Benefits to a Picatinny

[SixteenG]

My apologies if this has already been asked.

I’m curious to what the benefits are of having a Picatinny rail to mount your rings to if you intend to be keeping shots closer then let’s say 600 yards?

I recently took a long range shooting class so I could properly learn the basics and now I’m putting together a mule deer rifle I want to backpack with. I bought a used Bergara Wilderness HMR and topped it with a nf nx8 to take to the class. With the rings/rail I couldn’t mount the scope far enough back to really get the proper fit without the objective lens contacting the rail. It was very close, but not ideal.

I’ve since purchased a Bergara Carbon Crest in 6.5cm to hunt with. My plan was to swap the scope over, but I’ll ultimately end up in the same situation if I put a rail on it. I could get taller rings, but the stock doesn’t have an adjustable cheek piece so that wouldn’t be ideal either. So now I’m thinking about buying the standard rings that don’t require a pic rail since I shouldn’t need a ton of elevation to get to 600y. I’m also considering getting a different scope to save some ounces.

Long winded, but are there any advantages to the pic rail for under the 600y-ish range?

 

[Pickettpuncher]

A pic rail allows you a ton of flexibility. If the scope contacts the front, cut it off.

 

[sdupontjr]

A pic rail allows you a ton of flexibility. If the scope contacts the front, cut it off.

Exactly. It allows you the flexibility to mount different setups. If you already have rings for a pic rail, there is no need to buy another set. Just buy a rail and use what you have.

Then on the other hand, some optics are shorter than others. So, trying to mount a shorter optic on a true long action can be difficult due to ring spacing. This pic rail allows for whatever spacing is required by your optic. You can get several different MOA canted rails if you like or just simply get a 0 MOA rail. I have rails on a few rifles and just rings on others. But my optic of choice allowed me to do so.

 

[nobody]

Picatinny slot spacing is standard. No matter what make or model of rifle you own, if they all have a pic rail, swapping scopes is as easy as undoing the ring to rail clamps and moving the scope over in the rings. I have a few scopes sitting pre-mounted in pic rings ready to go on a rifle should a scope go down.

Individual bases and rings introduce potential additional errors. They can potentially not be perfectly in line with each other, which means once you torque rings down and mount a scope in those rings, you could be introducing a pinch point in between the rings. Additionally, slot spacing between the bases varies from rifle brand to rifle brand, action length to action length, and even base brand to base brand. So if you need to swap a scope, you have to fully disassemble and remount it in the rings.

Pic rails are the way for most rifles. Only thing better is an integral rail that’s part of the rifle action. If the scope interferes, file down one slot on your rail and rock and roll. Of course if you’re doing that, it does make me wonder if your rifle is too long for your length of pull, so maybe your problem is elsewhere.

 

[RockAndSage]

As has been said, advantages are flexibility with rings, including ring selection and placement of rings along the scope tube. Some people also swap scopes around on different rifles, and that's not something you can really do without a pic rail.

Biggest disadvantage that really comes to mind is that full pic-rails can interfere with loading some top-loading rifles, but that likely wouldn't be an issue for you with the Bergaras and them being magazine-fed. With some setups they can add unnecessary height as well, but that's more specific to certain scope and stock configurations, and how all that matches up to the individual shooter, which you've described happening to yourself.

In your situation, I'm not seeing any advantage you'd lose out on by going with directly mounted rings, instead of a pic rail. Just be sure to check if you can get the specific scope you're using back far enough for your eye, if you go with direct-mount rings. Some scopes have shorter main tubes, which really limit how far you can move them forward or back inside the rings.

 

[juju]

I swap scopes around between rifles. That's the only reason. Much prefer untiized, but it is what it is.

 

[The Harbor Master]

Something I never really hear mentioned but I've been wondering... don't the crossbolts through the picatinny also act as recoil "lugs" to keep rings from slipping back?

I understand with properly mounted quality rings that's not really any issue. Just sayin.

 

[SixteenG]

Thanks guys. It all makes sense. Went ahead and added the pic rail and then mounted the scope.