Assuming this isnt normal

[u/Any-Rip-9727]

Vortex Crossfire 3x9x40, medium hunter rings, ruger american .308, torqued to 15 inch-lb

[u/hafetysazard]

If you’re ever worried about the scope shifting in the rings do this: Take a small amount of pure rosin, which is basically dried pine resin—the stuff many types of athletes use for grip, and musicians for their bows. Then take some 99% isopropyl alcohol and slowly add it in tiny amounts to the rosin until the rosin dissolves into a thin slurry. Use a small paint brush to put a thin a film of it on the inside of your scope rings; wipe any excess around the edges with a cleaning patch wetted with alcohol, and make sure not to get any in the screw holes, or anywhere else. If it does, clean them out. Then let it dry. Remount your scope after that, using the proper torque settings. The rosin adds a ton more grip, and isn’t messy. If you want to remove it after just wipe it off with some isopropyl alcohol.

I found a tiny bag of powdered rosin on amazon; it was in a little cloth bag meant for darts players. Could probably find rosin locally at a sporting goods store, music store, or even a store that sells ballet slippers (since ballet dancers use it for grip too). You need an incredibly small amount for this job.

Always double check if your scope rings are clean and dry before beginning to assemble.

Then make sure to know if your scope rings require a wet torque, or a dry torque. A wet torque (like when using loctite) will apply more clamping force than a dry torque, so you could risk over-torquing, or under-torquing, your scope rings if you do the wrong one. Over-torquing will fuck up your scope worse than getting some ring rash under-torquing, so please avoid the temptation to crank a little extra on the screws. Please for the love of god, tighten them very gradually in a criss-cross pattern. Start a very low torque setting, and work your way up until they’re at the proper torque spec.

Scopes and screws typically have different torque specs, so make sure to torque to whichever is the lowest. For example, if your scope says use 18in-lbs max, but your rings say 25in-lbs max, use 18in-lbs.

I recently had a little slippage with a Zeiss using Warne QD rings on a .458 Win Mag, and noticed the ring screws were dancing loose because of the recoil. So, I would take my torque wrench with me to the range, and tighten down any screws after every five shots until everything, “settled in.” Warne says don’t use locitite with their scope rings for obvious reason it would drip into everything, but when I called their customer service, their guy recommended to add a little to the back of the screw hole after everything was tightened properly and settled in—plus give it time to set. The loctite would wick into the end of thr threads just a tiny amount, and not get into anything. So, if your rings require a dry torque, that might be a last resort option if they keep loosening up on you.

Also, if you have a QD scope mount, or rings, that have little thumb levers to tighten it down, make sure they’re facing straight to the front, or back, as the momentum of recoil will over-tighten/loosen them in no time if they’re pointed up, or down.

edit: Also, lapping scope rings used to be a very common thing. People pretty much ignore it these days, because well-made one-piece scope mounts are more popular, plus it is assumed if you buy good rings/mounts these days, they’re going to be pretty close to perfect. That’s not always the case, especially with two-piece rings/bases; so that’s an option to help diagnose scope ring issues.