doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com removing stuck adjustment caps

I found a nice little vintage Redfield 4X 3/4" tube to put on my browning .22 auto. The scope is in perfect condition but the elevation cap is very tight and I cant seem to get it off. I only paid $20 for the scope but I really hate to put a set of pliers on it. Does anyone have a good way to loosen the cap with out damaging it? Thanks, JB

Wrap the knurled part of the cap with a couple of wraps of electric tape and then use pliers.

Argh! Don't use electrical tape. It's too wimpy and the pliers will go right through it! Get a piece of inner tube from a bike and cut a strip to fit the pliers jaws. Then grip the cap and turn it loose.
I keep some pieces of inner tube handy on the gun bench just for such uses.

Thanks guys, I finally had time to play with the scope today and the cap came right off with the use of the inner tube. Not a mark on it! Best-JB

I have to get me an ole piece of tube and save my tape!

If you cut rubberband like pieces from old tubes they work really well for holding guns together while working on them too! My Dad used to keep assortments of truck, car, motorcycle, and bicycle tubes near his work bench to wrap things while he worked, which left both hands free to do the job.
As a kid I laughed at "how cheap he was", but when I matured I realised he wasn't being cheap, he was being smart!

A little heat sometimes works too.

You don't want to be heating anything on a scope.

Don, it has worked well for me. I have also used it on stuck reticle adjustments to make old grease loosen up. The operative words are "a little". A blow dryer is perfect.

C.

I've used a soldering gun to touch the tip to screw heads and loosen them up. Never tried a blow dryer or torch. The gun gives very direct heat transfer, without heating adjacent areas.