Lap Talley rings or not?

[wakoski]

(Help a Rookie) Lap Talley rings or not?

Greetings.

As you can tell I am rather new to this forum but look forward to becoming more involved. I have hunted and backpacked off and on but recently have become more serious.

Currently I am setting up two rifles: one Tikka t3x Superlite .243 for my Dad and a Browning Hell's Canyon 6.5 CM for myself. I am planning on using Talley LW rings for both. The Tikka will have a Leupold vx3i 3.5x10x40 and the HC with a Bushnell lrhs 4.5-18x44. These rifles will be primarily used to hunt deer (mostly Blacktail).

My main question is regarding lapping the rings. I have done some searching and not only is there a wide array of opinions, the information is mostly dated. The Talley website states that they DO NOT recommend lapping, but I could see them doing this for several reasons.

I would welcome any input regarding lapping in general and more specifically with Talley rings. Also any comments or critique of the rifle/optics choice.

Thanks!

 

[Idaho Lefty]

Unless they are line bored, on your particular rifle, I'd say lap them, to get both rings inline with each other and to avoid damaging ring marks on your scope. Some rings take very little lapping, others a lot ! My Burris Zee Rings on top of Weaver bases came "in" quickly, on my Tikka.
The Tikka .243, I'm familiar with and you should get from, under 1/2 MOA to one MOA of accuracy (load/ bullet, dependent) almost ALL, Tikka's,.. shoot ! The .243 Tikka has, a 1-10 twist bbl. and will shoot most 70-90 grain bullets well, when you get up to 100 grains choose short, flat base bullets, like sierra 100 grain Pro-Hunters or 95 gr Nosler Partitions, the 90 grain Accubond's and Bal tips, work real good, but not sure about the 95 grain Bal Tips. Personally, I'd "lap in" the new Factory barrel with some JB Bore Cleaner, to remove the "burrs" with a tight fitting, brush/patch coated with JB's, Cleaner about, 15-20 "strokes" ( clean bbl. well, before/after, the JB's) and your barrel will shine like Chrome and be EZ to clean, there after! Good Luck and have fun !

 

[Idaho Lefty]

PS; double check the free float gap around the barrel, forend should not, touch bbl. And,..WELCOME aboard !

 

[packer58]

Lapping is never a bad idea on any rings, during the process you will quickly see the alignment error. As Lefty stated, some rings take very little work and then some others take quite a bit.

 

[N2TRKYS]

If they line up, then I don't lap them. If they don't line up, then they get lapped.

I don't believe in lapping, if it's not needed.

 

[dah605]

I work off a simple guideline... if you have a good rail that is bedded, with good rings, no lapping is required. If these are 2 separate mount/ring combos, they should definitely get lapped to ensure you aren't putting unnecessary pressure on the scope tube.

-David

 

[MT_Wyatt]

I just installed a set of Talley LW’s and was considering this - after seeing how well they are machines and fit to my receiver I really didn’t feel the need to worry about lapping.


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[bradb]

I have had 2 sets out of a bunch that were WAY off. The replacements they sent were great

 

[dotman]

Lap them, I’ve yet to have any Talley rings that didn’t need it.

 

[wakoski]

Thank you all for your input; and a special thanks to, Idaho Lefty, for the extra info!

 

[elkguide]

I only have 7 sets of Talley rings on several different brands of rifles and have put my lapping bar in all of them (always check) prior to mounting a new scope and have not found a set that needed lapping.

 

[ChrisAU]

I only have 7 sets of Talley rings on several different brands of rifles and have put my lapping bar in all of them (always check) prior to mounting a new scope and have not found a set that needed lapping.

Bumping an old thread - how are you checking for that? I have a lapping bar, and I have new Talley 30mm lows ready for a new scope next week. I want to do it right to the umpteenth degree.

 

[RosinBag]

Lap them all. I don’t know if any way of checking with a lapping bar without putting some paste on it and given it a go. You can’t visual see if they need it.

 

[ChrisAU]

Lap them all. I don’t know if any way of checking with a lapping bar without putting some paste on it and given it a go. You can’t visual see if they need it.

Never have, but I believe I will this time. Just found a post on LRH forum where a guy used the 220 grit that comes with the wheeler kit and followed it up with some blue magic metal polish and had fantastic results. With just the lapping bar in the rings I can see a very slight bit of light coming under the bar in the rear ring.

 

[RosinBag]

I personally lap them until I have about 70-80% wear to the bottom rings.

 

[jhm2023]

I always check my rings with alignment bars before deciding. I haven't had a set of Talley's yet that weren't perfect, so I've never lapped a set of ligtweights. I've lapped various steel rings though.

 

[Wrench]

It's one of those things that will depend on your tools....and your understanding of material deflection. If you throw a good bar in it and it's 10%, it makes a lot of sense. If you have 70-80%.....that thin ring is going to pull in easy enough.

 

[TNKnoxville]

Mine were spot on last week., no lapping They were missing a ring screw (Midway purchase). Called Talley and talked to an awesome guy. Joked around a bit and he gave me some pointers on the rings. 2 days later 3 extra screws were at the house!!!!!!!

 

[ChrisAU]

Well I did some very light lapping, below is my rear rings after a just a few minutes with the lap bar, the rear was the one that I could see a bit of light through and it definitely removed more from the rear than the front. After this I could no longer see any light under the bar or scope tube, and when I mounted up the scope with the turrets centered it was dang near perfect on my collimator with the POI of my previous scope on this rifle.

 

[Woodsman44]

I always lap talleys. I “tested” the last scope I mounted by setting the scope in the pre-lapped Talley rings. When lifting the scope out of the bottom rings I noticed a slight sticking. After lapping there was no sticking at all. Not a lot of work to make sure I take care of my expensive scopes.