Lightweight scope mounts

[30338]

In the last 4 years I've had 3 different rifles lose zero on hunts using talleys and leupolds. Hard to say if it was the scopes or the bases shifting after taking impacts. My serious rifles have upgraded mounting systems now. Not counting ounces on them anymore.

 

[GKPrice]

In the last 4 years I've had 3 different rifles lose zero on hunts using talleys and leupolds. Hard to say if it was the scopes or the bases shifting after taking impacts. My serious rifles have upgraded mounting systems now. Not counting ounces on them anymore.

the "taking impacts" part sort of negates criticisms of the products maybe ? just because a rifle is a "tool" doesn't mean it can be treated like a framing hammer ... a more detailed story might help some

 

[30338]

I'm talking routine falls while hunting in hard country. In some cases the rifles took harder hits than others. One fall was on relatively soft ground out on the plains. These are on older Rem 700 actions. I found when putting one piece rails on them that the rails were not fitting perfectly. I learned how to bed them and eliminated stress in the mounting systems and scope. I am not sure how a guy would bed Talleys so they are absolutely level and stress free. I think this contributes to the reputation of Talleys being scope scarring rings.

I won't be able to replicate the falls of course, but liking my odds with the one piece rails and Seekins rings. I still have some Talleys on other rifles, I just have concerns about them based on my experiences lately. YMMV. And as I mentioned, could have been the scopes.

 

[tenth1]

I have 4 rifles wearing Talley light rings. Love 'em! Last year my rifle took a tumble through some scree on the way out of a successful hunt enough to scar up the barrel. The Leupold and Talley's were spot on back at the range.

On the other hand, I do have scopes that have ring marks from them. All of that has went away with a little lapping.

 

[GKPrice]

for me, and that is a small audience, on Tikka's I'll be using the Mountain Tactical picatinney and Leupold PRS rings (they are steel so I'm giving up a couple of ounces for them), on Kimbers I'll take the DNZ gamereapers every time and on anything else I'll most likely use Leupold Dual Dovetails - With factory produced actions I would suppose it's a darn good idea to lap everything, it's not difficult or all that time consuming
Some years ago I put together a 257 Weatherby on a 700 action for a buddy - He bought a brand new Remington stainless for the project - Assuming all parts would be "good" I bought Leupold Dual Dovetail mounts for it but when I tried to mount the scope the scope base holes were so far out of line I wound up using the old standard Leupold mounts and had the rear windage screws so far to one side it looked weird to everyone who saw the gun - I wound up redrilling the bridge and had to customize the scope base to make it right - never assume anything is the moral I guess

 

[16Bore]

Zero issues with Talley, ever....

 

[Bughalli]

FYI if going aluminum the difference between "light weight" and others that are more robust is almost nothing. There's easier ways to save more weight. ....and all rings should be lapped regardless of who makes them.

 

[Bmcox86]

Dnz game reaper all the way

 

[GKPrice]

FYI if going aluminum the difference between "light weight" and others that are more robust is almost nothing. There's easier ways to save more weight. ....and all rings should be lapped regardless of who makes them.

I definitely see the wisdom in that practice !

 

[16Bore]

Never lapped a ring in my life either..

 

[GKPrice]

Never lapped a ring in my life either..

I own several scopes that "say" it's sometimes, if not always, a good practice

 

[dotman]

I used to never lap my rings and would always notice wear on the rings and maybe a mark on the scope after awhile. I lapped the rings on my last scope, talley rings, and was kind of shocked that they were off just a hair. But when you really think about it you are adding another mfg product to another product, if either have a very very small variation in machining tolerances you might not get perfect alignment.

It took me all of 5 mins to get the Tallies perfectly aligned. On more expensive scopes I'll always lap going forward, for cheap inexpensive setups I'll probably just bolt everything together.

Guess I don't see how lapping will hurt anything as it is lining up your rings to your mfg action and reducing binding of the scope. Maybe this only matter on two piece rings and a single piece like the dnz shouldn't bind in theory.

Really to me lapping is just cheap insurance for an expensive investment. While I've not had an issue with tallies a picitany rail or one piece ring does intrigue me. My problem is I don't have a ton of options for a Forbes/NULA action.

 

[peddler]

Talley!

 

[GKPrice]

Talley!

..... UH, nevermind Sir Thomas Moore was correct

 

[GKPrice]

Dnz game reaper all the way

Actually, I haven't installed a DNZ GameReaper that needed any lapping but I don't like the screws they use much