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Scope tube damaged first mounting

ISSUE RESOLVED--
I received a very good response to my scope issue today from March Optics USA. I was informed the rings were the cause of the tube damage and the scope has been sent to Japan for tube replacement under warranty. This was a very timely response considering they had to communicate back and forth with the factory. In short the rings were in fact pulled or pinched in too far do to some machining issues with hole placement and shape on the top halves. They made a modification to the holes in the top and installed both halves without damage and was able to see what the original problem was. I am more than delighted with the outcome. I will no doubt get a perfect 10-60X52 returned. I am also a manufacturer of motorcycle products and sometimes one of our units get out to a customer who has an issue. I hope my customer care folks are as courteous and professional as David and George were to me. This is truly top of the line glass and customer service.
 
I just received my scope back from the manufacturer of March scopes, the Deon Optical Design Corporation in Japan. I posted originally on Feb. 25 regarding this issue and it took just 5 weeks total to get it back. I consider this incredible service considering the scope was shipped to Washington where preliminary inspection happens and the associated questions to discover the cause of the problem. The folks in Washington discovered an issue with the drilling of the holes in the top half of the rings which caused the tops to pull together slightly when the screws were tightened. Once the cause was explained to Deon the scope was sent from Washington to Japan for warranty repairs. The communication between the folks in WA. as well as the factory in Japan was superb. I probably received 10 emails regarding progress and finally the tracking number for return shipping to me. My scope was at the factory for about 3 weeks only before being shipped back.

Upon opening the box today I was very pleased to find my scope as good as new. My scope still has the original serial number also Included inside the box was a very nice letter signed by the President of Deon a Mr. F. Shimizu. WOW! This is as good as it gets guys. No I don' work for them or sell the scopes, I'm just a delighted customer. I love the clarity of the March glass and I especially love the fact that customer service is such a high priority for this fine company. I will be a return customer and will recommend March Scopes without reservation to anyone.
 

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Japanese know a thing or two about representing their compact.
If the boses in Japan hear about a problem with their product they take it very seriously.
 
With a little less cockiness, I'd say IdahoSharpshooter is about on. Probably would have been in your best interest to lap both entire rings. That's normally what makes the contact perfect. Still hard to believe that a set of rings could be that far out to actually put four creases in the scope tube to the point of denting or damaging it. I suppose your at the mercy of this company and them allowing their warranty to cover an error in judgement. Regardless of the outcome, if you post that this company is default in their replacing the scope and explain how and why the damage occurred, I doubt anyone would blame the company for a faulty scope and cease buying from them again. Scratch this off as a dumb dumb brain fart and move on. We all do it and we all get the bad end of the deal at those times. Good luck and hopefully they work with you on this issue.
Ya but you shouldn’t have to lap company As rings used with their scope to prevent the rings from deeply embedding themselves in the scope tube should you provided you follow their torque recommendation on the screws?
 
I think March scopes with 34mm tube have a 4mm thick wall instead of the 2mm thick wall on their 30mm tube models. Also, their rings are actually relieved where the two halves meet, if I remember correctly.
And they give you very specific max ring screw torque values to follow. You are correct about the tube thicknesses. Prob right now is you can send a March to japan but they can only ship it back by ocean freighter. Some bs covid thing with our government I’m told.
 
Ya but you shouldn’t have to lap company As rings used with their scope to prevent the rings from deeply embedding themselves in the scope tube should you provided you follow their torque recommendation on the screws?
I agree. I don't think lapping is a necessary step in mounting scopes. It's a voluntary step people use for ultimate alignment and fit. If rings have any inner bottom or inner top surface area that isn't smooth or that binds on the scope tube, it shouldn't be mounted. I'd send them back and request a new set that DO fit the tube properly. I think it's user error if someone mounts rings that are a bit defective and damages the scope. At the least, it's the scope ring manufacturers responsibility. Only problem is, they won't claim responsibility. They'll simply say that if the rings were defective, they should have been returned rather than used. Most good scopes have warranties covering this problem tho.
 
Short story-I purchased a very high quality scope for my latest F-class long range rig and the first time I mounted this scope the top halves embedded grooves into the top of the scope tube front and back.
Long version- My action is a Bordon BRMXD in a new Cerus stock put together by Speedy Gonzales. The rail is one of Jim Borden's 20MOA one piece rails which I have never had scope mounting issues with (I have three of these actions and love them) and the 4 screw rings were purchased along with the scope one year ago when I started the project and are also manufactured and labeled by the same company. Even though the Company's advertising claims lapping is usually not necessary I always do this or at least run my lapping rod dry to see the witness marks and check before installing my new scope. I use a non embedding compound and as I recall the bottom halves of these rings did not take excessive lapping to get trued up. I stop lapping when I get 80% or more contact. I aligned my scope as normal and snugged the tops down with my fat wrench set at 16 inch Lbs which is what I always do and recheck from time to time. I shot the rifle out in Phoenix at the SWN and found myself needing the scope moved back a bout 1/4" so when I got it home I loosened the tops and tried to slide it back-no go-it was locked up so I completely removed the tops and there are now four deep grooves in the top of the tube where the ring tops embedded themselves. I'm thinking this has never happened with any scope ring combination in my life so I contact the company and they say send it in for warranty. I send the scope and the rings and after watching the tracking I did not get a call so after three days I call them and yes they received the scope and looking at the damage they are thinking the replacement tube is going to cost me about $700. They said the bottom of the scope is perfect and the damage was only on the top so why did I not lap the top halves of the rings like I did the bottoms? This turned out to be a long response and in the end I told them if they did not intend to replace the scope just send it back and I would post pictures (and the company I'm dealing with) to folks here on the Forum and see what you guys think.


I guess I'm still hoping for a good outcome but we will see. I have 3 Nightforce competitions and have had them mounted and remounted more times than I can remember and have never had any marks ever. I should have just saved some money and gotten another 55X competition. We'll see how this all plays out, but for a scope company claiming "I abused the tube" by not lapping their rings is BULL!

The majority of high-end scope rings, if this is the case, are machined as sets. I have always used high end steel, stainless steel or titanium rings because of the finer machining tolerances. And because of this, I came across a pair of steel rings where they were returns and whom ever possessed them prior, got the tops crossed up with the bottoms causing an issue. I always mount the lower halves on the scope base and set them forward against the rails for recoil purposes and then use a fine skim of 3 in 1 oil on the lower halves and set the scope in and test for smoothness or binding. Then I do the same for the top halves and teeter them with my fingertips to test for binding. This is how I discovered the tops were mismatched with the bottoms of that one pair. Some companys use tick-marks on there rings to orient the halves correctly. One other thing that comes to my mind is your 16inlb torques wrench may not be 16inlb anymore.
 
I just received my scope back from the manufacturer of March scopes, the Deon Optical Design Corporation in Japan. I posted originally on Feb. 25 regarding this issue and it took just 5 weeks total to get it back. I consider this incredible service considering the scope was shipped to Washington where preliminary inspection happens and the associated questions to discover the cause of the problem. The folks in Washington discovered an issue with the drilling of the holes in the top half of the rings which caused the tops to pull together slightly when the screws were tightened. Once the cause was explained to Deon the scope was sent from Washington to Japan for warranty repairs. The communication between the folks in WA. as well as the factory in Japan was superb. I probably received 10 emails regarding progress and finally the tracking number for return shipping to me. My scope was at the factory for about 3 weeks only before being shipped back.

Upon opening the box today I was very pleased to find my scope as good as new. My scope still has the original serial number also Included inside the box was a very nice letter signed by the President of Deon a Mr. F. Shimizu. WOW! This is as good as it gets guys. No I don' work for them or sell the scopes, I'm just a delighted customer. I love the clarity of the March glass and I especially love the fact that customer service is such a high priority for this fine company. I will be a return customer and will recommend March Scopes without reservation to anyone.
It's this kind of service that makes me want to just buy something from them.
 
The majority of high-end scope rings, if this is the case, are machined as sets. I have always used high end steel, stainless steel or titanium rings because of the finer machining tolerances. And because of this, I came across a pair of steel rings where they were returns and whom ever possessed them prior, got the tops crossed up with the bottoms causing an issue. I always mount the lower halves on the scope base and set them forward against the rails for recoil purposes and then use a fine skim of 3 in 1 oil on the lower halves and set the scope in and test for smoothness or binding. Then I do the same for the top halves and teeter them with my fingertips to test for binding. This is how I discovered the tops were mismatched with the bottoms of that one pair. Some companys use tick-marks on there rings to orient the halves correctly. One other thing that comes to my mind is your 16inlb torques wrench may not be 16inlb anymore.

OOPS, I was a little late to the party. Should probably read the next page next time.
 
Prob right now is you can send a March to japan but they can only ship it back by ocean freighter. Some bs covid thing with our government I’m told.
I ordered something small from Germany in late December 2020 and the actual transit took 8 weeks.
-
 

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