silencer removal

[sako 23]

Is it possible to bend the barrel when removing a very tight t8 sound moderator? calibre is a 22-250 if that makes a difference.

Reason I ask is I bought a new scope the shop mounted it and also removed the moderator. I felt it was rather tight and did'nt want to do any damage myself. When I tried to zero it the scope was only an inch off to the left but I was only shooting 25yrds to start. I turned the adjuster about 8 clicks right and it was at it's maximum. Back to the shop tried a different scope same problem. the only way to rectify it was to mount the scope at a slight angle in the mount. The shop seemed to think it was the mounting rail on the rifle, Im not so sure. Any Ideas??? I checked my old scoope I had taken off to see how many clicks that went to the right and I lost count.

Edited February 4, 2011 by sako

[martin 332]

The best thing to do when putting a scope onto any rifle is to firstly turn the turrets fully one way,and then count back each click until it comes fully back,this will tell you how many clicks there are in total,so,you then turn it back to the halfway as you know now how many clicks that will be.Do that to both turrets,and the scope is then centrallised,so it will give you the most adjustment.....simples! I hope this helps..............Martin

[sako 23]

Cheers martin but we'd already tried this in the shop. It's a swarovski scope so there's a good few clicks for discrepancy either way. After sticking the bore "collomator?" in and lining up the scope again it was the same, a very limited number of clicks available to the right. As I said the only way to get enough clicks were to position the mounts slightly off centre. I haven't had chance to test the rifle since because of the wind and rain but it just makes me think it has something to do with the shop applying excessive pressure on the barrel when removing the moderator and maybe twisting it or slightly bending it???

[dadioles 68]

It would take some fairly clumsy action to bend a barrel in such a way that you cannot see the damage. The force would probably be at the breech. Does the barrel look straight when you look through the barrel? A barrel is pretty stiff and very strong. Removing a moderator would be a rotational force, it would not bend the barrel. To bend a barrel you would have to apply force bending it over your knee.

 

It is worth removing moderators frequently to stop them becoming bonded on as the result of heat and corrosive gases.

 

The implication is that the scope mounting rail on top of the barrel is out of alignment with the barrel. Maybe the scope mounts are not properly fitted to the rail.

 

When I fit a new scope I set the gun up in a bench vice and remove the bolt. Looking through the barrel I line up with an object a fair distance away, for example the tv aerial on the roof of the house just down the road. 50 to 100 yards is a good distance, that is where the bullet would go if you fired it. No need for any fancy kit. (Try not to be too conspicuous pointing at the neighbours!!)

 

As Martin said, centre the cross hairs in the scope by counting the number of clicks from one extreme to the other and setting it to the middle click stop position. That is important for a number of reasons, think about how a scope is made. I normally set the up/down a bit more down than up (about one third) as later, in the field, you will need more clicks to raise the impact point as range increases, than you will need to lower it. But in principle make sure you start with the cross hairs broadly centred.

 

Make sure your scope mounts are tight on the gun barrel mounting rail and well spaced fore and aft to suit the scope, eye position and ejector etc. Now place the scope on the mounts and use thin bits of plastic (old photographic negatives are often used) to adjust the seating of the scope in the mounts so that (without adjusting the turrets) the cross hairs of the scope more or less line up with the "target" viewed directly through the barrel. It can take quite a bit of fiddling as things move when you tighten the scope mounts to hold the scope but I have never had to pack out more than a couple of thicknesses of plastic, probably a little under 1mm. Obviously you only need to pack one of the scope supports to make the adjustment.

 

Assuming that the rail on top of the barrel is properly straight and was correctly lined up at manufacture and that you are using the correct scope mounts for that rail, there should not be too much horizontal adjustment necessary. It is easy to get the mounts the wrong way round on the rail or to use mounts for a rail with an incompatible bevel.

 

The Nikon Monarch that I use on one of my guns has a 1" tube and it is essential to get the mounts properly packed to line the scope up with the target as turret (cross hair adjustment) movement is very limited compared with a lot of scopes.

 

Logically, if you test fire the gun on a target about 25 yards away the bullet should land roughly where you would expect. Use a big (A3) sheet of paper as you will feel really stupid if you fire at that range and miss!

 

If all is well take a second shot at 50 yards and adjust the scope turret then tweak your final zero (100 yards or whatever).

 

If you are still convinced that you cannot reasonably line your scope up horizontally then it suggests that the mounting rail is out of alignment (way outside of my limited experience).

 

I wonder if the Swarovski scope that you are fitting is like my Monarch in that the adjustement is quite limited. If you are used to other scopes with what seems like endless adjustment this does come as quite a surprise, there is nothing wrong, it just needs careful centering by packing.

 

Let us know how you get on.

 

Les

[sako 23]

Cheers dadioles,

I did try it in this wind today and at 50 yrds it was only just over an inch high. It was hard even at that range to keep the gun still in this wind! Anyway tried it at a hundred and was just over two inches high. So by the shop sort of setting the scope off centre it seems to have worked. I will have to have a good session when there's no wind. But now I've been reading about the positioning of the front mount on the sako, as it has a sort of tapered dovetail you can use this to set the scope for left and right allignment to the barrel. The shop had set this mount right at the back where you attach the mount, because the mount is tapered it sits loosely, therfore when you tighten the allen key for the mount it's going to pull it one way. That's my theory anyway. I took the scope back off and slid the front mount forward until it was tight, tightened the allen key and refitted the scope. I left the mount attatched to the base at a slight angle as the shop had positioned it so if my theory about them not positioning the front mount correctly is right, the gun should shoot to the right next time I try it.

Anyone know how the front mount on a sako should be positioned correctly?

[sako 23]

Update for anyone interested,

Tried the gun today after sliding front mount forward until tight, where I presume it should be??? (seen as nobody's got a sako and doesn't know.) Would you believe it I was right, gun fired three inches to the right at 25yrds. Scope and mounts back off, centralised the rings in the mounts everything back on. I then set the horizontal adjusment until it was somewhere near centre and back off to the pick up to try again.

This time a 25 yrd shot stopped dead centre but about an inch low, a dozen clicks up set the target out about 80yrds as that was the only safe distance tried again and was just over an inch high. Job done for now i'll go back and fire a few more when it's fine and no wind. I just had to try it today as it was bugging me.

Moral of the story, dont expect people working in gun shops know anything about guns even if they've worked there for years like the chap that fitted mine, even when they tell you how clever they are with everything they shoot. Bit like half the clever ones that never miss on these forums really At least the barrel worry has now been forgotten and I can get back out with the lamp (when the weather sorts itself out) Cheers to martin and les for your input

[kieran222 0]

Glad you got it sorted and good feedback for the rest of us.