Couldn't leave well enough alone so I modified the side wheel that came........

[nced]

with my 3-12x44 Optisan Viper scope. A while back I posted about some "issues" I had with the fact that the sidewheel supplied with the scope wouldn't fit between the rings of my 30mm one piece UTG scope mount. I did find that the sw would fit between the rings of my 30mm one piece BKL mount, however the BKL is a high mount (the UTG is a medium mount) and I prefer that the center of the scope be closer to the bore if possible. I'm also not fond of a couple BKL features like "two screw relatively narrow top straps" and the absence of a recoil stop pin. Here is a pic showing the interference between the Viper SW and a one piece UTG mount......
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Obviously my two piece 30mm medium mount would have been an option, however I do prefer a one piece mount.

Another issue I had with the Viper SW was that it only used 3 set screws compressing a cogged rubber liner to secure the SW to the focus knob.....plus one of the 3 tapped holes (one in the middle) was a blind hole that the set screw bottomed out on. This left only two OPPOSING set screws (the 3 holes weren't equally spaced 120 degrees apart) so the mounted SW would wobble on the focus knob. After tightening the screws enough that the SW was firmly mounted I found that the two opposing steel set screws had penetrated the "cogged rubber core" and actually messed up the focus knob. Here's a pic......
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Here's a pic of the 3 set screws supplied with the SW showing the blind hole where the short screw was located.....
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com

Something else I learned was that while the medium 30mm mount gave a good clearance from the receiver to the scope objective, it also wasn't enough clearance for the screw in flip up lens cap to function as I would have preferred, it requires a high mount to operate the flip up covers. Well..I'm personally not a fan of permanently mounted flip up scope covers so I'll be replacing them with a normal Bushy type "caps and straps" cover so another issue is "solved".

Well.....I went to Lowes and bought a 3" ABS pipe plug to modify my side wheel more to my liking! First I tapped out the existing set screw holes for larger #8-32 screws and added a 4th retaining screw hole so the screws ar equally spaced 90 degrees apart. Next I fabricated some brass retaining screws by machining some oval phillips head screws and cutting to length. Here are a few pics.....
The pipe plug used to make the rim for the SW modification........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com

Machined ABS rim and modified brass screws with modified sidewheel.
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Notice that I machined away the SW flange that had the numbers etched into it, the flange that interfered with my mount scope rings.

Back of SW assembly showing the machined ABS flange is a press fit onto the four larger diameter lugs. I also put a dab of blue RTV silicone rubber on the ends of the four larger SW lugs just for grins.........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Here is the front of the SW assembly........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com

SW assembly mounted to the scope ready for a "range tape"........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com

Range tape ready for marking.........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Notice that the SW no longer interferes with my one piece UTG mount! 
By the way, the scope hasn't been properly mounted yet which is why some ring screws are missing!

I also shortened the supplied 3" lens shade to 2 1/2" long so I could position this long scope on the receiver to maintain a comfortable eye position and still cock my breakbarrel R9. By machining 1/2" off the end of my lens shade I also removed the threads that were used to secure the flip up lens cover, but since I found that type of cover to be a hassle in the first place it wasn't an issue for me to remove the threads.

LOL....I do have to mention that I found both the sun shade and side wheel are also sold separately so I figured that if I screwed up either I could easily get another.

[Yak54]

Very ingenious Ed !  Your design engineer skills are impressive. 

[Pappy]

Nice work Ed.  Creative, functional,  and looks good too.  Kudos


Pappy