How to improve your scope turrets

[Cannonball]

I have done this to several of my scopes to improve the feel of the turrets and also make it more audible so you can hear clicks better. This will help remove quite a bit of the mush that some turrets seem to have.

Things you will need- q-tips, alcohol, cleaning cloth and some oil that is o-ring safe. To verify it’s safe for o-rings, make sure it’s not harmful to rubber. I have always used Frog Lube as it’s a rubber safe lubricant. You could also use some rubber safe grease, but the thicker the lubricant the less effective it will be. 

All you need to do is remove the turret cap, do not disassemble the turret under the cap. If you notice a thick grease on the inside of your turret cap you can try this to see if it helps. I use a q-tip to remove all the grease from inside the turret cap. I will then dip a clean q-tip in some alcohol (not the drinking kind) and clean the inside of the turret cap again to remove any left over grease residue. You could use about any type of cleaner but using alcohol will not require you to rinse the cap after cleaning since it will evaporate. I will also take a clean cloth and very gently remove any grease on the turret as well, just don’t take it apart. After you have removed the grease and it’s cleaned up use a little bit of o-ring safe oil to lubricate the inside top of the turret cap. I use a oil dipped q-tip for this and you just want the surface lightly coated, not dripping with oil. Then install your cap on the turret and try it out. I am putting a short video below from when I did this on my Barra H-50 turrets. I had just done the top elevation turret and compared it the windage turret that still had the factory grease. Make sure your sound is up so you can hear the difference between them.https://youtu.be/2-ANXFKXxTo

 

[ShootistJack]

We sure can hear the difference!

Do you think the louder clicking makes it more likely, that the animal that you're targeting, is likely to hear the clicking?

 

[Cannonball]

We sure can hear the difference!

Do you think the louder clicking makes it more likely, that the animal that you're targeting, is likely to hear the clicking?

I would normally use a holdover point on my reticle for hunting unless it was at extreme yardage and then you aren’t going to be taking that kind of shot with an air rifle. The benefit for me is being able to easily hear and feel how many clicks I moved the turret and not removing my cheek weld from the rifle. 

 

[Ezana4CE]

I have done this to several of my scopes to improve the feel of the turrets and also make it more audible so you can hear clicks better. This will help remove quite a bit of the mush that some turrets seem to have.

Things you will need- q-tips, alcohol, cleaning cloth and some oil that is o-ring safe. To verify it’s safe for o-rings, make sure it’s not harmful to rubber. I have always used Frog Lube as it’s a rubber safe lubricant. You could also use some rubber safe grease, but the thicker the lubricant the less effective it will be. 

All you need to do is remove the turret cap, do not disassemble the turret under the cap. If you notice a thick grease on the inside of your turret cap you can try this to see if it helps. I use a q-tip to remove all the grease from inside the turret cap. I will then dip a clean q-tip in some alcohol (not the drinking kind) and clean the inside of the turret cap again to remove any left over grease residue. You could use about any type of cleaner but using alcohol will not require you to rinse the cap after cleaning since it will evaporate. I will also take a clean cloth and very gently remove any grease on the turret as well, just don’t take it apart. After you have removed the grease and it’s cleaned up use a little bit of o-ring safe oil to lubricate the inside top of the turret cap. I use a oil dipped q-tip for this and you just want the surface lightly coated, not dripping with oil. Then install your cap on the turret and try it out. I am putting a short video below from when I did this on my Barra H-50 turrets. I had just done the top elevation turret and compared it the windage turret that still had the factory grease. Make sure your sound is up so you can hear the difference between them.



https://youtu.be/2-ANXFKXxTo

In regards to mushy turrets, typically what is the cause of this? Cheap materials, poorly machined components, or can simply applying excessive grease cause this issue?


The proposed solution is interesting considering that dust and dirt stick to grease, but with turret caps affixed when would capped turrets really get dusty or grimy? Do many benchrest shooters generally use scopes with capped turrets? Do I have the wrong idea here? Looking at the video it appears that these are exposed turrets. I didn’t see any turret caps or threads for them. Did you mean the top of the turret knob that you remove to line the number “0” up with the dot or indicator mark after zeroing your scope (I’m not sure what it’s called)?

 

[Cannonball]

I have done this to several of my scopes to improve the feel of the turrets and also make it more audible so you can hear clicks better. This will help remove quite a bit of the mush that some turrets seem to have.

Things you will need- q-tips, alcohol, cleaning cloth and some oil that is o-ring safe. To verify it’s safe for o-rings, make sure it’s not harmful to rubber. I have always used Frog Lube as it’s a rubber safe lubricant. You could also use some rubber safe grease, but the thicker the lubricant the less effective it will be. 

All you need to do is remove the turret cap, do not disassemble the turret under the cap. If you notice a thick grease on the inside of your turret cap you can try this to see if it helps. I use a q-tip to remove all the grease from inside the turret cap. I will then dip a clean q-tip in some alcohol (not the drinking kind) and clean the inside of the turret cap again to remove any left over grease residue. You could use about any type of cleaner but using alcohol will not require you to rinse the cap after cleaning since it will evaporate. I will also take a clean cloth and very gently remove any grease on the turret as well, just don’t take it apart. After you have removed the grease and it’s cleaned up use a little bit of o-ring safe oil to lubricate the inside top of the turret cap. I use a oil dipped q-tip for this and you just want the surface lightly coated, not dripping with oil. Then install your cap on the turret and try it out. I am putting a short video below from when I did this on my Barra H-50 turrets. I had just done the top elevation turret and compared it the windage turret that still had the factory grease. Make sure your sound is up so you can hear the difference between them.





https://youtu.be/2-ANXFKXxTo

In regards to mushy turrets, typically what is the cause of this? Cheap materials, poorly machined components, or can simply applying excessive grease cause this issue?


The proposed solution is interesting considering that dust and dirt stick to grease, but with turret caps affixed when would capped turrets really get dusty or grimy? Do many benchrest shooters generally use scopes with capped turrets? Do I have the wrong idea here? Looking at the video it appears that these are exposed turrets. I didn’t see any turret caps or threads for them. Did you mean the top of the turret knob that you remove to line the number “0” up with the dot or indicator mark after zeroing your scope (I’m not sure what it’s called)?

This is for exposed turrets only. You are just removing the thick factory grease under the turrets caps and replacing with another thinner o-ring safe lubricant. I’m not sure this is the best way to explain it but here is my attempt...Take a ball point pen where the top clicks to expose the tip you use to write with. Take it apart and coat the mechanical internals with thick sticky grease. Put it back together and try it out. I think you will find the clicking isn’t as pronounced or precise as before. If you take it apart again, remove all the grease and replace with a light coat of something like Ballistol you will find it works as well as it originally did. I wish I could give a better example, I was just trying to come up with something simple that you could actually do and not ruin anything except maybe a cheap ink pen. I think the reason that some scopes feel this was are some of the things you mentioned as well as how they were designed and what kind of grease was used. Some o-rings on the body of the scope that touch the underneath of the turrets can also give this feeling of mushy, non crisp turrets especially if they are very tight against the turret caps. I have noticed on some recent scopes with extremely good turret feel that there isn’t any noticeable lube underneath the caps. Arken and the newer Athlon scopes come to mind here. I hope this answers your questions, let me know if there is anything else I need to clarify.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@cannonball The pen example makes sense. I wouldn’t have even considered the grease used or amount of it as a factor in having mushy turrets. Thanks for the suggestion. For me it’s not so much the audible click that concerns me. It’s more so the feel of the click and the way that the turret travels. I like turret travel that is crisp and doesn’t have much, if any, play in the knobs. I’m sure this has more to do with the quality of the build, but if this works towards some improvement I guess it’s worth a shot. How often do you re-coat the turrets with a thin layer of oil?

 

[Cannonball]

@cannonball The pen example makes sense. I wouldn’t have even considered the grease used or amount of it as a factor in having mushy turrets. Thanks for the suggestion. For me it’s not so much the audible click that concerns me. It’s more so the feel of the click and the way that the turret travels. I like turret travel that is crisp and doesn’t have much, if any, play in the knobs. I’m sure this has more to do with the quality of the build, but if this works towards some improvement I guess it’s worth a shot. How often do you re-coat the turrets with a thin layer of oil?

I wouldn’t re-coat unless you remove the caps and they appear bone dry. You could check them once a year, it shouldn’t be like oiling your rifle. Also, use a very light coat. If you think you have used enough, you probably used too much. 

 

[csolf]

Good intel