What Kind of Bases?

[spinconn]

I just ordered a Savage 12 VLP in .223 for informal benchrest at 100, 200 and 300 yards. I am looking now at scopes, bases and rings. I am new to this. I can't decide on ring height until I know the scope, and I would not mind any suggestions as to specific brands, but mostly I wonder if there is a generally agreed to standard on the type of base.

Are one piece or two piece bases the standard for benchrest?

Should I look at weaver style, or picattiny, or for the dovetail ring attachment like with Leupold, or does that not matter?

Should I get bases with windage adjustment capability?

At a max of 300 yards I should not need any MOA angled base. I guess it is obvious, but I am looking at standard production bases, not the more expensive makes.

Thanks for any input.

 

[Auto-X Fil]

Talley one-piece mounts. Inexpensive, work great, and fewer pieces is always a good thing for reliability and accuracy!

 

[JasonT]

There's Seekins, Talley, Warne, Vortex, Burris, and several others at the mid-level price point. With .223, you're not going to need a Spuhr mount, but you want something good.

Aim for 7075 aluminum or Chromoly steel materials for the bases and rings. I personally like badger, as they are wayyy tougher than I am, but burris makes the excellent Signature rings with funky inserts for protecting and aligning your scope. A lot of action stiffening can be done by using a heat-treated steel picatiny rail, such as the Badger stuff. Seekins uses 7075 aluminum, which is the same strength as most semi-hard steels (apprx. 75,000psi). The heat-treated chromoly in the badger products has a likely strength of about 140,000 psi+. So keep that in mind.

Make sure to bed your bases and lap your rings (at least a little) in all cases.

Don't get windage-adjustable bases/rings. They are not really stable enough for competition purposes.

 

[spinconn]

There's Seekins, Talley, Warne, Vortex, Burris, and several others at the mid-level price point. With .223, you're not going to need a Spuhr mount, but you want something good.

Aim for 7075 aluminum or Chromoly steel materials for the bases and rings. I personally like badger, as they are wayyy tougher than I am, but burris makes the excellent Signature rings with funky inserts for protecting and aligning your scope. A lot of action stiffening can be done by using a heat-treated steel picatiny rail, such as the Badger stuff. Seekins uses 7075 aluminum, which is the same strength as most semi-hard steels (apprx. 75,000psi). The heat-treated chromoly in the badger products has a likely strength of about 140,000 psi+. So keep that in mind.

Make sure to bed your bases and lap your rings (at least a little) in all cases.

Don't get windage-adjustable bases/rings. They are not really stable enough for competition purposes.

I assume if I use the burris signature rings I won't need to lap the rings?

 

[JasonT]

You would be correct sir. Good rings, especially the 6-screw tactical versions they just came out with a couple months back. They are wider and have a better mounting system than most - they self-center on the rail.

 

[JasonT]

I didn't see you wanted scope recommendations too - if you're only doing bench work, go with a Sightron SIII - they're the best bang for your buck. If you're doing tactical shooting comps, then go with something a little tougher, like the Nightforce NXS, Steiner, or Schmidt and Bender. The more budget-friendly versions are Vortex Viper PST, SWFA, Bushnell, and many others.

 

[spinconn]

Thank you guys, that is very helpful.

 

[Auto-X Fil]

I assume if I use the burris signature rings I won't need to lap the rings?

I lap everything. I have yet to use a pair of rings that show greater than 50% contact after a quick pass. Even Seekins and Badger. I haven't used a Spuhr or Aadland mount, both of which might be good out of the box.

That's not to say that less than 50% contact is going to result in issues... But it's a good baseline that's easy to achieve. I mounted up a new rifle on Saturday for a customer (with the Tally one-piece), and probably spent 15 minutes doing it, including lapping, de-greasing the threaded holes, using threadlocker, and torquing to spec while ensuring even rings gaps. It's just not that hard; and it only needs to be done once. Why skip it?

 

[JasonT]

There's no way to lap Burris signature rings. The inserts are soft and conform to the scope body without any lapping.

 

[charlesasmith]

Another consideration is ring height. Are you going to be shooting free recoil or pulling the butt into your shoulder? If free recoil, you may want to consider offset bases to get the scope further away from the receiver to prevent cheek contact with the stock.

Also make sure that the ring height will provide clearance of the scope bell of the target scope that you choose. You probably already know this info, but I have had to change out rings on a few rifles before getting adequate clearance.

FWIW I always try to use Burris Signature rings. I have actually had to turn the + and - 10 inserts 90 degrees to compensate for the factory drilling misalignment of the rear base holes on a Rem 40X. However, these rings will not work on offset bases.

Chuck

 

[Fotheringill]

You would be correct sir. Good rings, especially the 6-screw tactical versions they just came out with a couple months back. They are wider and have a better mounting system than most - they self-center on the rail.

I have the new ones Burris Signature XTR. Great for a 30mm tube. Solid as a rock. Before ordering, make sure it has the inserts needed for your adjustments. I believe the Burris XTR (without Signature designation) do not have inserts.

As to height and fit, look at the scope at Midway and/or Optics Planet. I think both have scope dimensions and distances in a little diagram on the page once you click on the scope.

 

[spinconn]

I ordered Burris Extreme Tactical Steel Bases, which arrived this afternoon. I already had the signature rings to go with them. My LGS called shortly thereafter and said my Savage 12 VLP is in and I will pick it up tomorrow morning.

So if figured my weekend of fun was all set and then I opened the bases and looked at them. It is too late to call Burris and ask but I am a little confused.

The advertising for the Extreme Tactical mentions the advantage of a reversible front base to give more flexibility mounting a scope. When you look at the pictures in the ads the front base is longer than the rear base. On my set the two bases are identical, and symmetrical.

If anyone has a similar rifle and knows, is this correct? Perhaps the 12 VLP receiver is drilled and tapped in a way that requires identical bases, front and rear, and I am OK. But I wonder, before I try to mount the scope, could I have a mismatched pair of bases.

If anyone knows, I would be grateful for any comments.