Rings

cohunt

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Jan 21, 2016
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Colorado Springs, CO
looking for good quality rings in 2 different configurations

1st would be pic rail/weaver rings to mount to pic rail base--this is a lightweight rem 700 mountain rifle (pencil profile barrel) the rings I had are not good and scope is slipping (as noted in another post)--I prefer lightweight rings but will deal with a few extra ounces if they wont cause scope slip, the current setup is with silver colored rings, I prefer to stay with silver colored as the barrel/receiver/scope are all silver right now (I think the bad ones I removed are weaver grand slam IIRC)

2nd is for a new x-bolt LR in 7 mag that is on it's way, putting a vx6-hd on it--I prefer to have black 1 piece rings/base for this rifle (like talley LW or DNZ) if possible

Don't really need any canted base rail (20moa) but wouldn't totally turn it down either
I also have a new scope lapping kit on the way to make sure the rings are true
Yes i torque all my bases and rings to proper specs with a torque driver and use blue lock-tite

what are your suggestions for "good quality rings/bases" without braking the bank--though I would pay a little extra to have the piece of mind that they wont slip in the field

I have never had any issues with scope slipping in the past (before this incident with my '06) but it brings up the question of which rings have a high quality control process to make sure they are really "in-spec"--I have used leupy's steel rings, nikon P and M series mounts for AR's, weaver, talley, and few other IIRC

what brand would you recommend ?
 
1. Seekins rail and rings (Or vortex PMR - made by Seekins) lightweight, low profile, +/- .0001 tolerances... what more to say?

2. Near Alphahunter - best 'direct mount' I have come across. I don't know if it's 4x better than a DNZ (I own both), but it's definetly better. Made of hardened stainless steel, line bored for extreme precision, and just over 3oz. Dual recoil lugs, front and rear makes is a perfect choice for open receivers. I believe they all have 10moa built in as well. Not sure if he makes one for the x-bolt, but it might be worth looking into.
 
1. Seekins rail and rings (Or vortex PMR - made by Seekins) lightweight, low profile, +/- .0001 tolerances... what more to say?

2. Near Alphahunter - best 'direct mount' I have come across. I don't know if it's 4x better than a DNZ (I own both), but it's definetly better. Made of hardened stainless steel, line bored for extreme precision, and just over 3oz. Dual recoil lugs, front and rear makes is a perfect choice for open receivers. I believe they all have 10moa built in as well. Not sure if he makes one for the x-bolt, but it might be worth looking into.
are the DNZ GR mounts good? any had any slipping issues or out of alignment issues? do you lap them? Near does not make a mount foe the x-bolt, but man those sure are purdy! (and pricey)
 
Honestly, having owned a couple of products from each company I don't have a deep sample base to draw from.

For sure I've had out of alignment issues with DNZ. I just bedded one last night. Was it the receiver out of spec? Was it the mount? Takes some keen measurements to actually know... What I do know is when I torqued the front screws I could see daylight under the back.

When I pressed down on the DNZ, I could close the gap with minimal down force <5lb.

IMG_8517.JPG
IMG_8518.JPG

So I gooped my action and painted the bottom of the base with epoxy. The I torqued the front screws, while leaving a couple of 'set screws' or plugs proud in the rear holes. (For talley bedding, they are really helpful as locators, but here they are just plugging the holes and keeping the threads CLEAN)

That's another thing. I'm not big on loctite. I feel better about maintaining clean threads when I can. For a permanent rail installation I can see the advantage, but for any hardware that gets moved/removed/changed, I just feel better trusting a maintenance schedule over loctite.

Either way, concentricity is not just important inside the barrel, it is a huge factor in mounting optics and HIGHLY misunderstood.

Lapping is a fools cure. YES you get concentricity, but at what cost? Now the rings are oversize, and in extreme cases the clamping force will no longer be perpendicular with the scope tube.

Back to DNZ, I feel like Talleys are higher quality for similar price, but significantly more difficult to bed. Direct mounts and rails are easy.

The DNZ design is solid, but materials and craftsmanship are not the best.

You get what you pay for with mounts. I too have learned the hard way - have had ring slip a couple of times with a lightweight 30-06. Strangely, I've had harder recoiling rifles that have been fine with weaver o_O mounts, or maybe they just haven't seen 3000rnds... who can say.

I hit a deer in the humerus due to a loose front ring one year. Not very humorous. Looked like a good hit. The deer turned 180, stunned. If it hadn't been for a fenceline 20yd away necessitating a quick follow up shot, that deer may have ran off on me while I waited for it to die.

I can't blame the gear though, that was a maintenance failure on my part.

To answer your question, I haven't had slippage since. I torque fasteners as part of maintenance now. Sure the nice hardware helps - but mostly just inspires confidence when none of the fasteners move after retorquing.

I have found good gear is easier to maintain for a variety of reasons ;)

The bottom line is, with proper installation, all will get the job done. With proper maintenance, none will fail you. It more comes down to a question of confidence and pride, I think. It's also really nice to take a scope out of the rings and have it look like new...
 
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are the DNZ GR mounts good? any had any slipping issues or out of alignment issues? do you lap them? Near does not make a mount foe the x-bolt, but man those sure are purdy! (and pricey)
Near will make mounts for any rifle. Contact him and he'll even make it to the height you want for desired scope on your barrel so it fits perfectly
 
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