How to Mount a Scope the Right Way

Here I show you step by step how to precision mount a scope and what equipment you need.

Scope Mounting Bundle:

Thanks, Gary

Instagram: Paramount_Tactical

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Gary Melton is a former U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret, Weapons Sergeant, and Sniper Team Leader with 4 combat tours. He has worked full time as a Unit Chief and Special Tactics Instructor at a federal agency and is the owner and Lead Instructor for Paramount Tactical Solutions.

Paramount Tactical Solutions is staffed by Special Operations veterans and cadre that are required to have high level operational experience and to have worked full time as a tactical instructor for Federal Law Enforcement and/or the military. Paramount specializes in training Military and LE units as well as civilians in firearms, tactics, security, and tactical medicine. Most of our courses are located 1.5hrs from Washington DC, near Winchester, VA. We are mobile and can provide onsite training as well.

-Survival IS Paramount-

[doctorres]

My personal opinion as a 25 year veteran (55 y/o) who worked with SOC South in multiple missions, this is by far the best instructional video I’ve ever seen. Gary is a true professional, thank you for putting out great useful information.

[allenfackler]

The Wheeler level-level-level kit is a must have, IMO. Been using it for years with good results. One good way to adjust eye relief is to shoulder the rifle with the scope in the rings, but loose enough to slide with some effort. Once you get close, shoulder your rifle with your eyes closed, then open your eyes. If you're good, you will have a nice clear picture from your natural hold.

[bobbriggs]

This is the best video on mounting a scope correctly on YouTube.

[gregrauscher]

I went and bought a gun vice. Over the years I have mounted quite a few scopes and you have now taught me all that I was doing wrong. Much appreciated. My oldest brother was LRRP sniper in 'Nam 63-65 before regular hit boots on ground. We talked about his working with 'Nards going into Camcodia BUT he refused to shoot after he got back. So much respect for what you guys do and in 1 video I learned more than my previous 62 years shooting. Subscribed!

[ArkansasBadBoy]

I was always a bit skeptical of this method since I'm a long range person and have my own system. I went ahead and bought the Wheeler kit and replicated your process, then proceeded to look through the scope at a plumb line I set up ahead of time (verified zero degree cant every 4 inches all the way to 60 inches with my digital degree/angle finder). I also turned on my Tough Tactical precision digital scope level, which I mounted ahead of time. I was delighted to see that everything was perfect and I'm convinced your method is indeed a good one.

[YepTriedToTellYou]

I’ve used the bubble method as well effectively. My dad was a WWII sharpshooter and he taught me the same way of leveling that you use. Recently I found a device called “Fix it Sticks Scope Jack”. It works without a rifle vise, no bubble centering and it works easily as well as bubble leveling and just as accurate. It takes about 3 minutes. Love it more than words can say.

[CraigBlasko]

I'm a 20-year Army Vet. After watching your video I followed the link for the mounting bundle. After seeing the quality of the items in the bundle and the price I placed my order for the bundle. Great quality and prices.

[warbuzzard]

I've been doing this stuff for a long time, with nary a lesson other than logic, some personal experience working on car stuff, and looking around for data from the optics companies. I do this exactly (almost to a "T") like you do. I am delighted to find out my own method meets your considerable experience and that my skills were honed by doing things incorrectly - which means I learned how to do it right by doing it wrong many times.

[l.horseman]

I've been a cabinet making instructor for 22 years. That being said, I applaud the fact that you kept your instructions simple on every phase of installation. I always called it to keep it simple, stupid too, my students. A saw runs at 10, 000 rpm. Shapers about 20, 000 rpm. Fingers get cut off very, very quick. Thanks
good instructor. You also drove home important points.

[steve]

Great video. As a mechanic who has built engines, and torqued many bolts to spec, I will add that if you remove a fastener that has loctite applied, the loctite needs to be cleaned off the threads and fresh loctite applied before retorqueing. This is necessary for accurate torqueing of the fastener. This would be difficult to do in the field. I know I would probably lose the fastener, being a bit of a butter fingers. I an glad you instructed your viewers to use the proper stuff for torqueing scope fasteners. Thank You.

[Victimizer]

Great video! I used this video to mount my SHV4-14 nightforce to a nightforce mount on my AR-10. The leveling system from wheeler is very worth it. The most difficult part for me was tightening the scope rings down evenly prior to torquing them.

[jordananderson]

I was in the army 06-10 19k so basically an over trained grunt. Never got anything more than basic kit no optics and definitely didn't get a tank but this has helped me so much. Have watched this video about 5 times now and about to properly mount my first scope. Much appreciated.

[vincef]

I use plain ole line levels. They work fine. Very practical advice offered on this video. Beginners will find it useful. Not all receivers are the same. So there are times the barrel mounted level will come in handy. I manage fine with my line levels, but the barrel mounted level is worth getting.

[doug]

Go Army! (Retired (E-7) so they tell me. Your method is outstanding, like a true Green Beret always teaching! As soon as my Sergeant Major (Wife) gives me approval I'm ordering! Great Video Gary and I salute you for you Service!

[silsdad]

As a retired SeaBee who knows very little about this stuff, I am grateful for the “plain speak” delivery of knowledge and information that is necessary now that I’m craving an understanding of distance shooting. Thank you. You’ll hear from me again.

[stevebarnes]

Finally a video from a dude that would know....that is doable and makes total sense. Thank you. Some of these other videos make it ULTRA complicated.

[saltlife]

I used this method and it turned out great. First time mounting a scope and there are so many different suggestions on YouTube but this seemed to make the most logical sense. Thanks for the video!

[GonzLyfe]

In my opinion, the best explanation I've seen for scope mounting.

[salgreenbalm]

So I’ve mounted a lot of scopes a regular person would use usually in the 500 to 1000 dollar range these scopes almost always have had the cross hairs slightly canted in relation to the turret so if you level off using the turret your cross hairs will be canted, that is why the “flash light method or plumb bob is used, this guy has to remember we are not all setting up a 5000 dollar rig it, would be nice but some of can’t afford high end equipment so we have to make less expensive stuff work. The flashlight method has worked for me out to 1000 years with no problems.

[ninaleechie]

Thank you for your time and service. I am not a 20 year Veteran, but have a heavy mechanical engineering background, installed quite a few scopes, watched even more youtube videos, and aggregated good methods and discarded bad methods from every one of them; so the details may be overkill, but still considerations.

With the bubble level you put on the scope rail in your initial setup, rotate it 180 degrees and check again. Take the average position of the two orientations as the true reading. Spirit levels are always "self calibrating" if you check in both orientations. Then set your barrel level using the average. The barrel level does not need to be checked in both directions, since you are only using this to see if you have moved your setup at any time. It is not critical that the barrel level is level, just that you have a reference to check that you know keeps the rifle level. Obviously, the bubble between the two lines is the easiest to keep track of.

Regarding lapping: you could have two perfectly round rings, but are the ring holes perfectly perpendicular to the surface that mounts to the Picatinny rail? Are both the same height from the surface that sits on the rail. When you tighten them to the rail, they may lift off the rail since the dovetail of the clamp finds a different home position based on where the "V" in the clamp is. Ideally the rings get pulled down to the rail when tightening, but can this be guaranteed? Is the rail perfectly straight? Many factors other then just the roundness of the rings come in to play to determine if lapping is important. Spending more money on the rings does not guarantee that you should not lap the rings. Scopes with thin walls on the tube are at more of a disadvantage, but stresses can be put on the scope if the two rings are not perfectly concentric. Also, if you are using one rifle as a jig to mount the scope in the rings and then transferring that setup to another rifle, lapping is not going to help. Once the lapping is done, the rings should not be moved from their mount. The Wheeler conical scope alignment tools are not the correct tool for checking concentricity. Rings could be be twisted relative to one another and the points will still touch. The alignment gauge that has two round bars with a sliding ring is the right tool to see how aligned the two rings are. Fully tighten the rings to be base before checking anything.

The main goal of the process is to make sure the vertical axis of the reticle runs through the center of the bore. Level, or perpendicular to gravity, is only a tool used to try to achieve this. Level is not the important final outcome, but should happen anyway as a result of getting the vertical axis inline with the center of the bore. The axis of the scope ideally wants to be referenced to the bore of the barrel, but this is difficult to do. We are taking a lot of assumptions about how the barrel is aligned with the receiver and the scope rail, but without some tools I have not discovered, the two level method, is the way to do it.

By placing the bubble level on the turret cap, we are assuming that the top surface of the turret cap is perpendicular to the vertical axis of the reticle. Not necessarily a wrong assumption, just stating what the measurement is checking. This is why the plumb bob technique came in, but as you mentioned, it is hard to do in a shop, and hard to keep the gun level while at the same time aligning the reticle to a string. Scopes with short distance parallax settings could possibly use the plumb bob technique down a long hallway. If you do want to check just the reticle to turret cap alignment, this can be done in isolation. Take the scope outside with a plumb-bob set up at a distance. Align the vertical reticle to the string and put a spirit level on the turret cap. If everything is good, then you have more confidence. Checking to the flat on the base of the scope only ensures that the turret cap is parallel to that flat, but not referencing the reticle at all.

Sorry to be a keyboard operator, but this comes near the end of a lot of research and thoughts on the subject.