Unertl question

M

mshelton

Member
I have a question on an Unertl I'm setting up on a Win52, this is only the second Unertl I've messes with so my experience is limited.

The front ring, there is a rail on the top of the scope that mates with a grove in the ring to keep the scope rotation-ally aligned, what happens if that fit gets a little loose?
The rail itself is fine and from what I can tell the ring appears to be fine but the scope can rotate a deg or 2 in that front ring, from what I can tell the fit where the grove meets the ring has some play, is there a way to fix this? I see there is a screw on the top of the ring but not being able to find any information on it or know what it's for, I figured it might be safer to ask before trying to undo it and see for myself.

Thanks
 
The screw

on the ring tightens it down at your desired location. When the rifle fires it recoils back but the scope stays put. You have to pull it back against the tightened down stop ring or use a compressed spring to do that for you if the scope has one. Some do, some don't. Yes there is a bit of play but the fit has to be such that the ring can engage the top rail. No such thing as zero tolerance here.
 
I have several. With a properly fitting screwdriver unscrew the slotted screw on top of the front mount. It’s gotta be full width or you will mar the screw. Be careful here, it might take a bit of force but it will break free.
Once off you will see a spring and slotted plunger that fits over the small rail. That usually has oil, long hardened up preventing proper tension of the plunger.
Get it all cleaned up and re lubed up for proper function which should help. There is always a bit of play so this can slide on recoil. You should have a tension spring over the tube as well but lots got pulled off…..not critical.

If you’re handy, you should also unscrew both turrets if they feel tight. Usually have hardened grease there as well.
Nothing particularly complicated here, just pay attention and you will see how they go togeather. Same deal, clean, relube.
Pull the rear mount right off the scope to do this and remember where they were set, you will be in the ballpark.
 
tim said:
I have several. With a properly fitting screwdriver unscrew the slotted screw on top of the front mount. It’s gotta be full width or you will mar the screw. Be careful here, it might take a bit of force but it will break free.
Once off you will see a spring and slotted plunger that fits over the small rail. That usually has oil, long hardened up preventing proper tension of the plunger.
Get it all cleaned up and re lubed up for proper function which should help. There is always a bit of play so this can slide on recoil. You should have a tension spring over the tube as well but lots got pulled off…..not critical.

If you’re handy, you should also unscrew both turrets if they feel tight. Usually have hardened grease there as well.
Nothing particularly complicated here, just pay attention and you will see how they go togeather. Same deal, clean, relube.
Pull the rear mount right off the scope to do this and remember where they were set, you will be in the ballpark.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks, I'll grind a blade to fit that slot.

I compared both of my Unertls last night, this new one does have significantly more rotational play than the original one I've owned which has none, I'm wondering what the fix could be if the maintenance doesn't correct the problem, new scope rings perhaps, I see Steve Earle makes a set.
 
You don’t need new mounts, worst case scenario is you may need a new slotted plunger in front mount. When you pull it out you should be able to tell.
 
Unertl scopes

WAY back when I started BR shooting I saw a lot of Unertl scopes on UNL rifles.

Several of the fellows had a "clamping" devise on the scope tube that locked the scope body to the front mount yoke so the scope could not slide fore and aft nor rotate in the key way.The recoil of the UNL rigs was gentle enough to not damage the scope.

This was usually on the 1" tube big scopes.

Unfourtunatly I had one of the 2" scopes with the clamp devise, and traded it so can't post a pic of the devise.

Shooting friend Mark Walker now has is and if he sees this may post a pic of it.

FWIW

Steve kostanich
 
That piece that rides on the Pope Rib on that front mount can easily be re-made for a better fit. Or just loosen the return to battery spring if has one and just pull it back to battery by hand while also turning the scope tube in the same direction each time. I have been using one now for 23+ years for my own type of breech seating cast bullet competitive shooting and that too will work just fine. It is actually better for one to not even use that. return to battery spring and why you see so many without that spring that have been taken off. Once you get that new piece real close to fitting and a tight fit now to that Pope rib. It is now the time to just lap it to fit minus any play while also sliding freely.
 
On another note you do want that scope to slide freely. The eye relief is pretty minimal and if it does not slide you will probably get binged in the eye and that can hurt like hell. That is why they are made to slide or in other words to remain in the same place so when the rifle recoils it will not move back with it.
 
Thanks for all the replies, I was able to get the topscrew off the ring, took some grinding of a blade to get a good fit and some tapping but it came loose. Took a piece of an old shotgun magazine tube spring to pop the plunger out. As pointed it out it was full of dried oil/grease, cleaned it all up and stretched the spring out some as I didn't have one that would work as a replacement. This eliminated 90% of the rotational wiggle, leaving almost none and with the recoil spring engaged with some tension, there is none. looks like if ever need be I could get a plunger made, may take a few attempts to get one snug but definitely doable. The scope is on a Winchester 52 so not much concern for recoil, and is going to be used for some upcoming 250yd matches so should be right much fun and a little different from normal competitions.

Thanks again for the help
 
mshelton said:
Thanks for all the replies, I was able to get the topscrew off the ring, took some grinding of a blade to get a good fit and some tapping but it came loose. Took a piece of an old shotgun magazine tube spring to pop the plunger out. As pointed it out it was full of dried oil/grease, cleaned it all up and stretched the spring out some as I didn't have one that would work as a replacement. This eliminated 90% of the rotational wiggle, leaving almost none and with the recoil spring engaged with some tension, there is none. looks like if ever need be I could get a plunger made, may take a few attempts to get one snug but definitely doable. The scope is on a Winchester 52 so not much concern for recoil, and is going to be used for some upcoming 250yd matches so should be right much fun and a little different from normal competitions.

Thanks again for the help
Click to expand...

M52 @ 250 yds...!! How cool is THAT!..... then Unertl's must have some serious vertical adjustments eh.....
 
quarter miile with 22 rimfire

The only 400 yd. shooting with a rimfire I ever did was down at the mo. river back before range finders. Everbody said it was a quarter of a mile across. Pick out a target and hold up there on mars or venus and let er go. You might get close and IT might not get across the river. It would depend on the ammo. Doug
 
I only did it one time. The target board was 6 ft high and 5 ft wide. The 5 shot group was just about that big. Not my idea of fun.
 
folks can stand in my yard and engage targets to just over 600yds, the rifle steel starts at 200 and we get lots of "kids" shooting suppressed 22's on the 200-300yd gongs...... occasionally someone dings one at 400 or even 500 and I'll admit to sporting a wee chubby when the guns are going putt..putt...putt...DINK!....putt...DINK!!
 
On the rear mount and in the upper right hand corner there is a screw. If you have the means to put the rifle with the scope on it in padded vise. And if there might be a place to setup a magnet dial indicator at the end of the objective bell. And doing this on both the top and onside you can actually check to see if each click moves the same amount. And if not you can actually achieve it by adjusting that one screw and just watching each click movement. When adjusted properly each click movement should now be exactly the same. So lets say if you put in 20 clicks and then go back 20 twenty clicks it should now be right.on.
 
1/4 mile rimfire

I want to say, that 1/4 mile shooting I did was with remington mohawks ,winchester wildcats, federal lightnings. Stuff a kid with no money could halfway afford. If Id had super-x Id thought I had a 220 swift. There were junkpiles up and down the river back then. Now theyve cleaned them all up. Doug
 
Doug Casner said:
I want to say, that 1/4 mile shooting I did was with remington mohawks ,winchester wildcats, federal lightnings. Stuff a kid with no money could halfway afford. If Id had super-x Id thought I had a 220 swift. There were junkpiles up and down the river back then. Now theyve cleaned them all up. Doug
Click to expand...

The "Marlin MicroGroove" tube-under-the-barrel gun was the ultimate machine for us kids.....when you dug enough worms to buy a Marlin you were truly in high cotton, shooting the heads off timothies, shooting bees off the bullthistles.......these guns were frikkin' laser beams!

M60, M74, M81 later 783/883/983

The first thing I bought my wife after we got married was a trade-in Coast-To-Coast (Glenfield) Model 60 I had 22 bucks into. We still own several, absolutely the go-to plinker until the 10-22 came along and reset the bar (and I/we got into more money)
 
I agree I was able to scrape up enough money to put a real nice Redfield Rimfire scope on my Marlin Micro Groove when I was still a wee lad. Don't remember the Model of it but it was a bolt action with a clip and it was amazingly accurate. There used be a time when one could get a brick of Winchester T-22's on sale for $9.99 at multiple places here in town. One of those places would have it on sale when the others did not and even at Long's Drug Store at the time.
 
Louis.J said:
On the rear mount and in the upper right hand corner there is a screw. If you have the means to put the rifle with the scope on it in padded vise. And if there might be a place to setup a magnet dial indicator at the end of the objective bell. And doing this on both the top and onside you can actually check to see if each click moves the same amount. And if not you can actually achieve it by adjusting that one screw and just watching each click movement. When adjusted properly each click movement should now be exactly the same. So lets say if you put in 20 clicks and then go back 20 twenty clicks it should now be right.on.
Click to expand...

I had wondered what that was for but never saw any information on it, thank you for posting it, that's a pretty neat feature.
 
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