It’s was only $26 shipped, but it’s Leupold, so I know it’s not total crap. I like the idea that I can use the iron sights AND have the scope mounted just above.
My question:
Does anybody else have one of these?
How tall rings are you using so that you can see the rear aperture (iron) sight under your scope’s eyepiece?
How “repeatable” is the mount? Will it return to zero (or even close) if it’s removed and re-installed? I anticipate leaving it off most of the time.
I searched, but I can’t find any mention of these anywhere…
As far as being able to see you’re iron sights under the scope, it all depends on what size of scope you’re mounting. See the hole going through the Leupold mount? (which is a nice carry handle mount BTW)… that’s what you’ll be looking through. If you mount a large scope with a big objective (the objective is the big bell on the end of the scope, the other side is called the eyebell or eyepiece) like 40, 44, 50mm, the it will need to be mounted using high or extra high rings so the objective won’t be hanging down in front of the mount’s see-through hole. I like to keep my scopes as close to the bore as absolutely possible, since you’re mounting this scope on a carry handle, you need to keep it as low as possible, or else you’ll be shooting with a “chin-weld” instead of a “cheek-weld”
I would use low rings with a small scope such as a 1-4x variable, and medium height rings with everything else… granted that probably isn’t going to give you access to the irons, but it’ll make you’re shooting a lot better. If you choose a good optic, that’s exactly what you need it for, you’ll probably never find yourself using the irons anyways… especially if you get a 1-4x scope… you’ll have the 1x (1x = no magnification at all) for close range, so it will be just like using irons, only it’ll be a bit more precise, and then up to 4x for the longer or precision shots.
As far as removing the scope/mount and re-mounting it, yes, it will lose zero a little bit. Even the best quick-detach mounts, such as LaRue mounts, only guarantee 1 MOA repeatability, meaning that you’re zero will shift up to 1" @ 100 yards when it’s removed and put back on. I would guess this mount would shift even more, since it’s only connected at one point, and can “shift” side to side more than 2 point picatinny-type mounting systems… I don’t know this for sure, this is just my opinion, but I would expect a 3 - 5 MOA shift in zero… which is still good enough to be “Minute of man” at 200 yards. Hope this helps you out.
I’ve thought of this… I’m putting a similar mount and scope on my Springfield M1A (a Bassett mount and Nikon 2-8x32). The scope there will also sit over the iron sights.
I was thinking of a 1-4x or another 2-8 (or something in between). I don’t need more magnification, and I don’t want to deal with the bulk, weight, expense, and jitteriness of a more powerful scope.
For example, the outside bell on the Nikon is <40mm (radius <20mm), and “low” rings are 1/4" (6mm), and the scope sits up 1/2" (12mm) in 1" rings, so the bell of the scope shouldn’t hang below the plane of the top edge of the rail more than 2mm (<20 - [6+12] = <2mm), or 3/32".
I’m more worried about being able to see the rear iron sight under the 43mm eyepiece, but I guess I can eyeball this once I get the mount.
As for a cheekweld (or chinweld), I may have to break down and replace my M4 stock with a MagPul MOE with cheek risers. That looks like a $100 solution to a $10 problem, but I haven’t figure out anything better, yet.
I have installed one of these on a Colt A2 so I could mount an Aimpoint for my Dad since he has lost most of his vision and needs a bit of help getting on target. The thing works great but I did have one small problem. The retaining nut kept backing out when we shot it so I added a little Lock Tite to the threads. Works great now. Just make sure you use the correct Lock Tite if you ever want to remove it in the future!
Thanks, Brown. I want to be able to put it on and take it off, so I don’t think I want to use Loc-Tite.
I think I saw somewhere that people were using locking washers to get the mount to stay put… I’ll experiment with this if I ever get the mount. OpticsPlanet.net is back-ordered, as usual.
Did you encounter any problems with the attaching bolt blocking the irons? I read the was an issue on a review on midway. I wouldn’t mind picking one up since a local gunstore has one for half the price of an arms mount.
I saw this review, too. I figure it won’t be that hard to use a spacer to keep the bolt from protruding into the channel for the sights, or in the worst case scenario I could grind down the bolt.
I also wonder if I’ll want to replace the bolt with the knurled knob with a bolt with a real knob, like these: http://t-nuts.com/
Separate rant: OpticsPlanet.net has great prices and free shipping, but nothing’s ever in stock, and they never say this until 12 hours after my order has been “confirmed.” The aggravation isn’t worth the $3.00 I’m saving… I should’ve ordered from Midway, where it says in the item listing if it’s out of stock.
It is true that the bolt does block some of the view of the front sight post but a little “grind work” should take care of the problem. I have found that I never use the Iron sights any more so it isn’t much of an issue for me… as long as the batteries don’t run out no my optic. Knock on wood!!
