Thread: Ring lapping kit - anyone able to lend?

G'Day
I have one rifle that needs the rings lapped. I can't really justify buying the kit just for one job, just about fell off my chair when I saw how much it costs. Was wondering if there's anyone in the N Waikato / BOP that would be prepared to share their kit?
I have 30mm steel rings.
Obviously respect the fact that a lot of guys will not be keen to share with someone they don't know... I can pay a deposit etc etc, whatever works.
Thanks in advance.

Gunworks have scope alignment bars for 20 odd bucks.
Maybe go to a local steel supplier and see what a piece of ground bar is worth. I doubt it would be worth more than 10 bucks for 300mm of it.

Originally Posted by csmiffy

Gunworks have scope alignment bars for 20 odd bucks.
Maybe go to a local steel supplier and see what a piece of ground bar is worth. I doubt it would be worth more than 10 bucks for 300mm of it.

Its not the alignment bar I need, its the lapping kit. The one with two bars, with pointed ends to check for alignment. Like this:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/10...mounting-kit-1

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Its not the alignment bar I need, its the lapping kit. The one with two bars, with pointed ends to check for alignment. Like this:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/10...mounting-kit-1

Two perfectly squared off bars work better than the pointed bars. You slide them very close together and use a feeler gauge to see if there is any variation in the gap.

The pointed bars can be out of alignment and still point at each other i.e. one bar higher or lower than the other.

Thanks 10-Ring. I did what you suggested thanks to a fastidious retired engineer I know, he was only too happy to make up two 30mm squared off bars a couple of nights ago. This immediately showed up a variance between the front and the rear rings and further investigation with a powerful magnifying glass and quality steel straight edge showed it was the bases that were slightly out of alignment. This was corrected and the rings lapped lightly which improved the contact area a lot. So yeah, I guess the lesson is that if you’re using up too much windage to achieve zero don’t just assume its the rings and splash out on new ones before you’ve properly checked the bases.

But after discussion and some hunting around I ended up replacing the rings anyway with 6 hole tactical “low” rings which keeps the objective close to the barrel on the high 20MOA bases and the ocular lens at the right level.

These two bars have gone down south to my engineer mate’s son to do the same, once they are back (if they come back!) I’m sure they’ll be available to shooters nearish to Waihi / Paeroa / Te Aroha / Katikati etc to borrow.

We have a 30 mm lapping bar at work and charge a small fee for performing the job if all else fails.
Dpt in Hamilton.

fair enough-I know what you mean. Mind you if you have a solid piece of rod you could get them pretty close, check them with some marker dye and lap them in.

Ring lapping kit by flyblown, nah it’s just not right! Kerosine and tar!

PM sent.

Originally Posted by Maca49

Ring lapping kit by flyblown, nah it’s just not right! Kerosine and tar!

Yeah, try Winston Peters , guess he’s got some experience with ring lapping

Can I ask why you feel the need to go through all the mucking about just to put a scope on a rifle? What brand of rings are They?

The rifle is a 6.5CM with a two piece 20MOA base I had made from a single piece base by a well known smith, which didn’t work out well enough due to a very slight misalignment of the front base. For various reasons I want to assess the cause of the misalignment myself before I take take it back, if I decide to go down that path. The compound effect of small errors in base to receiver, ring to base, scope to rings needs to be sorted out as its a medium range hunting rifle build, I require consistent half MOA at all ranges.

I am 99% sure they are not quite right. The lapping kit will (a) tell me the degree of out-ness and (b) give me a chance to fix it. If it isn’t solvable using this method then I will start again. The rings I have had in a box for years, they are steel, simple design, I have an identical pair on my .308 Win. No idea what brand, will be several years old. No need to throw money at it with expensive new rings if the error sits elsewhere, I just need to understand exactly what’s what.

Surely it's easier and cheaper just to get a new / better set of rings?