andy34
Active Member
Recently changed the scope on my Sauer 202 and three of the bolts holding the top half of the mount ring seized with the allen key hole rounded out. Being an engineer I thought I could sort it and source the bolts with no problem and much cheaper than taking to to a gunsmith.
Managed to drill the bolts out but three weeks later and I still couldn't find the right M3.5 8mm cap head bolts (had to find out what they were called) with problems with screw pitch, length, size of cap head not fitting in the recess.
In the end I went to precision rifles at Ballindalloch, where £30 and 8 replacement Sako bolts later, all with a small drop oil to prevent them seizing in the future, and I'm now all sorted.
In hindsight I now realize I could have seriously knakered my mount if I'd messed up the drilling and opened out the holes. I also realize I wasted three weeks trying to find a bolt, which a good gunsmith found in his spares draw in under 10 seconds. In short I was a numpty and wasted lots of time and potentially lots of money to save a few quid on some bolts.
I therefore just wanted to post the experience in case anyone else there comes across the same issue and like me doesn't really have the right tools or spares to hand, but is thinking about having a go at fixing it. If you do, my strong advice would be to take it to a gunsmith straight away and not make the same mistake I did
Managed to drill the bolts out but three weeks later and I still couldn't find the right M3.5 8mm cap head bolts (had to find out what they were called) with problems with screw pitch, length, size of cap head not fitting in the recess.
In the end I went to precision rifles at Ballindalloch, where £30 and 8 replacement Sako bolts later, all with a small drop oil to prevent them seizing in the future, and I'm now all sorted.
In hindsight I now realize I could have seriously knakered my mount if I'd messed up the drilling and opened out the holes. I also realize I wasted three weeks trying to find a bolt, which a good gunsmith found in his spares draw in under 10 seconds. In short I was a numpty and wasted lots of time and potentially lots of money to save a few quid on some bolts.
I therefore just wanted to post the experience in case anyone else there comes across the same issue and like me doesn't really have the right tools or spares to hand, but is thinking about having a go at fixing it. If you do, my strong advice would be to take it to a gunsmith straight away and not make the same mistake I did
. Thanks again for the advice.
