Leatherwood USMC sniper scope release date

[Jim in Salt Lake]

Yeah, I was talking about the screws for the blocks, 6X40. I managed not to screw up my lock ring screws so I don't know the size of them. Next time I'm up town where I got the 6X40 screws, I'm going to take a lock ring screw and the thumb nut and try to get US made screws and nuts to replace them. I really don't care what they look like, just want them to work.

[Brazos]

I didnt have any trouble with the screw on the lock rings. But I only loosened them once to reset and as I mentioned I used a Phillips head on the screw instead of turning the knurled knob.

On the scope mount screw...its metric. The US #6x40 threaded in fine but was undersized and measured .133" The original screw and the metric M4 both mic out at .155...so I picked up some M4x16 socket head cap screws. The heads are too big to fit inside the thumb knob, but I will turn those down.

[Brazos]

The Metric screws worked great. The M4x16 is the perfect thread match to the original screw. The heads on the screws I ended up with were too large, but I turned then down by putting them in a handheld drill and turning them down on a belt sander.

In the pic below is the factory original screw at the top, the M4x16 as I purchased it and the finished product after being turned down to fit inside the thumb screw. Tight as a tick and mount problem solved. Total cost was $.52 (for four screws), not counting the cup of coffee from Starbucks.



Here is a pic of my two latest projects. Finished in front is my 1903A5. The Hi-Lux is mounted on it until I find a Winchester A5 or buy a 6X Malcolm scope. The rifle is a 1918 hi number RIA with a 1927 SA barrel. Came to me as a side mounted drilled and tapped sporter. The barrel looks to be original (to the SA rebuild) and the finish is well worn and has that old, lovely glow about it that I love about these rifles. It is corrected to 1918 RIA except for the barrel and a few small parts. The stock is a pre-war RIA that I got from Jim Dupage. I have the matching handguard, but used a replacement for the scope mount.

The back rifle is my 1903A1 USMC. 1.4 mill SA with a nearly new SA 4-18 barrel. I sourced this entire rifle one piece at a time. Cant wait to finish it...but going is slow with a 4 year old and an 8 month old running around the house...just the way I like it!

[Jim S.]

Two nice looking rifles. Thanks for the tip on the screws - so far I'm good but no worries if they do get buggered up.

[Jim in Salt Lake]

The screws I replaced were for the scope blocks. Thanks for the word on the ring mounting screws. I'm going to take on of those with a lock ring screw and get them all replaced. If I find out what the lock ring screws are I'll post it. If anyone beats me to it, please share. I think the real tip is don't over tighten them and that can be hard. My only concern once screws are replaced is stripping the threads in the lock rings or the mounts. The weakest link goes first and with good American steel screws, that will be the remaining Chinese threads. The lock rings get adjusted once so those shouldn't be a problem. The scope blocks are attached to the good American steel in the barrel and receiver ring. I'm just going to be careful with the scope mounts. And Brazos, nice job on the rifles and handguard mods!

[wolley]

The Metric screws worked great. The M4x16 is the perfect thread match to the original screw. The heads on the screws I ended up with were too large, but I turned then down by putting them in a handheld drill and turning them down on a belt sander.

In the pic below is the factory original screw at the top, the M4x16 as I purchased it and the finished product after being turned down to fit inside the thumb screw. Tight as a tick and mount problem solved. Total cost was $.52 (for four screws), not counting the cup of coffee from Starbucks.

Brazos, Ya Da Man!
M4X16 is perfect! ground the heads down so they fit in the thumb screws and all is well. Now if I could just find my cotton pickin 3mm allen wrench. Let's see if it will shoot loose now!!!!

[GcS]

Is the knurled thumbscrew "head" simply screwed and loctited onto the M4x16 screw? Just curious.

[Jim in Salt Lake]

No, the M4x16 screw is screwed into the ring mounts. The thumbscrew (they call it the "base locking screw") uses the M4x16 screw threads to tighten down against the scope block. The M4x16 screw should be turned into the ring mount so that when the thumbscrew is completely turned out against the M4x16 screw head, the scope will come off the blocks. When you tighen the thumbscrew, the m4x16 screw should not move. I think you can loctite the M4x16 screw into the ring mount but the thumbscrew should not be loctited onto the m4x16 screw unless you don't plan to remove the scope from your rifle. I've had some trouble getting that tumbscrew to stay tight. Have another 60 shot mid range practice match Saturday and if it loosens up again, I'm going to loctite everything and leave the scope on the rifle all the time. Does that make sense?

[wolley]

Talking to John Wu, there is a very small set screw in the scope base that is supposed to lock the M4X16 screw in place. You can't see it and you can't access it unless the scope mounts are removed from the scope. He agreed that was a piss poor design and the intent is to fix it soon. The set screw explains two things. The tiny allen wrench sent with the scope and the stripping of the threads when one removes the center screw. It would have been really nice if the manual had pointed this hidden feature out.

[Jim S.]

I finally got around to working with my 03A1 build. In the end I free floated the barrel which seems to be giving the best results for a number of our local builds. Here are two five shot groups at 100 yards. Now all I have to do is work on my technique and keep the fifth shot in there.

[CPORet.]

Creedmoor purchase here. Replaced all my hardware with high grade stainless steel, disassembled, cleaned, chamfered, polished all edges, seated all threads with fine paste valve grinding compound, relubed the tube mechanism with Aeroshell grease. Then ground away the casting flash on the mounts, evenly shaped them, bead blasted, replaced front mount spring with a quality one, re-machined and polished the seating area of the thumb knobs (may replace them in the future with blanks that I will finish machine) and ensured correct contact with the blocks and re-blued affected areas.
Overall a successful tidy up of a barely functional chicom attempt. I have more time than money, and access to a reasonably equipped garage and 40 years of aircraft component repair and manufacturing under my belt. It was not difficult, but you need either the natural inclination, curiosity and skills or find somebody that does.
Biggest improvement was the hardware and lapping the threads. Grainger has what you need. Grainger numbers 6EY98(M3x0.50), 6GB16(M4x0.70x20), 6GB42(M2.5x0.45x20), 6HA77(M2x0.40x4). (I have no connections with Grainger other than my work orders a lot from them so it was easy...)
The optics themselves are very nice. And the unit will work very well if you take the time.
Frankly, as a combat veteran, I'm kinda glad to see the chicoms still suck at building things, regardless of their economic improvements.

[pelago]

am i to read into this that the entire unit is a chi com manufactured item?? wont standard mounts like what i have on my 04's for unertl scopes be okay, because i have several sets of these? i have ordered complete rifle and am waiting

[CPORet.]

Box says "made in china" FWIW...
I assume that it is. I would suggest the glass is sourced from Japan as it "usually" is. The rest of my unit had obvious poor assembly indications, was dirty, assembled with dirty grease, threads were rough, lacked any sort of handwork finishing such as radius, chamfering, lots of handling dings on threads...
Its functional, and with a little care it is now much, much better.
Is it a Unertl?
No.
Its a 3/4 inch tube in the same basic pattern as Unertl, so I don't see any reason why it won't work fine with other mounts designed for 3/4 inch scopes. Mine work with my Unertls, but I admit to not having mounted it with them. I used the worked over original mounts. You will need to match your distances between mounts depending on the click value you require and the available space on your rifles, but they will still function.

[pelago]

i also know that a lot of reputation is riding on this piece of equip.
as i stated, i have ordered complete rifle, and will have to wait and see I also am fortunate to own several unertl scopes, none being 8 power, got two ten powers and even a target spot that unfortunately is also 10 power, sure like to get a focus piece for 8 power and swap out, then i would have the correct scope for the matches,

[CPORet.]

i also know that a lot of reputation is riding on this piece of equip.

I'm new around here so...

would that be user reputation or manufacturing reputation?