hale would perform against a standard military .303....so looks like there is some interesting shooting on the burner... a great video and God Bless...have a great week also.

In the UK the gun laws are draconian. The fact you get a hunting rifle for Xmas at 13yrs of age, makes me wish I could live in your wonderful country. But now at nearly 60 that's not going to happen. The best I can do is a sub 12flb air rifle. Love your channel, interesting stuff always. Have a good un Tom.

Glad you are back and talking guns

When I was taking apart something held by machine screws I used to put the screws in without whatever they had been holding down to make sure that they had not been put in badly. If a screw is put in badly it will stop too early and only give the impression that it had been properly tightened up. Loctite is fine when the surfaces are touching or very close together. Epoxy sets in a block and is very useful for suspending a flake of paint for examination.

nice report, Tom; would you have a recipe to work-out the Enfield trigger group to make its pull (much) lighter ? thanx

Thanks for sharing your knowledge and keep your videos coming please.

I have really been looking forward to this video! Really hope it's solid next time you go out. Hoping to go out and shoot my scoped enfield for the first time soon. Good bless!

Reminds me of my dads weatherby vanguard Series 2 300 win mag. We had a Leupold 3-9x50 rifleman scope and we were sold long action remington 700 rings+bases because we were told "they fit fine" which we questioned at the time but went along with since we didn't know that much about the rifle since this was around when the vanguard S2 had released. We couldn't even get it on paper at 30 meters even after bore sighting, bottomed out up and down the elevation range which is more or less a first in my dads 40+ years of mounting his own riflescopes and still nothing. Was wondering if the scope was damaged since the 50mm objective sat very close to the barrel but there was still some gap. We questioned if it was the rifle itself that was at fault, the factory ammo but as you will see later they were both fine. The machining seemed to be fine on the rings when we looked at it, the scope had markings on it as if the rings hadn't held it under recoil properly, even though it was tightened to specs. Ended up swapping to Talley lightweight one piece rings which were highly recomnneded by researching the issue that had issues with other mounts. Swapped the scope to a burris fullfield 2 that we had spare and instantly got on paper and zeroed in 3 shots, after years of delays and going back and forth on what could be wrong. Still not sure if it was the scope, the rings or the bases that were at fault, and don't have anything else to really mount the 50mm objective scope onto for testing it.

... surprised you didn't degrease the screws and inside the screw holes with q-tips and alcohol before applying the Locktite??

I have the same rifle that had the same problem. I put three scopes on it and shot it with open sights could not get it to group. Ended up taking the gun apart and shimming the action so the barrel would float because it was making contact with the stock. After doing that the gun shoots great again I put the scope back on and it will shoot 1” groups with 180 GR. Corelocks

I've used Loctite on my scope rings and mounts for decades and I've never had an issue with any of them coming loose. Some people make a mistake using the wrong strength of Loctite and can't take the screws out without a torch or a heat gun. Also make sure to degrease or remove all the oil from the screws and screw holes before using loctite so you get a good bond.

On some of these new scope rings i`ve had scope creep witch I didn`t have with the same scope before. I`ve come to the conclusion that since these rings are coated with that new mil-spec hard coat III coating or something similar. End result is the rings act like they are teflon coated and allows the scope to creep. So for a fix I`ve got together but still need to twist the screws yet I purchased this scope ring tape that`s sold by High Power Optics and see if that doesn`t solve the problem or spend another $ 100 or more for newer rings yet. I notice that the more expensive rings with the same type of finish already have some epoxy type tape laid in the rings from the maker so I think I`m on the right path.

Tom I just bedded my Remington 700 Bdl in 243 per your videos. It has a Vortex 2 2-7x32. It turned out perfect thank you. I did a thorough cleaning and shot two fouling shots. My first two shots Remington 95 grain core locked went in same hole. I adjusted scope down six and right 8 next two were touching but went up instead of down. The more shooting I did they slowly opened up and any adjustments I made to the scope it moved POI way more than the clicks I adjusted. Been a hunter for 45 years I know how to sight in rifles. I have checked my base rings torque all good. Do you think I have a scope issue or do I need to take the hump out of my walnut stock and free float? Thanks Tom

Man keeping me on my toes. Keeping a eye on both channels now. Couldn't make it out in the video since you were turned away. Did you hold your mouth right? Great video and on point. Good thing you didn't wait till last minute your self. Good looking rifle. Personally I like my old redfeild TV scopes got them for my lever actions. I need to knock the dust off and check them out. Take care catch u next time.

I`m not a lock tite fan on scope rings but the gunsmith mounted my pycatyny rail with it so be it on that rifle. but getting around to it [ I`ll call it machine shop grity] . But every two or third time you torch a bolt and nut they are supposed to be replaced as they loose their initial torque value and holding power. And in most cases there is only a bolt that is replaceable so then I can see that loctite would be benifitful for the application.just don`t use the wrong kind. I`m willing to bet that both problems I`ve run across has hit quite a few of the newer builders.

The problem with the Enfield design there's no platform for solid mounting. My dad had one he customized, we played the scope game for awhile. Finally decided it's a open site gun only. We tried every Mount available to no avail. A long eye relief pistol scope and drilled/tapped on a custom barrel contour might work but we decided it wasn't worth the effort.

Accdemy Sports now has Redfield..Scopes Optics.. ATK still has the Mounts n Rings still

Is it that the barrel is shot out? That might explain the scattering of shots all over the place.

Never use loctite on ur screws.. it will lubricate the screws and ur torque specs will be off. The torque driver is calibrated for steel on steel contact, not with fluid in between the threads. once the loctite dries and shrinks there will be a cap between the threads..

Thankful for loctite back in the 60s and 70s when i was a young lad used clear fingernail polish with those crappy old style weaver mounts with weak screws

At least you know the other scope is still good and can be used on a different gun

One possibility is that the lock washers were taking up too much of the small and precious thread engagement.

Well done. Thank you sir.

A bad scope... Or a lose scope mount will make one pull there hair out.lol.... I bought a new scope a few years back.... Tryed to get it sighted in...... What a headack.... All over the target every shot... Come to find out. The spring inside of the scope had broke....Thanks. GOD BLESS.

Did you ever consider torquing the mounting screws to a specific poundage?

Seldom do I watch a video of yours without learning something

Your base 0 moa or 20moa ,the brand you like

Green ,blue,red..........! That's 3

Hello my friend, I have appreciated your videos very much through the years. You also have been personally very helpful in many ways. Unfortunately but I will be cancelling my Y-T account soon. As a patriotic American I’m no longer going to support companies that step on our 1st ammend. rights. I hope and pray you will consider the alternative free spch platform starting with the letters rum. God bless you sir. I will be watching for you on this alt platform. ✌️😎👍

Hey Tom I once fixed a friend's scope issue by removing the scope and peeling off the "made in china" sticker on the bottom which was right in line with one of the rings. 🤦‍♂️ Newbies to the use of 20 MOA bases don't realize (right away) that they're zeroing in at the bottom of the scope's adjustment range. There are things to think about when mounting scopes.

Leupold mounts esp one piece with blue loctite and rings and leup9ld scope of.course saves many headaches and ammo keeping zero over a lifetime of hunting one or two shots at.the beginning of season proves how reliable after a few.seasons do.not.even check zero bc having confidence of a such rugged. Mount system.that can be dropped down steps of aa high house and still keep it zero

Most modern rings and bases are bulletproof. Back when whoever made these old ones just made a few mistakes in their design. Just a little loose screw caused lots of ammo and time wasted finding that out. 🙄

Look up ure screws as well.......8/32....? Those screws r not 1/4"! & if you ask me I would say u have way to many pieces that make up that mount & base!

... when I was a kid just starting to hunt in the 1960s a Denver Redfield scope was the epitome of the optics of the era ... now they're Chinese junk ... how the mighty has fallen

Who in there right mind would have scope or base problems at the range go home change the scope only and drive back to the range only to have the same problem. Anyone knew anything about guns would have checked all the screws in the base and rings when the scope was off the gun after the first failed range trip. I have to say I see a lot of things on this channel that just makes me awww at the simpleness of this so called gun guy.