My model of Ryobi laser is still being closed out for $29 at Home Despot. What's new in this setup is the M1913 riser, and a scope level that clamps onto the rail, and not the scope itself. That means I can level the riser, put the scope on, and then square up the crosshairs.
Until I found the level, I always had problems assuring the squareness of whatever optics I was working on. Now I can keep an eye on things, and know I'm not going astray (at least as far as a crude bubble level will allow).
Here's a Leupold AR 1.5-4x20 scope in a GG&G M16 QD mount. It's a one-inch tube, and GG&G only makes 30 and 34mm rings, so I have a set of their plastic inch-to-30mm adapters in the rings. You can see the bubble level telling me the riser, and therefore the mount, is properly horizontal.
And here is the best picture I could come up with showing the vertical line projected on the furnace in this case, with the scope ready for me to look through, and make sure the crosshairs are square when I look through it. I found the line was easier to see if I just set the level to project a vertical line, rather than both horizontal and vertical.
The setup was quick, and I knew it was as accurate as my tools would allow. The vertical laser line was bright enough to shine through the crosshairs, something sighting on a string just couldn't do. I now get enough accuracy out of this setup to realize I might have fractions-of-a-degree errors in the bubble level, or in my ability to hold things square while I torque down the screws. But I also realize there is nothing out there for me to use to prevent that. It would take some laboratory-grade equipment that doesn't exist to prove the errors were wrung out of the system.
Still, the process brought a big smile to my face when I was done. I got another smile when I mounted this "grownup" scope on my now "grownup" Colt M4-22. That $40 chicom scope just didn't seem right after all the other work I put into the rifle.
Leave it to GG&G to know the proper ring height to make things work properly on AR-15 types.
Look for a Sunday supplement tomorrow. Much later today, actually.
