Thread: scope slid down dovetails from recoil?

Just noticed my scope and its mounts have shifted forward and the front mount is half over the edge of the dovetail rail.
It's an SMLE with Parker hale rings

Is this typical for these to shift forward from recoil? I can't get any movement out of them and I was sure I had them up pretty tight.
This must have happened after sighting in the rifle.

Shouldn't do. Mines never moved.
Whatever you do dont over tighten those rings,real easy to snap the shaft,I should know.......
Sounds like something isnt right,do you have any pictures?

Parker Hale rings have a little round stud that fits into a recess in the base to stop them moving. I can give you a stud free to prevent movement.

What garyp said.

Yeah I'm pretty careful to not overtighten the rings, but the base screws i would have thought need to be fairly tight.
I know what you mean about the stud, will check this tomorrow and get a photo.

"Slip sliding away du du dut to do"...

Basically the scope and rings are being turned into a slide hammer every time you pull the trigger, without some form of mechanical lock you won't stop those rings from shifting as there isn't the surface area in the design to hold everything in place. The little round stud can't be in place for whatever reason, with that fitted the rings can't shift further than the point at which the stud hits the front of the hole in the base.

Ok I finally got round to taking a photo this weekend.
The rear ring is the one with the locking pin that locks into the rail, and has not moved.
What appears to be happening is the scope is sliding through the rings and has also moved forward with the front ring at the same time.
I have attached a photo.
My guess is the front ring needs to be a bit tighter on the rail and the scope rings need a bit more tightening, but I'm always afraid to overdo it and damage t b e scope, I have taken a few rings off old scopes and found marks left on the body.

Ok I finally got round to taking a photo this weekend.
The rear ring is the one with the locking pin that locks into the rail, and has not moved.
What appears to be happening is the scope is sliding through the rings and has also moved forward with the front ring at the same time.
I have attached a photo.
My guess is the front ring needs to be a bit tighter on the rail and the scope rings need a bit more tightening, but I'm always afraid to overdo it and damage the scope, I have taken a few rings off old scopes and found marks left on the body.

My ol'PH 270 did this stunt as well, cured it by drilling mount and base to take a ball bearing, a couple of shots to set them in before final tighten, wrapped scope with folded wet & dry carborundum sand paper to stop it sliding....worked well.

I had a Martini Cadet in 222R that had that issue - but the previous owner cured it by welding the Hilver ring to the steel base

That sandpaper idea could work well.
Need to take it off and establish how loose it was for a start, I never had any issues with the last mounts but those were just some cheap old ones I had kicking about and thought these parker hale ones would have been an upgrade!
That being said, I was looking for some more period correct mounts for this rifle, I have seen some spotters of this period (60s-70s) with blued steel rings instead of alloy rings. Not sure of the age of these parker hale mounts, but I've got a couple of sets.

Originally Posted by Old_School

That sandpaper idea could work well.
Need to take it off and establish how loose it was for a start, I never had any issues with the last mounts but those were just some cheap old ones I had kicking about and thought these parker hale ones would have been an upgrade!
That being said, I was looking for some more period correct mounts for this rifle, I have seen some spotters of this period (60s-70s) with blued steel rings instead of alloy rings. Not sure of the age of these parker hale mounts, but I've got a couple of sets.

I am not sure what 'spotters' means but I have a set of those blued steel rings you mention, well the ring tops are steel by the start of corrosion on them, the bottoms seem steel to me, they have knurled nuts like yours but the rod they are on is designed for fitting into groove in base...the rings are held to the scope with 4 flat blade screws...I cant do photos at the moment, sorry.

Originally Posted by DavidGunn

I am not sure what 'spotters' means but I have a set of those blued steel rings you mention, well the ring tops are steel by the start of corrosion on them, the bottoms seem steel to me, they have knurled nuts like yours but the rod they are on is designed for fitting into groove in base...the rings are held to the scope with 4 flat blade screws...I cant do photos at the moment, sorry.

It's the damn autocorrect on my phone doing that, it's supposed to read "sporter" lol it's changing it again as i type this.
That's all good, would be interesting to see a photo when you get a chance.
Been looking for them at gun shows.