Help with bases and rings

[Area Man]

Ok, I'm lazy. I'll just ask. M700 CDL in .300WM. Nikon Scope with 40mm objective.

It's a hunter.

Looking to replace the Leupold bases and rings with Weaver Style bases and rings. I think the rings I have now are Loopy Super Low.

Looked at so many options, my head is swimming. Weaver brand bases I've seen are like $8. Doesn't seem like enough. I'd say my budget for bases and rings is around $100. Don't want a rail and don't need to quick detach. Just want good stuff.

Somebody just tell me what to order.

 

[jonbearman]

Use the weaver bases or something similar and medium burris signature zee rings in my book.

 

[Area Man]

Thanks for the reply.

Why do you say medium rings? Do these mount lower than Loopy rings in the dove tail / windage adjustment bases?

 

[jonbearman]

I find the low rings to be too low in most situations.

 

[Area Man]

No such thing as too low for me.

 

[KRP]

Signature rings don't come in "low" the lowest ones are mediums. Medium Signature rings on a weaver base will likely be much taller than what you have now. If the current setup fits you and works, why replace it?

 

[Area Man]

If the current setup fits you and works, why replace it?

Oh you know. Just driven by pressure of wanting "the best". Read too many internet posts about the faults of the Leupold dovetail front and the windage adjustment rear base. I've never really understood that system although I have had it on rifles. When you mount the rear ring you are always trying to see if it is centered. And I would never use those big screws to adjust windage anyway. I shudder to think what that is doing to the scope tube.

I could replace the system I have now with Loopy dual dovetails, but I'd buy expensive bases and rings because they don't sell them separately. So I might as well buy what all the cool people use, which is Weaver Style.

 

[Toby Bradshaw]

Are you planning to bed the bases and rings on the new system? Because if you're not going the whole 9 yards to get a stress-free scope mounting with the scope at or near its optical center, you might as well just stick with your current system.

I have a Leupold dovetail mount of the type you describe on my M700 Sendero in .300WM. That rifle has traveled the world and the scope still holds a perfect zero. Is there stress on the scope tube? Almost certainly. It hasn't caused a problem that I've seen, so I have no intention of changing it for something "better" just because of an opinion posted on the internet.

From about a month ago in Namibia http://www.africahunting.com/threads/namibia-namibia-safari-with-kowas-beginning-to-end.11723/:

 

[hogpatrol]

Junk that old tech Loopy stuff and go with Burris Signature Zee rings with the inserts. No lapping, no stress and you can use the dovetail type or weaver base type. If it's good enough for Richard Franklin, it's good enough for me.

Excerpt:
For optics, Richard runs an 8-32×56 Nightforce Benchrest scope in Burris Signature Zee Rings. Why would Richard trust a $1250 scope to a relatively inexpensive set of rings? Richard explained: “The Burris Signature is the best ring design ever, in my opinion. I’ll never buy another kind of ring. I’ve never seen ‘ring rash’ from the Burris Signature rings. A lot of people make money off gimmicks. The Burris Signature rings do the job better than other rings that cost two or three times as much. The Burris nylon inserts align to the scope, so they don’t transfer any stress from the mounting system to your action. If conventional rings are not lapped perfectly, when you tighten them up you’ll be bending something, and this will transfer stress to your action. Not having to lap the Burris rings is a huge advantage. Additionally, with the +/- inserts you can load 20 MOA or more of elevation into the rings. That way, with a lot of cartridges, you don’t really need to spend extra money on an angled scope base.”

http://www.accurateshooter.com/guns-of-week/gunweek042/