Scope Mounting Question

[Outback]

My whole life I have just torqued on bases added the scope and rings (with a bit of tape for slippage) and sighted in. In a recent YouTube rabbit trail, I saw a video by Midway where they used a scope mounting kit to align the rings then lap them so they grip the scope in perfect alignment.

My question is if this is really necessary? What benefit would I get from spending the $40 for the Wheeler kit and how would I notice? I'm not a benchrest shooter but do enjoy an accurate rifle. I handload and spend a great deal of time with a new rifle developing an accurate load so I'm wondering if I need to go to the trouble or not. I ask because I'm swapping scope around and it would be a good time to do three rifles.

Thanks.

[jctex81]

Bump

[Team Roper]

You get a lot more stability so the scope is not torqued and less chance for slippage. Worth every penny and the extra time.

[175gr7.62]

99% of scoped rifles don't have this done so I would be hard for someone to argue that it is a must. The biggest downside of not lapping your rings is that if you ever dismount your scope and your rings weren't lapped you tend to get ring marks on your scope tube.

On extremely rare occasions I have seen rings so out of wack that it distorted the main tube enough that the parallex adjustment on the scope didn't work well.

If you run high quality rings and bases you really don't need to worry about it. If you want to get things as close to perfection as you can, lap away.

[Winman]

If you lap the rings,you will insure the alignment of them...this means there will be no torqueing or twisting of the scope tube. If they are already aligned you won't have to do much but it is a good thing to do to verify alignment.

[Avezorak]

99% of scoped rifles don't have this done so I would be hard for someone to argue that it is a must. The biggest downside of not lapping your rings is that if you ever dismount your scope and your rings weren't lapped you tend to get ring marks on your scope tube.

On extremely rare occasions I have seen rings so out of wack that it distorted the main tube enough that the parallex adjustment on the scope didn't work well.

If you run high quality rings and bases you really don't need to worry about it. If you want to get things as close to perfection as you can, lap away.

This^

[Outback]

Since I never sell scopes I'm not concerned about ring wear, but my OCD drives me to overkill stuff. I think I may mount them for now and see if Santa won't hook me up for Christmas and I can redo them later. Amazon has the Wheeler Alignment and Lapping kit for $37.63 delivered with Prime. I think I can level and torque OK.

[drewjunr]

I have never lapped rings. When I mount a scope on a rifle it doesn't come off unless it breaks which I have never broke one, I treat them with kid gloves. Before tightening I make sure it is perfect and I locktite the screws, try to never over tighten the screws. I have the same scopes on the rifles for the last 20 years, some years I don't sight in before season it is always good. They are large enough optics because I am blind...and not many make a good quality 40x-60x rifle scopes that is affordable that it would make it feasible to replace.