Picking Nits: marching on manufacturers with pitchfork and torch raised

Guns Magazine, Jan, 2005 by Holt Bodinson

By nature, I'm a patient fellow. Well, somewhat patient, but there are a few rifle related issues that really get me standing up there on the soap box, so be patient if I sound a bit impatient with some of our manufacturers.

Scope Dust Caps

Every time I pull a scoped rifle out of the safe, those expensive, brilliant, high-tech coated scope lenses are covered with dust--that is, unless the scope manufacturer was thoughtful enough to originally include a free set of scope covers. I opened up the box of a brand new scope the other day, and the maker had thoughtfully forgotten to include some lens caps but had remembered to package a nice, little, useless lens cloth.

So, let me get this straight. We're paying several hundred dollars for a good-quality scope (we pray). The manufacturer knows the lenses will collect dust since he included a little cleaning cloth in the box, but the inclusion of lens caps that would keep his highly advertised lenses clean in the first place would bust his bottom line. Plastic lens caps that cost probably a dollar to make are too much to ask for? I don't think so, and if the manufacturer isn't cool enough to understand this little consumer need, maybe we should take our business elsewhere.

Scope Adjustments

Don't you just love those vertical and horizontal adjustment turrets with all those nice, straight, graduated lines that have no, none, nada values assigned to them, except in the original instruction sheet that, once unpacked, is never seen again? Now just how difficult is it to stamp the turret cap with the "click" value of the adjustment or letter it on the adjustment ring?

Be warned, be suspicious if you buy a scope from a manufacturer who is unwilling to place a permanent, indelible value on his "clicks." My hunch is he doesn't know what his "clicks" are worth in the first place.

Speaking about "clicks," there should be audible, tactile clicks to scope adjustments. One of the worst adjustment systems I have ever struggled with is based on the "friction" design. No clicks, just a spongy-feeling resistance as you "skid" from one graduation to the next by applying torque with Uncle Sam's nickel.

Oh, how I hate nickels, pennies and dimes that have to be used as turret adjustment screwdrivers. I guess the makers think we all go afield with a bunch of loose change jingling around in our pockets. Well, guys, we don't, but there is so much change left on top the shooting benches at our local range that I routinely collect it and buy myself a soda. Is it too much to ask manufacturers to make scope adjustments finger friendly? Just give us something we can really hang onto and twist. You can keep the change.

Having found the ideal scope, we now want to mount it on our rifle. The problem is our local gunshop doesn't have the proper bases to fit our new smoke pole that costs us closer to one grand with every passing year. How can Ruger afford to include a set of quality scope rings with every rifle they sell, and the other makers can't even drop in a set of bases when their rifles are usually more expensive? My hat's off to Ruger, although I wish Ruger would number their rings so we could easily determine which ring goes where when we switch them around.

A Matter of Dies

I have the same trouble with reloading dies. You buy a set of expensive dies, and then you have to hunt and scramble for a proper sized shell holder. Lee Precision always includes a shell holder with their dies, and their innovative dies are the least expensive in the industry. Makers are always tooting how "user friendly" their tools are. Well, they're not consumer friendly. Just imagine how many shell holders a screw machine or machining center can knock out in a day--heck, an hour. It's high time a proper shell holder rides shotgun to every set of dies sold. It would be good for business, and it would sure help us to maintain consistent headspace if every die set was mated with a specific shell holder.

And one more thing, die makers, will you please put a highly polished finish on your expander buttons. I know, I know, most of you do now, but we still have some recalcitrant members of the National Reloading Manufacturers Association who still turn out buttons as rough as cobs.

Ah, one final point before my blood pressure gets the best of me. Rifle makers, would you please get rid of those dinky 6-48 scope base screws and give us the stout 8-40 screw as an industry standard. When Remington adopted the brawny 8-40 base screw for their Model 788, I thought the New World had arrived. It didn't, but it's time it did.