Are the Pilkington levers for Leupold's and Redfield's standard mounts still made? And if so, who sells them? I haven't been able to find them at Brownell's or at Midway.

Regards,

Fritz

Hey Fritz,

You got a coupla views on this topic but sorrily, so far, no responses.

Thought I'd chime in as well since, I have never seen a Pilkington Lever but have read about them. I as well, would be keenly interested in knowing their availability.

What is a Pilkington Lever, what is it supposed to do, and why would you need or want one?

Lloyd,

Man, in the hope there was a positive response......



To the best of my knowledge, Pilkington was an American gunsmith who quite cleverly came up with a "lever" that replaced one of the side mount screws on the rear bases of Leupold & Redfield type rear mount bases; enabling the lever to work similar to EAW Pivot mounts so that a scope could be easily pivoted on/off the rear mount and return to zero. This for only a few dollars in comparison to EAW's that (last time I purchased a pair) go for upwards of $300.00-$350.00 per set.

Anyway, that's what I read years ago. If anyone has a better "story" please advise asap!

Sorry I can't help with availability of the levers, but since you guys are discussing this device in general, I'll just add the following:

I had one of these on my first DG rifle (a .416 Rem with a scout scope). The lever probably worked as advertized, in that you could remove your scope without tools. You'd need to preen or epoxy the opposite vindage adjustment screw in place to be assured of any kind of repeatability. The lever sticks out quite a ways, and I was always somewhat worried it would accidently come loose in the field. Since this device is used with a standard, Redfield type mount, you really should not remove and replace your scope more than you absolutely have to. In contrast to the EAWs and other (European?) QD mounts, the standard Redfield does not have an option to adjust the front dovetail part of the mount. That means it is pretty easy to get that front dove tail worn to the point where it is no longer reliably holding the scope.

My own personal conclusion was: get an EAW and cry about the costs once, but worry no more.

- mike

I have 2 both on my 375 H&H I found a replacment from a forum member. The lever on my Rem 375 worked great for 20 years showing
wear so replaced it. It seemed to work well and never lost zero. I would prefer other quick detach mounts now as lever does not have much surface to resist wear. And twisting scope body cant be good for it.

Thanks for your inputs. They have been interesting and are worth considering. Perhaps I have no reasons for looking for that lever, have better to choice something else.

Regards,

Fritz

Fritz: Check your PM. Tom Mason

I don’t think the actual Pilkington lever has been available for quite some time, but you can get something very similar here. I used one of these on a Mauser Model 98 that had an older Redfield base with a flip up peep sight and it seemed to work fine, but I never did any extensive testing to determine how repeatable it was.

Kurt

Sounds exactly like the mount Roger Biesen makes in Spokane. Only works with 1" scopes though.

Brownells list it as, "Hines Quick Turn Lever. Part # 573-250-110, page 296 in cat.#56

Keith