I have an early original, no China sticker on it, it has no play at any location when sliding along the bars or at rest. I had to shorten the throw on the bars to make it fit my scope though.
My China made unit still has a little play in it while sliding along the bars but locks up tight when in it's rested position. It took some adjusting, lube and patients, on my part, to get it to werq as well as it does.
Sorry to hear you got a bad one but it is what it is when you get things from China. I have a really hard time trusting the Quality Control, materials or workmanship of anything from the country. I try my best not to buy anything Chinese. But it is very hard not to buy anything from them cuz most everything is made there these days. Even the bulk of my prescription drugs are made there! Blame the greedy ones, after the almighty $, there are plenty of them to blame.
So, as with many things from China, you either mess with it to see if you can get it adjusted and werqing correctly, so it is usable, or return it. Either way you have wasted time doing something you should not have to do.
Many have legitimate qualms about buying stuff in an authoritarian country. But the reality is, it is the work bench of the world and there are no other options in many cases. And the quality/price ratio is unbeatable -- if you are selective.
As Odoyle said, most of these PRC no name bullseyes work well. The trick is in how you put your scope into them and fix the sliding pins into the mount (threadlocker) ... Experiment a little and you will see it usually stabilizes the sliding mechanism. And keep in mind a little slop won't hurt.
One German guy I know couldn't stand the slop, went all out and machined pins that are a fraction thicker. Another cut 2 screwdrivers to pieces for thicker pins. Another (me) tapped a hole into either side of the mount for an m4 nylon screw to pressure/fix the pins slightly. Spielerei ... I would simply put in some industrial type grease and experiment with the tightening mechanism until it feels reasonably steady.
Yup that is pretty much what I said, or tried to, as well. But I don't have to like it.
I do however like the idea of the nylon screws as it is the same thing I was going to do with mine if I had to. But after some cleaning and lube I managed to get it loosened up so it would slide well. Although it still has a little play in it when it is in between stations it locks up tight when in the home position and that is all that really matters.
It's really crazy what some will go through to make things werq when they are not right. ;^) Then again I am just as guilty as the next guy when it comes to this sort of thing.
