Thursday, May 2, 2013

Paying Too Little; Scope Deals Too Good To Be True

 Billll, of Bill's Idle Mind blog left a comment tonight that prompted me to post my recent experience with an inexpensive red dot scope.

Billll said..."I discovered that my Hi Point is not the 6 MOA gun I had thought it to be, but I have a nice 6 MOA scope available at a good price."

My Ruger Mk III .22 pistol has a Simmons 51105 red dot scope mounted on it, and though it has been holding its zero, I have had a few problems with it.  The directions that came with it did not tell the minute-of-angle value of clicks, so sighting it in required some experimentation.  Soon after this scope was sighted in, it began losing the red dot when shooting, and the knob had to be jiggled to bring the dot back; that is aggravating when you are shooting against the clock.

The last time we shot at the Carmi Rifle Club I realized that the adjustment knob was getting really loose, and I had to touch it between shots to keep it turned on.  I did a search for information about this scope, and found that others are having the same problems.  Here is what I found when I tore into it.


 Remove the battery, spin out the retaining ring and remove the rheostat plate, and I found two screws rattling around.  The top two screws were loose, and if I hadn't checked into this, the adjustment knob would have fallen off.


I had a real surprise when I snugged the screws back into their holes.  Tighten them down, and the knob won't turn!  Yes, these screws can barely be snugged up at all, certainly not enough to stay put.  I daubed a bit of Loctite under the heads of all four screws, and I am hoping that it stays together.


Place the rheostat plate in the knob, spin in the retaining ring, and you are ready to replace the battery.  I will be shooting a bit over the weekend to see if the knob stays in place.  After this experience, I sure would not recommend a Simmons red dot scope to anyone. 

Our other Mk III has a Bushnell red dot, and it is performing like a champ so far.   I have since bought another Bushnell to install on a 10/22, and it seems to be a good one, too.  We will continue to shoot the Simmons and report back on whether the Loctite keeps things in place.



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