“Frankenscope”

[jackieschmidt]

I was sorting out a bunch of old scope parts and found I had enough pieces to assemble a 36x Leupold.
These parts all came from various projects back when we were freezing the internals of scopes to use with external mounts.
I had a tube from a later model 36-D, and the locking objective, ocular assembly, erector tube and other internals from earlier models.

So I decided to perform the “Tucker Conversion” and add one of my own glass reticles with .0002 etched cross hairs.
I took it to the range yesterday, mounted on my favorite LV 6PPC.

The most difficult thing in installing the glass reticle is getting every spec of dust off. I finally got it good enough.
It is rock solid and “clear as glass”.

Here are two groups at 100, the left shot by me and the right by my Son.

 

[Sandstorm]

Nice work...

 

[7br]

An extremely talented, precise and knowledgeable rugged individual. I never get tired of reading about your many unique projects Jackie.

 

[ShtrRdy]

Dang, Jackie, you know a lot, about a lot of things. Nice going!

 

[BoydAllen]

Did you include Tucker's modification to the erector tube pivot? Impressive work.

 

[jackieschmidt]

Did you include Tucker's modification to the erector tube pivot? Impressive work.

Yes, I did.
What many did not realize about Cecil’s conversion was not only did he add the heavy coil spring adjacent to the turret abutments, he also machined a 1/16 Groove in the OD of the pivot joint to encapsulate an O ring.In factory scopes, that OD had to have a few thousanths clearance to allow the erector tube to pivot and not bind. Many believed these allowed the erector tube to shift ever so slightly from shot to shot. The OD of the O ring fit snug in the scopes ID, stabilizing the erector tube’s OD.

 

[rwj]

Very nice groups! Is the scope is still frozen internally? If yes, how were you able to make the hits so close to center… holdover?

 

[jackieschmidt]

Is the scope is still frozen internally?

No, it is not. The erector tube still works in the same manner as manufactured. The modifications simply help hold it exactly in place from shot to shot.

This is just my opinion, but I think the later Leupold 36x scopes were one of the best designs, mechanically speaking, that could be had for short range Benchrest. There is only one internal moving part, and once Cecil Tucker came up with an ingenious fix to cure the one minor problem, they became rock solid in their ability to hold point of impact from shot to shot.

The external focus adjustment on the objective lens is rock solid once focus is achieved and the ring is locked. Of course, It is more tedious than a simple side focus knob, but then there are no extra parts moving around inside the scope to cause problems if something goes amiss.

When Leupold brought out their Competition series back in the mid 2000’s, I always wondered why they didn’t simply scale up the 36 BR model to 45x rather than bring out a more complicated design that was prone to problems.

 

[AlNyhus]

Strong work. Jackie.

 

[jackieschmidt]

Strong work. Jackie.

Al, did Cecil ever do his conversion on the Leupold 6X.?
I have never had one of those apart, , but I figure the internals are quite similiar to the 36xBR.

 

[AlNyhus]

Al, did Cecil ever do his conversion on the Leupold 6X.?
I have very had one of those apart, , but I figure the internals are quite similiar to the 36xBR.

Yes, he did. Several HBR shooters I know had 'Tuckerized' Leupolds.

Dick Thomas at Premier Reticles would add a second leaf spring in the M8 series 6X42 AO Leupolds for HBR use, if you sent him a scope for a reticle change.

Later on, Leupold offered a 6X42 A.O. 'Tactical' scope (matte finished) that had the second spring installed at the factory. I bought two of those new, directly from Dick at Premier with the reticle changed to the 3/8" dot. Unfortunately, the association between Leupold and Premier soured...shall we say ...and that service ended.

When Leupold offered the final version of the 6X42 A.O., is was termed the 'Competition Hunter', as it coincided with the introduction of the new 'Competition' series 30MM scopes in 35X, 40X and 45X. It came with a 1/2" dot and had the second leaf spring as standard equipment (supposedly). The second spring was pirated directly from Premier. The early Competition Hunter 6X scopes were 1/4" adjustments. Greg Sweezy, one of the best HBR shooters on Planet Earth , worked with Leupold to produce a version with 1/8" adjustments. I've had both versions of those.

For what it's worth.

Good shootin' -Al

 

[thekriebles]

Jackie, your work and engineering skills are always impressive. I think I may like your "Frankenbolt" even more!!

 

[linebaugh]

Very cool. Never even considered tearing into a scope.