Sidemount or topmount?

15 August 2001, 02:45

<Eric Mavor>

As the delivery date for my .375 gets ever closer, I'm starting to think about 'scopes and mounts.
The scope will be a 1.25-4.00 x 24, probably Swarovski.
But what about mounts? I'm intrigued by the Griffin & Howe sidemount, although I've been advised to go for conventional swing-offs. I hoped you chaps would give your opinions on the pros and cons of both.
Regards,
Eric.

15 August 2001, 02:52

Pete E

Eric,

I'm no expert on this, but I was speaking to a gunsmith at JA Roberts, and besides their own QD mount, the G&H was one of the few they spoke highly of.

Pete

15 August 2001, 03:00

<allen day>

Eric, here in the U.S., almost no one uses the Griffin & Howe sidemount anymore. You can still order it from G&H, but even that firm is now offering a very solid detachable mount that mounts on top of the receiver. The G&H sidemount was popular from about the time of World War II to the mid-1960's, but not anymore.

For one thing, the sidemount is rather tricky to install properly, and it really detracts from the appearance of the rifle. Also, if you ever want to install a different sort of mounting system and remove the G&H, your receiver is permanently disfigured. Another serious drawback to this system is that it's not all that strong, and can be easily bent if you take a hard fall with your rifle.

Most American custom rifle purchasers who desire detachable mounts are going for top-mounted systems such as those offered by Talley Manufacturing. There are others, a few possibly better, but the Talleys are readily-available, well-made, attractive, strong, reasonably-priced, and beautifully functional.

Gunmakers who install such mounts carefully calculate, then build quality open sights that are quick to pick up over the top of the scopemount bases. Personally, I think you'd be very happy with this sort of arrangement.

16 August 2001, 01:22

Fritz Kraut

As you live in UK and easily can get european products, I would recommend the german Apel swing mount. www.eaw.de

Itï¿½s quite practical and you can easily mount several scopes for the same gun. The quality is very high and you can mount the scope within a second in the field.

Talleys and Warnes are quite OK but Apel is a class better.

Best regards,

Fritz

17 August 2001, 09:28

Atkinson

I think the G & H sidemount is a classic and it leaves the receiver clean when the scope comes off and that is something no top mount will do, but Talley is clean enough to see the sights...If I had a classic rifle I would consider the G&H's and if I had a standard factory rifle or a custom rifle,then I,d go with Talleys. I'm going to put a G&H on my H&H 375, to preserve its originality as that is what they used on some guns.

As to top mounts go with the Talley, it is a stronger better mount than EAW I assure you. Even Hatari Times questions the
EAW on hard kicking rifles and they are bulky and ugly to the bone, something that doesn't bother Europeans...

------------------
Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

19 August 2001, 10:04

Fritz Kraut

quote:
Originally posted by Atkinson:
and they (=EAW) are bulky and ugly to the bone, something that doesn't bother Europeans...
[/B]

I donï¿½t know if it bothers other europeans, but it bothers me. But there are two EAW swing mounts. I would take the "pivot mount with lever" (www.eaw.de/English/Products/HSME/hsme.html) , place the front base in a ring around the barrel immediately befor the action, and that little locking block for the rear mount footing on the bridge. That wuold be a mount that didnï¿½t disturb the clear view of the sights at all. And itï¿½s strong enough when put in place by a skilful gunsmith. The standard top pivot mount by EAW, is as you says a bit clumsy. These bases need to be soldered on a hardrecoiling rifle.

You have to watch out for another problem when using german mounts. The krauts like big scopes on high mounts. Usually you need a ladder to reach for a view...

Fritz K.