Scope Ring Suggestions

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I certainly agree with you about the scope "rolling" as you snug down the old Weaver hook and two screw rings. I still like them a lot. The lightest, strongest, least cluttered looking rings in my mind and the price is right too. One additional trick I use is one the smith that built my 7x57 showed me. He kept a Bull Durham ball of powdered rosin on hand and dusted a bit of rosin in the bottoms of the rings for the added tacky "bite" to prevent the scope from moving. So to this day, I rosin scopes if I am using bare naked rings.

I use the Burris signature Zee rings a lot now that I started playing silly long range games with .22's and cast loads so I can fiddle with adding elevation to my scopes. I use 20 MOA bases on three of my rifles and play with the Zee ring inserts for fine tuning.
So, I'm not imagining things?

I like the rosin idea and had forgotten. I wonder if a fella could still buy that stuff or if it's gon the way of asbestos and talcum powder. OK, just being a cynical, grouch there...

If the two sets I have coming don't do for me what I want, I'll look at the Burris Zee rings next. They were high on my list when I was scoping CZs, yet I never ended up using them. Ironically, I found the DIP base that allows the use of Weaver rings, until I sprung for a set of "Hunker" rings from Calhoun. Even those seem a bit bulky for the 527s, but there are fewer pieces/parts, less complexity with that setup.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
The scoped sporterized Springfield that lives in the 5th wheel, has the arm in a hollowed out space under the metal butt plate wrapped in a RIGed piece of flannel. You just need a flat screwdriver to take the butt plate off, which you would need to get the Redfield ringed scope off also.
 

Matt

Active Member
My problem is the sporter stock I found years ago was very short so a recoil pad graces the butt…… I’ve been thinking about some type of leather pouch attached to the sling. Or maybe just put it in my pocket like I do now.
 

david s

Well-Known Member
You can still find rosin in a sporting goods store in the baseball section. it's used by pitchers and come in little bags for 2 or 3 bucks.
 

JonB

Halcyon member
Sure I did, @JonB ! I said "anyone" and I value your opinion as much as anyone's.

I looked at the Burris rings very closely when I was sorting out the little peculiarities of mounting a scope on my first CZ527 several years ago. I like the idea, but had forgotten about them. I'm not shooting at anything far enough away with the 357 Contender that it would make much difference to get it dialed in too closely before touching the scope adjustment dials, so these didn't cross my mind.

Since I've off-loaded a lot of other stuff, I don't need to make as many compromises of the few things I've kept and I have to try to remember that when selecting "accessories" for them.
For me, I like the Signature rings for 3 reasons.
First and foremost, I can't count the number of times I've run out of adjustment on a scope, due to poorly located mounts or what have you. The offset kit for signature rings let this ham fisted amateur get the scope mounted to correct those issues without shims.
Second, there is no need to hone the rings, if alignment isn't perfect, the inserts kind of swivel in the rings, to correct mis-alignment.
Third, the plastic inserts mount a scope securely with leaving marks on the scope.

Now, as to the CZ527 you mention. I Have one in 222rem. I recall there wasn't any simple way to procure Signature rings to fit the receiver mount. So I scavenged a set of factory CZ rings off another CZ rifle, But they are tall for the Leupold scope I have on it, and the rings are Matt blue and the rifle is high gloss. Someday, I should look into something better for that rifle.
 

david s

Well-Known Member
JonB, On the CZ 527 rings, the CZ factory and Burris medium rings are .555" tall you want to look for Warne medium or Calhoon "Hunker" rings at .425. A whole 1/8 inch lower. The Warne medium and Calhoun rings are about the lowest available. Millett back when they were making rings supposedly offered some rings that were .375" (?) or .395" (?) tall but I've never seen them. I don't particularly care for Millet rings. The Leupold mediums fit between the CZ and Burris rings and the Warne mediums and Calhoun at .500" tall.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
JonB, On the CZ 527 rings, the CZ factory and Burris medium rings are .555" tall you want to look for Warne medium or Calhoon "Hunker" rings at .425. A whole 1/8 inch lower. The Warne medium and Calhoun rings are about the lowest available. Millett back when they were making rings supposedly offered some rings that were .375" (?) or .395" (?) tall but I've never seen them. I don't particularly care for Millet rings. The Leupold mediums fit between the CZ and Burris rings and the Warne mediums and Calhoun at .500" tall.
@david s , the DIP base, WITH LOW WEAVER RINGS, may be a very small fraction of an inch lower than the Hunker rings, since you have numbers. I had all that documented at one time - until I settled on what I was going to use - and after CZ modified the bolt handles slightly. I meamsured the difference, but don't remember how much it was. It was so little that it wasn't worth writing down.

I don't think it's worth the small difference going to the DIP base for the purpose of saving that small difference, but it will allow you to use Weaver-STYLE rings if you have them or prefer them. I went to the Hunker because I don't like one-piece bases crowding the ejection port, and there are more screws, pieces, etc.

Thanks for the additional input on the Burris Rings, @JonB . I dont have a lot wrapped up in the two sets I just bought and am focusing more on fewer guns, so I have more time and money for each - meaning that inexpensive rings aren't a huge factor. I've gotten most of my Weaver rings new for $10 a set. Spending a little more won't hurt if I am happy with them once they're on.

Regardless of the quality or features of a given set of rings, I need to figure out WHY I have had such trouble getting a reticle straight. Maybe it's not the rings.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
you can find rosin on the side of many pine trees too.
just dry it and grind it down with a rock.
makes a pretty good bullet flux too.
 

Ian

Notorious member
you can find rosin on the side of many pine trees too.
just dry it and grind it down with a rock.
makes a pretty good bullet flux too.

Juniper trees, too. Find the dried globs and collect them, crunch them up and there ya go. That's what I've used on barrel clamps and so forth.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
Guess I never thought of that.

Putting away decorations yesterday, I tidied up a pile of stuff while I was at it and opened a tobacco tin which had a curious rattle to it.

Little dried blobs of pine resin I'd saved.
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
Also they use rosin for a fiddle bow so if you ever suffered through a beginner violinist screeching away in your house there may be some rosin there.

Having spent a few years fantasizing about and playing the whole 18th century reenactor thing, I used to get spruce sap, juniper, and pine sap and save it for fire starting. And juniper berries for venison St. Hubert, and to dump in a bottle of gin to jack up the flavor a bit.
 

JonB

Halcyon member
Once in a while, I get a pine log (of some flavor?) at the City compost site. I bring it home to make some campfire wood to resell. Most times, when fellows take down the pine, they cut the branches off, maybe 6" away from the main trunk (easier to chainsaw I suppose?)

If that log has any age at all (2 or 3 weeks which is typical), those branch stumps get loaded with sap/rosin. So, either before or after splitting up the chunks, I always remove those branch stumps, so the split firewood stacks better. Those branch stumps sure burn for a long time in the campfire...Like a candle I suppose.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
Once in a while, I get a pine log (of some flavor?) at the City compost site. I bring it home to make some campfire wood to resell. Most times, when fellows take down the pine, they cut the branches off, maybe 6" away from the main trunk (easier to chainsaw I suppose?)

If that log has any age at all (2 or 3 weeks which is typical), those branch stumps get loaded with sap/rosin. So, either before or after splitting up the chunks, I always remove those branch stumps, so the split firewood stacks better. Those branch stumps sure burn for a long time in the campfire...Like a candle I suppose.
Heck, I have it coming out my ears! I have a 400-foot row of scotch pines dying off in a wind break that I can't keep up with.

When I remount this scope, I may try some resin on the bottom half of the ring to see if it helps.

Funny how I got away from stuff for so long. I used to actually scrounge old bones and save bits of leather to case-harden muzzle-loader parts. As life got busier and busier, I started not thinking as much about things right under my nose.
 

david s

Well-Known Member
Jeff H, The Weaver cross slot rings are among the oldest ring and base set up going. There also among the strongest even with aluminum instead of steel bases. I have no experience with (the DIP) scope bases on CZ 527 rifles but I have ground at least 30 of the bolt handles and then had them reblued to allow scope/bolt handle clearance. I prefer my scopes to be fairly low when feasible so on my CZ's all the rings are either Warne mediums or Calhoun "Hunkers". The only exception is my 204 Ruger Varmint CZ that has a scope with an odd size objective bell and hits the barrel with low rings. This scope sits in Warne tall rings.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
I always try to use the Leupold windage adjustable rings and bases .
Very popular, but what I purposely avoid. The ones I've had seemed very difficult to turn-in the front dovetail, which was fine until I thought about how you had to tweak the windage with a pair of screws, which I envisioned bending the scope tube. PROBABLY a non-issue, but it always bugged me.

I know a lot of people use them, and I've never actually heard of anyone damaging a scope with them, but I've never needed that much windage correction on a rifle yet anyway, so I haven't benefited from that feature - won't miss it. After two windage screws breaking in a row, while shooting a 257 Roberts, that sealed the deal for me and I was also happy to see the weight go.

This was the late eighties, and I've used aluminum Weaver bases and rings almost exclusively since. I've found that I can usually remove and replace a scope with this setup, and either return to zero or very close - not that I would count on it without CHECKING the zero, but they seam to be a very secure setup in spite of the rotation aggravation.

I did get a couple new sets to try though - a B-Square "Sport Series Utility Rings," which have screws on both sides of the caps, but are otherwise identical to the Weavers, and a Leupold Rifleman series, which looks like it will be a real treat to get all lined up, because they are split right down the middle and will loosen from the base as they loosed from the scope tube.
 

david s

Well-Known Member
The Redfeild/Leupold base and ring set up with the push me rear rings are also among the oldest ring/base combinations. Now a days you read where you should never use a scope to turn in the front ring but in the past when scopes were less reliable it was common to do so. A spare scope was often brought along that was pre zeroed. If the first scope gave up the ghost you removed one side of the rear base screws and turned out the bum scope, then you used your pre zeroed scope to turn in the front ring and replaced the windage screw. It didn't end up re zeroing perfectly but normally you ended up pretty close. Older scopes also didn't have as much internal adjustment. The rear windage screws helped with this as well as not quite perfect receiver scope mount hole. The worlds moved on some since then now I'm more likely to use a double dovetail set up than not. If you look at something like the Leupold Cross Slot Quick Detach mounts you will see all they really are is a Weave ring and base set up. These do return to zero pretty well just like the older Weavers do.