Bases ?

[John H]

Not to get the cart too far in front of the horse- gotta sell the ruger first. But I'm planning on installing a nightforce 3.5-15x50 NP R1 reticle on my M70 .300 winnie (Model 70 classic stainless- soon to be matte black finish.) I'm trying to figure out the rings and base options.

Nightforce recommends not to go with aluminum on magnum calibers. The snipershide website has very mixed reviews of the Farrell bases- not 1913 std, no recoil lug, etc., Seekins are marvelous- but alloy, Near are a little pricey, there isn't much discussion about the Nighforce bases. Long Range Supply offers a break on the Badger rings - so I'm leaning that way - but I'd like to get a base figured out so I can figure out ring heights.

Ultimately this is a hunting rifle not a tactical wanna be. I plan on working out drops to 500 yds or so. Based on the load development I've done on the rifle it should be ok to that range. To go further and its blueprint & re-bbl- I think. I am planning on a 20 moa base.

John H

 

[James Jones]

The aluminum that Glenn Seekins uses is VERY strong , if you damage you shock your rig with enough force to ruin Seekins base your scope is alos going to be ruined , the same goes for useing 8-40 screws over 6-48 , yea their are stronger but how **** rough are you gonna be on a gun and expect the scope to live?

Give Glenn a call and buy his base and rings without hesitation you will not regret it.

 

[Jon A]

You will have no problems with Seekins base and rings. As mentioned, he uses 7075-T6 which is roughly twice as strong as the 6061 most alloy bases are made from. And the type III hard anodizing increases the surface hardness of the aluminum greatly.

I would recommend Seekins rings though. With their much larger recoil lug vs. a small flat side of a crossbolt they distribute the recoil load over a much larger area. When using my first homemade base from softer 6061 with Badger rings the crossbolts were imprinting on the base from recoil. Seekins rings put a stop to that. Of course I later switched to a 7075 hard anodized base but it was interesting to see how the Seekins rings just did a better job of distributing the load to the base.

I also recommend bedding the base to the action. This eliminates the strength of the screws (and that of the aluminum around the screws) as a worry as well as preventing distortion/preloading due to the base not matching the receiver perfectly.

 

[John H]

Thanks, I'll look a little harder at the Seekins.

I was planning on bedding the base to the action. If the action isn't perfect, it seems that the torque from the screws would twist or warp the base. Without some sort of "strongback" forcing the base to remain flat during the bedding process, how do you keep the base from just torquing into the bedding compound- unless you use a fairly low mounting torque to form the bedding to avoid this.

John

 

[Jon A]

you use a fairly low mounting torque to form the bedding to avoid this.

Exactly. You slowly take the screws down little by little as evenly as possible with just finger tip pressure on the screwdriver and when they touch bottom, back them off ¼ turn or so. Sight down the base with your eyeball, check with a straightedge, etc to make sure the base is flat, straight and level. Then wipe away the squeezout with Q-tips dipped in rubbing alcohol.