scope rail vs two piece mounts

[rebs]

Is there any advantage to using a scope rail or two piece mounts ?

 

[jackieschmidt]

If bolted down to true surfaces, the scope rail is, (generally) more apt to straight with it’s self.

I’m sure you have heard that a single rail stiffens the action. in One way it does, but not enough to really make any difference

 

[Eagle Six]

I think the advantage of the rail is the straight alignment for the rings and cant if any. How much improvement that makes is debatable. I have replaced two piece with a rail and saw no improvement.

I do prefer a two piece over a rail on something like a 700 action in an ADL, as the rail will normally reduce the opening of the port to clear ejection or loading malfunctions. As I don't have any ADL's anymore, bottom metal and removal magazines allow for a quick clearance drill.

 

[DShortt]

I prefer to use one piece mounts when practical. I bed the bases to the action using epoxy. Started doing this when I had base mounting screws work loose on a couple of actions and determined that having poor contact between the base and the action was the primary reason. Since I've started doing this I've had no more problems with base or scope ring hardware loosening, but I also started lapping scope rings to ensure good contact and to prevent scope damage.

Learned this the hard way and on my own. Mistakes are how we learn, or at least how I've learned a lot.