Steel vs. Aluminum picatinny rail

[watercam]

Have a Winchester prone rifle and am going to add an extra-length picatinny rail for both scope and iron sights. I am assuming that the steel one would add a bit more stiffness to the action but at four times the price! Any side-by-side comparisons of steel vs. aluminum rails and long range accuracy?

 

[Preacher]

I use lots of EGW's rails made out of Aluminum and never had a problem...
It's pretty tough stuff, and seems to hold airplanes together too ;D
I have BATS with stainless steel and Aluminum bases and never could tell the difference..

 

[NateHaler]

Have a Winchester prone rifle and am going to add an extra-length picatinny rail for both scope and iron sights. I am assuming that the steel one would add a bit more stiffness to the action but at four times the price! Any side-by-side comparisons of steel vs. aluminum rails and long range accuracy?

Even if the difference between steel and aluminum rail stiffness-to-action benefit (if any) could be measured, I'd bet ten to one that such a difference couldn't be measured on target.

 

[MarkS]

watercam,

I just put a AL. EGW on a 110 Savage. I like it a lot, I think $35 from Midway.

Mark Schronce

 

[jpretle]

Have a Winchester prone rifle and am going to add an extra-length picatinny rail for both scope and iron sights. I am assuming that the steel one would add a bit more stiffness to the action but at four times the price! Any side-by-side comparisons of steel vs. aluminum rails and long range accuracy?

On my prone rifle, I run a rail by Saturn Custom Machining. It is an extended rail, which allows for moving a scope further forward on the gun. The second thing I like is that there is an integral mounting block for iron sights. I've not seen a better rail for a strictly prone rifle. Take a look at one and you will not consider anything else. saternmachining.com

 

[Rust]

I don't see a few tiny #6 screw holding on any sort of a base as significantly stiffening the action and so don't worry about it.

On factory actions, which have a tendancy to be significantly out of kilter (someone leaning on the finishing sander at the factory a bit too long or too hard) I check to see how close the fit of the rail is and then epoxy bed the rail in. Golf club epoxy with a little powdered aluminum, steel or titanium mixed in works pretty well and can easily be removed with a heat gun at a low enough temperature it won't affect the action. This might stiffen the action a bit.

If making a weight class was a problem I'd have no problem using a quality aluminum rail.


One thing, regardless of whether it's a factory or custom action, once the bottom halves of the rings are where I want them, I lap the rings. On a custom action usually it's just a few strokes to confirm everything is straight. On a factory action, sometimes there is a whole lot of lapping going on...

The only times I've felt lapping wasn't required to at least check was with live insert rings like the Burris Z Signatures on a couple of varmint rifles.