Losing my mind!

[thefitter]

I went to swap scopes today and ran into some serious weirdness!! I took a scope off of one rifle and when I tried to mount it on the other rifle one of the rings will not tighten down to the picatinny rail? I tried the ring on other picatinny rails and it will tighten down no problem. The front ring tightens down on this rail but not the back. Then I tried other rings on this rail and they tighten down.

They are Badger rings which I have had for years and on several rails, the rail is from LRB.

What could be the issue between this rail and this one ring bottom?

I'm about to lose it.

 

[thefitter]

Wow, 132 views and nobody has any brilliant ideas?

 

[distinguished]

Are you sure the ring is indexing with the slot? You may have to loosen the ring and move it slightly to get it to mate up.

 

[mr45man]

Are you sure the ring is indexing with the slot? You may have to loosen the ring and move it slightly to get it to mate up.

That's it i am sure. All rails are not spaced the same
Loosen up the rings on the scope and do some testing with both rails. You may find a spacing to work with both rails.
But be carefull , do not tighten down unless both rings are all the way down
in the slots
John H.

 

[Minesweeper3433]

My personal choice if I had this problem would be to remove the rings from the scope and go through your standard scope mounting practices as if it was a first time install. I personally don't move scopes without redoing the rings for this exact problem. Only time I do leave scope rings on the scope when swapping is if the ring set is unitized like a larue QD mount system or otherwise. That way I know no stress is being put on the scope when I tighten the bolts, if say a grain of sand or other foreign object is stuck between the clamp and the rail. I also use badger rings on one of my rifles and have to say they are very nice I just never move them.

 

[thefitter]

My personal choice if I had this problem would be to remove the rings from the scope and go through your standard scope mounting practices as if it was a first time install. I personally don't move scopes without redoing the rings for this exact problem. Only time I do leave scope rings on the scope when swapping is if the ring set is unitized like a larue QD mount system or otherwise. That way I know no stress is being put on the scope when I tighten the bolts, if say a grain of sand or other foreign object is stuck between the clamp and the rail. I also use badger rings on one of my rifles and have to say they are very nice I just never move them.

Thanks, but the scope is not in the rings.

 

[canderson]

I would measure with calipers and see if there is a few thousandths difference in the positions of the two rings.

 

[Bigtim]

My guess is that if you have used these rings for a long time, moving them around, that the threads may be buggered up. Try putting a washer under the heads, if it tightens up you found it.

 

[thefitter]

Got it!!! I checked the rail with calipers and it was dead on spec. So then I swapped parts from the two rings until I narrowed it down to one of the locking clips. After close side by side examination of the two locking clips I discovered that the top edge of the bad one was no longer flat. So I put it on top of my vice and tapped it flat again. Now it works like new. ;D

Thanks to everyone for the replies!

 

[maxscm]

It's amazing how useful a good hammer can be!
Glad you solved your prob.