This afternoon I took my new stainless Mini-14 to the range to sight in the scope, which I mounted without benefit of a boresight because I don't own one (and worse than that, I have almost no experience installing scopes). I wasn't on the 24x24" paper until I started aiming at the edges of the paper itself, not the bullseye! I couldn't get anything to group.
I do have a torque controlled screwdriver with gunsmith bits, and I had tightened the ring bases to 15 ft/lbs. Maybe I didn't get them set correctly. I finally noticed that they shot loose, but I'm not sure when; it was probably after one or two rounds. I went through 12-15 rounds unable to accomplish anything without realizing what had happened. I was using garden variety Remington UMC 55 gr. factory ammo....nothing fancy. I finally had the sense to quit and head home after seeing the scope mounts were loose.
How tight should the Ruger proprietary ring bases be, as attached to the receiver?
Are the factory rings interchangeable or are they dedicated front and rear?
The good news is that this brand new rifle functioned perfectly on the first and every shot. The trigger is quite acceptable, recoil pretty mild with the Hogue factory stock with its rubber butt pad, and the sight picture through the Burris 1-4x30mm scope is a joy.
__________________
GOA/NRA Life Member
USN Veteran
I stand corrected..the Wheeler Fat Wrench I'm using is calibrated in inch-pounds, not foot-pounds! So, the screws were tightened to about 15 inch-pounds because I didn't want to risk over tightening them. Evidently that was not tight enough!
__________________
GOA/NRA Life Member
USN Veteran
They sell a gun specific Loc-Tite, it's called Gun-Tite from Uncle Mike's. It just requires the use of a hand tool to break it loose. I've used it for years, works great.
This stuff her: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0013RB1AM/ref=asc_df_B0013RB1AM728925?smid=A3AZEU1266GEG2&tag=dealt209990dealt&linkCode=asn
It can be found elsewhere other then Amazon.
__________________ "My next door neighbors two dogs have created more shovel ready jobs then Obama has." - Gary Johnson
Last edited by GlockMeister; 04-03-2009 at 11:31 AM.
If the problem of not being on target continues, which it probably won't, consider that the base and/or rings may be out of line with the bore.
What base/ring combination are you using, or does your gun have the built in dovetails and Ruger rings?
This is a brand new Mini-14 Ranch Rifle and it does have the built in dovetails and Ruger rings, which I am using.
For the general interest here, I just got off the phone with tech service at Ruger in N.H. He said that when installing the Ruger rings on the integral dovetails on the receiver, you should tighten/loosen/tighten/loosen/tighten etc. several times so that they will seat properly. Then he said to "snug it up" and it will stay put. He did not have a torque recommendation.
He said that if the above procedure is not followed, it can come loose, which is exactly what happened to me because I did not follow this procedure.
He opined that Loctite is not necessary.
He also confirmed that, for the Mini-14 Ranch Rifle, rings are interchangeable front and rear...they are the same height. This may or may not be true of all Ruger rifles or even earlier models of the Ranch Rifle, but I did not ask that question.
I doubt if I'll have any problems zeroing this rifle permanently if I get the scope properly installed. I don't want to invest in a boresight as they are really expensive and I rarely do this kind of job; it's impossible to visually sight down the bore (like you can with a bolt gun) to get an initial zero of the scope due to the design of the receiver on the Mini-14. Lacking those two options, all one can do is install the scope and hope it's somewhere on the paper first time out. I should start at the 25 yard range rather than 50, next time.
The "Gun-Tite" suggestion seems like a good one.....I'll give it a try.
__________________
GOA/NRA Life Member
USN Veteran
I find loktite unnessary but does no harm and if you get the rings tight they will hold.The only extra I do is take a file and gently take any rough edges off the ring bottoms where they meet the built in base.The instructions from ruger sound good to me. sam.
I've found loktite necessary on both of my Mini's. I've had the older one loosen up the screws that lock the rings together, and the newer one loosened up the screws holding the rings on the mounting rail. Personally, I think that's one of the big reasons Mini's have the rep for being hard on scopes.
Teach
