Scope Ring Evaluation

[passinggas33]

I’m just curious if there would be a way to determine a ring for pass/fail evaluation consistently? We’ve seen drop tests on scopes, freeze/snow tests on triggers, but I’ve never seen this part tested. Wouldn’t it be important to see if the thing that holds the scope is worth anything? I truly don’t know and am genuinely curious.

Some people love talleys. Some hate them. Some like Nightforce rings. Some hate them. I know not all rings are created equal, so just curious if there was a way to test to see if certain ones could actually handle the stresses they are put under. In some situations, are scopes “failing to hold zero” not as much due to the scope, and more due to mounting (whole other thread) and rings?

Recovering from back surgery so I’ve got an idle mind right now worrying about things that might not be worthwhile.

 

[Deere_Man]

I like the Talley Lightweights. But, for people who shoot enough to wear out barrels on their rifle, the Talley Lightweight is apparently not enough meat on the bone. They will come apart after significant amounts of shooting. I don’t do much shooting. I’m a hunter predominantly and I shoot at sub-300 yards 100% of the time. So, once I confirm zero and then ring the 6” gong several times at 300, I generally call it good. I use Weaver Grand Slams, Talley LW, Vortex’s cheapest offering, Warne Vapor, ect. But, I think that once a shooter starts going through more than 100 rounds per outing on an individual setup, perhaps it’s time to get into something heavier duty.

 

[morgaj1]

I’m just curious if there would be a way to determine a ring for pass/fail evaluation consistently? We’ve seen drop tests on scopes, freeze/snow tests on triggers, but I’ve never seen this part tested. Wouldn’t it be important to see if the thing that holds the scope is worth anything? I truly don’t know and am genuinely curious.

Some people love talleys. Some hate them. Some like Nightforce rings. Some hate them. I know not all rings are created equal, so just curious if there was a way to test to see if certain ones could actually handle the stresses they are put under. In some situations, are scopes “failing to hold zero” not as much due to the scope, and more due to mounting (whole other thread) and rings?

Recovering from back surgery so I’ve got an idle mind right now worrying about things that might not be worthwhile.

I've thought this too. Tagging in.

 

[ResearchinStuff]

The method would be very simple, use a known scope and rifle, swap rings, do drop tests. But, there are already a few well known rings that consistently are holding together drop tested rigs:

Nf ultralight 4 screw
Sportsmatch
Um tikka
Warne mountaintech
Burris xtr signature
Leupold mk4

And a few rings with multiple failures reported from multiple users:
Seekins/vortex pro
Talley
All vertical split rings
Zeiss

Given the availability and relatively low cost of the known commodities, there's no real reason to test further besides the pure chase of knowledge.

If you're designing new rings, look at the commonalities of the rings that work:
- steel or titanium clamping pieces
- no sharp angles to concentrate stresses in thin pieces of aluminum
- 4 screws per side
- high clamping torque spec on the rail, 55in-lb minimum, most 65+