I bought a Savage 12BVSS rifle and a Swift scope last August.

The rifle was obviously faulty: grouped like a bug sprayer. There
was a burr on the crown. I sent it back to the factory, they fixed it
and sent me a respectable test target proving it.

Then the scope wouldn't zero on the rifle. Not even close. Sent
scope back. It was replaced. By then it was January, not exactly
outdoor shooting season in MN for the likes of me.

Then I had my program interrupted in May by other events.

Coupla weeks ago I consulted a gunsmith that I'd discovered near me.
He said no prob, just need some shims.

Shims? A supposedly high-quality rifle and reasonably decent scope
need shims? Sounded like heresy to me. He said he understood my
attitude, but it happens all the time and I should not think less of
my rifle or scope. He'd get me squared away with the scope knobs
hey-diddle-diddle right-in-the-middle and, 4 clicks from zero at 100
yd. I bade him please proceed, I wanna shoot this sonofabitch at
least once before I'm too old to do so. He charged me 10 bux.

Took it to the range today, with 90 rounds of ammo in various recipes
and flavors to see what it might fancy.

By golly, with some loads I was putting two and three rounds thru the
same hole at 100 yds -- this with no cooling-off period at all. Hot
damn!

I set up a small designer-water bottle, invited Mar to "watch this"
thru the 8X binocs that are always near at hand. BANG. Nothing
happened. WTF, over? Ah, there were some rocks in the bottle for
stability so maybe I punched it without toppling it? Holding that
thought, I decided to shoot at the orange cap. It's only about 3/4" x
3/4" but made of sturdier plastic than the rest of the bottle. BANG
The suddenly capless-and neckless bottle leaped into the air
downrange, cargo of rocks and all. OH YESSSS!!!!!

I then proceeded methodically like a good little scientist for a
while, recording chrono readings and noting which loads made what
groups on which targets. But the hole idea here is fun, right?
HFIJ1 -- having fun is job 1, if it ain't fun why do it. So, for the
grand finale I set up a small bottle that was filled clear full with
water and then capped. Range 100 yd. I used two rounds of the five I
had with that recipe to re-zero the scope. Got 3 left to fire for
effect, we're gonna see what happens here. Mary's on the binocs.

BANG. The bottle disappeared, a cloud of mist a couple of feet in
diameter appeared in its place. OH, COOL! I shoulda put some red
dye in the water. This was just an ordinary bullet, Nosler 55 gn
ballistic-tip .224 mosying along at 3500 fps or so. WOW! Mary
confirmed that I didn't miss anything by blinking at recoil; she saw
the same thing I did.

I still dunno if a guy should have to shim a scope on a supposedly
decent rifle -- but what the hell, I'm finally having fun with it.

I still dunno if a guy should have to shim a scope on a supposedly
decent rifle -- but what the hell, I'm finally having fun with it.

Don

Shims are a way of life no matter what.

I do cameras etc and you would be surprised how many lenses and
cameras are shimmed. And if not shimmed then the assembly parts are
selected which is a form of shimming. There is a form of shimming even
for integrated circuits. Only they call it tweaking.

Bob AZ

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:09:52 -0500, Don Foreman
wrote:


I bought a Savage 12BVSS rifle and a Swift scope last August.

The rifle was obviously faulty: grouped like a bug sprayer. There
was a burr on the crown. I sent it back to the factory, they fixed it
and sent me a respectable test target proving it.

Then the scope wouldn't zero on the rifle. Not even close. Sent
scope back. It was replaced. By then it was January, not exactly
outdoor shooting season in MN for the likes of me.

Then I had my program interrupted in May by other events.

Coupla weeks ago I consulted a gunsmith that I'd discovered near me.
He said no prob, just need some shims.

Shims? A supposedly high-quality rifle and reasonably decent scope
need shims? Sounded like heresy to me. He said he understood my
attitude, but it happens all the time and I should not think less of
my rifle or scope. He'd get me squared away with the scope knobs
hey-diddle-diddle right-in-the-middle and, 4 clicks from zero at 100
yd. I bade him please proceed, I wanna shoot this sonofabitch at
least once before I'm too old to do so. He charged me 10 bux.

Took it to the range today, with 90 rounds of ammo in various recipes
and flavors to see what it might fancy.

By golly, with some loads I was putting two and three rounds thru the
same hole at 100 yds -- this with no cooling-off period at all. Hot
damn!

I set up a small designer-water bottle, invited Mar to "watch this"
thru the 8X binocs that are always near at hand. BANG. Nothing
happened. WTF, over? Ah, there were some rocks in the bottle for
stability so maybe I punched it without toppling it? Holding that
thought, I decided to shoot at the orange cap. It's only about 3/4" x
3/4" but made of sturdier plastic than the rest of the bottle. BANG
The suddenly capless-and neckless bottle leaped into the air
downrange, cargo of rocks and all. OH YESSSS!!!!!

I then proceeded methodically like a good little scientist for a
while, recording chrono readings and noting which loads made what
groups on which targets. But the hole idea here is fun, right?
HFIJ1 -- having fun is job 1, if it ain't fun why do it. So, for the
grand finale I set up a small bottle that was filled clear full with
water and then capped. Range 100 yd. I used two rounds of the five I
had with that recipe to re-zero the scope. Got 3 left to fire for
effect, we're gonna see what happens here. Mary's on the binocs.

BANG. The bottle disappeared, a cloud of mist a couple of feet in
diameter appeared in its place. OH, COOL! I shoulda put some red
dye in the water. This was just an ordinary bullet, Nosler 55 gn
ballistic-tip .224 mosying along at 3500 fps or so. WOW! Mary
confirmed that I didn't miss anything by blinking at recoil; she saw
the same thing I did.

I still dunno if a guy should have to shim a scope on a supposedly
decent rifle -- but what the hell, I'm finally having fun with it.


Fun isnt it? A tack driver can be a real blast to play with.

Try a can of starting fluid...VEG...just be sure that your range is
clear of flammables in a 30' radius. A mason jar of 87 Octane works
pretty well also.

Just to be safe, put a lit birthday candle a foot or two away from the
can..one of those Cant blow out, novelty candles

Its a crowd pleaser.

Necco wafers at 200 yrds...simply slurp on one side..and stick it to
the target paper.

Ever get out to California..Ill take you out to a ground squirrel
colony..and let you discover what Red Mist is all about. And show you
how to loft a squirrel head at least 30' straight up

Gunner

"[L]iberals are afraid to state what they truly believe in, for to do so would result in even less votes than they currently receive. Their
methodology is to lie about their real agenda in the hopes of regaining power, at which point they will do whatever they damn well please. The problem is they have concealed and obfuscated for so long that, as a group, they themselves are no longer sure of their goals. They are a collection of wild-eyed splinter groups, all holding a grab-bag of dreams and wishes. Some want a Socialist, secular-humanist state, others the repeal of the Second Amendment. Some want same sex/different species marriage, others want voting rights for trees, fish, coal and bugs. Some want cradle to grave care and
complete subservience to the government nanny state, others want a culture that walks in lockstep and speaks only with intonations of political correctness. I view the American liberals in much the same way I view the competing factions of Islamic
fundamentalists. The latter hate each other to the core, and only join
forces to attack the US or Israel. The former hate themselves to the core, and only join forces to attack George Bush and conservatives." --Ron Marr

Shims are a way of life no matter what.

I do cameras etc and you would be surprised how many lenses and
cameras are shimmed. And if not shimmed then the assembly parts are
selected which is a form of shimming. There is a form of shimming even
for integrated circuits. Only they call it tweaking.

I've been on the recieving end of Don's EE designs quite often... He don't
use shims.(tweaks)

Karl

On Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:31:12 -0700 (PDT), with neither quill nor
qualm, Bob AZ quickly quoth:

I still dunno if a guy should have to shim a scope on a supposedly
decent rifle -- but what the hell, I'm finally having fun with it.

Don

Shims are a way of life no matter what.

I do cameras etc and you would be surprised how many lenses and
cameras are shimmed. And if not shimmed then the assembly parts are
selected which is a form of shimming. There is a form of shimming even
for integrated circuits. Only they call it tweaking.

Shimming an IC? Whuffo?

Cameras, do you do work on the side, Bob? I dropped my Nikon
Coolpix 995 and it lost its focus. When one side is in focus, the
other isn't.

--
Vidi, Vici, Veni
---

Bob AZ wrote:
I still dunno if a guy should have to shim a scope on a supposedly
decent rifle -- but what the hell, I'm finally having fun with it.

Don

Shims are a way of life no matter what.

I do cameras etc and you would be surprised how many lenses and
cameras are shimmed. And if not shimmed then the assembly parts are
selected which is a form of shimming. There is a form of shimming even
for integrated circuits. Only they call it tweaking.

Bob AZ

One of my clients (and former employer) sells very highfalutin infra-red
imaging systems. Nothing is shimmed per se, but there's a lot of lenses
that get glued in place in fixtures, there's a lot of space devoted to
making highly repeatable bolted joints, and most of the subassemblies
mount to the main bench in a way that allows for boresighting.

Most integrated circuits aren't 'shimmed' so much as selected. Parts
that aren't huge are tested for performance, then binned depending on
how well they did in the test. Large memory chips have redundant
sections with ways that the manufacturer can switch in alternate
sections if the 'primary' ones fail in test.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" gives you just what it says.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

On Jul 22, 12:05*pm, Tim Wescott wrote:
...
Most integrated circuits aren't 'shimmed' so much as selected. *...
Tim Wescott

Devices that combine analog with digital often have calibration EPROMs
to adjust the gain and offset of A/D converters, for example.

Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Jul 22, 12:05 pm, Tim Wescott wrote:
...
Most integrated circuits aren't 'shimmed' so much as selected. ...
Tim Wescott

Devices that combine analog with digital often have calibration EPROMs
to adjust the gain and offset of A/D converters, for example.

Hmm. Good point. I was thinking of laser trimming and other gross
physical changes to the chips, which has gone seriously out of vogue.
But 'calibration' lives in the same conceptual space as 'shimming', I
suppose.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" gives you just what it says.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html

Larry Jaques wrote:


Shimming an IC? Whuffo?
Laser trimming. You burn away a little resistor material to do
the things you used to do on discrete circuits with a trimpot
and a screwdriver. Also, in digital circuits, like memories,
they used to have an extra row or two of memory cells, and a
kind of ROM that can be laser burned to swap in the spare row
for a bad one. This is all done with electronic techniques
today, like flash memory.

Jon

Tim Wescott wrote:
Jim Wilkins wrote:

On Jul 22, 12:05 pm, Tim Wescott wrote:

...
Most integrated circuits aren't 'shimmed' so much as selected. ...
Tim Wescott


Devices that combine analog with digital often have calibration EPROMs
to adjust the gain and offset of A/D converters, for example.


Hmm. Good point. I was thinking of laser trimming and other gross
physical changes to the chips, which has gone seriously out of vogue.
But 'calibration' lives in the same conceptual space as 'shimming', I
suppose.

Don't believe it. Chips that have a lot of digital circuitry
already will have cal PROMs built in, but a LOT of high-end
op-amps, comparators, etc. are still laser trimmed to set the
offset to near zero.

Jon

Shimming an IC? Whuffo?

Cameras, do you do work on the side, Bob? �I dropped my Nikon
Coolpix 995 and it lost its focus. When one side is in focus, the
other isn't.
� � � � � � � � Vidi, Vici, Veni
� � � � � � � � � � � � � ---

Larry

Shimming an IC. They actually use Laser trimming in the manufacturing
process. Others use laser cutting to cause a generic IC assembly to
have the function that is desired. I think this is what some custom
ICs are.

I do work on the side but at the present time I don't do Digital
Cameras. Not worth the cost since most are so inexpensive they are not
worth the cost. With the dropped Coolpix the best thing is a trip to a
Nikon Service facility. They have a web site. But don't be surprised
if it is not cost effective. I have service contracts on any digital
camersa I am in love with. Not used any of them yet. A good case or
bag is the best Service Contract.

Bob AZ

Reminds me: Why don't the lower end (cheaper) electronic watches have eprom trimming available to
the user, even if on a one-time basis. Crystals in electronic time pieces age. The count-down
circuitry could benefit from tweaking.

Bob Swinney
"Jon Elson" wrote in message
...
Tim Wescott wrote:
Jim Wilkins wrote:

On Jul 22, 12:05 pm, Tim Wescott wrote:

...
Most integrated circuits aren't 'shimmed' so much as selected. ...
Tim Wescott


Devices that combine analog with digital often have calibration EPROMs
to adjust the gain and offset of A/D converters, for example.


Hmm. Good point. I was thinking of laser trimming and other gross
physical changes to the chips, which has gone seriously out of vogue.
But 'calibration' lives in the same conceptual space as 'shimming', I
suppose.

Don't believe it. Chips that have a lot of digital circuitry
already will have cal PROMs built in, but a LOT of high-end
op-amps, comparators, etc. are still laser trimmed to set the
offset to near zero.

Jon

** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:32:42 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Jon
Elson quickly quoth:

Larry Jaques wrote:


Shimming an IC? Whuffo?
Laser trimming. You burn away a little resistor material to do
the things you used to do on discrete circuits with a trimpot
and a screwdriver. Also, in digital circuits, like memories,
they used to have an extra row or two of memory cells, and a
kind of ROM that can be laser burned to swap in the spare row
for a bad one. This is all done with electronic techniques
today, like flash memory.

Cool! Thanks for the info, Jon.

--
Vidi, Vici, Veni
---

On Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:45:09 -0700 (PDT), with neither quill nor
qualm, Bob AZ quickly quoth:

Shimming an IC? Whuffo?

Cameras, do you do work on the side, Bob? ?I dropped my Nikon
Coolpix 995 and it lost its focus. When one side is in focus, the
other isn't.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Vidi, Vici, Veni
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ---

It's my rewrite. "I saw, I conquered, I came."


Larry

Shimming an IC. They actually use Laser trimming in the manufacturing
process. Others use laser cutting to cause a generic IC assembly to
have the function that is desired. I think this is what some custom
ICs are.

I do work on the side but at the present time I don't do Digital
Cameras. Not worth the cost since most are so inexpensive they are not
worth the cost. With the dropped Coolpix the best thing is a trip to a
Nikon Service facility. They have a web site. But don't be surprised
if it is not cost effective.

They want $150 just to look at it/maybe repair it. Are digital camera
service manuals available to the public?


I have service contracts on any digital
camersa I am in love with. Not used any of them yet. A good case or
bag is the best Service Contract.

I did buy a service contract on the new D40 I just picked up. That's
the best way to ensure that absolutely nothing happens to my camera,
ever. Murphy and service contracts don't get along.

--
Vidi, Vici, Veni
---

They want $150 just to look at it/maybe repair it. �Are digital camera
service manuals available to the public?


I did buy a service contract on the new D40 I just picked up. That's
the best way to ensure that absolutely nothing happens to my camera,
ever. Murphy and service contracts don't get along.

Larry

Some serice manuals are available to the public and some available
only to Authorized Service Facilities. I have been trying for years to
get a service manual for my Nikon LS4500AF Scanner. So far no luck. I
know an owner of a Nikon Authorized Service facility and even he can't
help me. He does not have Nikon authority to do scanners.

Bob AZ

Tim Wescott wrote:
Jim Wilkins wrote:
On Jul 22, 12:05 pm, Tim Wescott wrote:
...
Most integrated circuits aren't 'shimmed' so much as selected. ...
Tim Wescott

Devices that combine analog with digital often have calibration EPROMs
to adjust the gain and offset of A/D converters, for example.

Hmm. Good point. I was thinking of laser trimming and other gross
physical changes to the chips, which has gone seriously out of vogue.
But 'calibration' lives in the same conceptual space as 'shimming', I
suppose.

thick film circuits still get adjusted by burning with lasers.