PSL-54 TPS Scope Problems (Century Intl.)

[2ndAmendican]

I bought a Cugir built Romanian PSL-54C (with scope) from Century, through my local FFL a few months ago. As soon as I got it home I cleaned it thoroughly, and inspected everything, and noticed that the scope's crosshairs and BDC were canted about 8-10 degrees to the right. After fiddling with it myself to try to correct it, I finally took it back to my FFL for return to Century. FInally got it back yesterday, and this one is even worse than the last one, plus this one came without the rubber end cap and eyepiece!!!!!!!!!! WTF!?!?!?!?!

Has anyone else expierenced this alignment problem, and can it be fixed by the home amatuer gunsmith?? The scope rail itself seems to be fine, so I don't think that it's related to the rail. Then again, the fact that it's 2 different scopes with the same problem makes me wonder.

Also, should I try to deal direct with Century, and leave out the middleman?? My FFL is a great guy and all, and gives me pretty good prices, but he doesn't get in a hurry about anything. Hell, if I give the scope back to him again for return, it's liable to sit there on his desk for a week or two before he even decides to call Century for an RMA #. I would rather deal direct if that is allowed. Any and all help/advice is much appreciated.

[flintoid]

Here's a forum post on the AK files forum where a guy disassembled this scope and replaced the tritium element:

The AK Files Forums - Romanian PSL scope, wheres the tritium?

It appears you can cant the reticle yourself as it's in a 'twistable' section of the scope. Also, here's a section on dragunov.net that has the pictures and short description of disassembly from that forum thread if the pictures don't show up:
Dragunov dot net - Romanian LPS Rifle Scope

good luck! I have this exact scope on a PSL and it's dead nuts as far as holding a good zero for the rifle. Trick is finding good ammunition that isn't surplus garbage!

[hcpookie]

You may just have need of adjusting the scope rail and/or scope body. Some of the rails fit less than perfect and leave room for adjustments.

[2ndAmendican]

HC, I assume that you mean the lower dovetail section of the scope when you say "rail"?? On the first one, I tried to do some adjusting and it really made no difference. I have looked at the 4 screws that hold the lower "rail" portion of the scope to the upper "scope" portion, but I'm not sure how one would shim it (don't want to mess with it too much, if I need to send it back.)? Is there a write-up on an adjustment procedure for that part?? I've seen several tutorials on actual scope zero'ing on this model, as well as attempts to dissasemble and replace the tritium element, but nothing regarding the scope mount itself.

Flint, I've seen the one on Dragunov.net, but I'll have to look at the other and see if there is any useable info. Thanks for the input guys.

Big-Un

[hcpookie]

Actually I meant RAIL. As in, the rail may not be properly aligned with the boresight and therefore was riveted to the receiver in the wrong position. That warrants modifications to the scope to "fix" the scope to the boresight.

I have shimmed one. All of the bases are fit to the scopes and pinned/staked in place. The screws are "loose" to allow them to be installed properly. If you take one apart you can see the bases can be swapped out. The staking pin holes can be re-drilled in a new location or larger pins used. You can either file the base or shim it with thin metal like a feeler gauge or even strips of soda can metal then re-screw it down. I did that to my .308 conversion home-built scope mount:

Scope mount on my SVU needs adjustment

[2ndAmendican]

HC, I'm confused. With the issue that I'm having, the reticle's verticle line that should be pointing at the 12 o'clock position is rotated clockwise and is actually pointed at the 1 o'clock position. If it were a regular scope/rings on a Weaver base it would be simple to loosen the rings and rotate the scope in the rings back counterclockwise the 8-10 degrees. I'm not quite understanding how the riveted and spot welded scope rail could affect that??? I do understand however how the rail could have a major effect on the scope alignment relative to the bore, like you said.

[Coils]

I get what you mean, I think HC does too.

It's possible the top of the rail could be angled in a little, like if you would have removed the rail and filed a little from the top edge that meets the receiver, this would be one thing that can cause the scope to lean a little.

It's also possible that the scope is off set where it's mounted to the quick release mount portion, a few thousands here could also angle the scope a good bit.

[hcpookie]

Yep Coils that's exactly what I was thinking as well.

You may be able to get it adjusted so you can clamp the rail tighter onto the dovetail - they are all adjustable - and that may help it align to vertical. If it is loose enough, it will clamp up but be "leaning" since the gap is too large.

All this is spitballing ideas since I don't have it in front of me.

[jreifsch80]

hey chris you can veiw owners manuals for most scopes on kalinka opticals website (in fact who should i ask on here about the pdf files being put in our library?) as far as a canted scope it makes me think of two ways to fix it, 1 being what the guys said earlier about shiming the body where it attatches to the mount seems like it wouldn't be too hard to do could maybe use pieces of feeler gauges or i like the pop can material idea. 2 you could always adjust your rail, might be difficult to remove and remount but maybe it could be massaged with files to where the sode of the rail could be filed till it's parallel with your receiver then since it would be just slightly slimmer, i would think the lock mech. could be adjusted tighter so make up for the rail being maybe .010 thinner (just guessing at dimensions that sound in the ballpark) also you might need to adjust the dovetail angle but that shouldn't be too hard with carefull filing and jewelers files. I did similer stuff to my yugo rail as when i had it riveted on i realized the back was a couple thou away from my receiver than the rest causing my scope to bind and not slide on, now it's fixed with some carefull filing. just tryin to give ideas

[GoodOlDave]

Has anyone else expierenced this alignment problem, and can it be fixed by the home amatuer gunsmith?? The scope rail itself seems to be fine, so I don't think that it's related to the rail. Then again, the fact that it's 2 different scopes with the same problem makes me wonder.

Hi Second!

Yeah, I had the same problem with my scope. In fact, I don't think I've seen a PSL scope that didn't have this problem. It's actually not that hard to correct, but it requires opening up the scope and a doing lot of repetitive manual adjustments, so if you're willing to do that, read on...

Around the body of the scope where the eyepiece tube (the end where you look into the scope, dunno what the actual name of it is) screws into it, there are three extremely tiny screws. They're easy to miss becuase they've been painted over and look like tiny dimples. Take a jeweler's screwdriver and unscrew these. These are locking screws that lock the eyepiece tube in place, so once these are removed the entire eyepiece tube can be unscrewed counterclockwise. The thing has probably been screwed on since its manufacture so it may be stuck, but a pair of pliers with a thick piece of leather (I.E. an old belt you don't need anymore) around the scope so that you won't scrape it will help you take it off.

Once the eyepiece tube is removed, look inside the body and you'll see a metal square with a round hole in the middle, with three screws in it. This is the windage/elevation assembly, and the screws mount the reticle on the other side of this assembly. Loosen up all three screws but do not unscrew them all the way- if you do, the reticle will detach and you'll need to take the front scope tube off to screw it back on (the front tube comes off the exact same way as the eyepiece tube, if you need to do this).

You will notice that the screws holding the reticle to the windage/elevation assembly aren't screwed into holes. but semicircular slots. These slots are there to allow you to adjust the reticle by rotating the reticle a fraction of an inch clockwise and counterclockwise. Now comes the pain in the [censored] part: with a jeweler's screwdriver, push the upper right screw along its slot to rotate the reticle in the direction you need to correct it by, and then tighten it, leaving the other screws loose for now. Screw the eyepiece tube back in, mount in onto your rifle, and check the reticle. You will find that all you need to do is move the reticle a hair and it'll look like it was rotated a mile, so there's no way around having to measure it by eye. You'll need to repeat the process of unscrewing the eyetube, unscrewing the upper right screw holding the reticle to the elevation/windage assembly, rotating the reticle a hair, tightening it again, screwing the eyetube back on, mounting it on your rifle, and checking how the reticle looks by eye until the reticle lines up properly.

Once you have the reticle to your liking, unscrew the eyetube one more time, tighten all three reticle screws, screw the eyetube back on and screw the locking screws back in. It helps to find a bowl to put the locking screws in as you're doing all this becuase they're practically microscopic and VERY easy to lose. You'll obviously need to take it to the range to zero the scope to the rifle again, once you're done. FYI try not to breathe into the scope while you're doing this- moisture from your breath may get trapped inside the scope, leaving the glass all fogged up when you take it out to the field.

Hope this helps!

-Good Ol' Dave