I've had two sets of Warne QD rings fail lately: one was an older set of 30mm rings mounted on a FN .375 H&H, and the other was a Ruger style set of 30mm rings, mounted to a M77, Mark II in .458 Lott.

The set on the .375 failed when the cross pins that fit in the groove of the Weaver-style bases bent under recoil, seizing the levers. A quick phone call to Warne, and these were replaced with a new style ring with a rectanular bar instead of a round pin, to fit the groove. A definite improvement in design, IMHO.

The other failure is a little more worrisome. When I was at the range the other day, I suddenly lost zero on my .458, and could not figure out why. When I got home, I took the scope off, only then did I discover that the recoil lug that fits into the receiver had sheared. The Clamp was still attached, but without the lug, it was being distored on every firing, about half the clamp was eaten away. I sent this set of rings off to Warne today.

Anybody else experience these sort of problems? I have 5 sets of Warne rings, and these are the only problems I have encounted.

GAHUNTER,

I have heard of both types of failure before...The first seems to be a design fault that has now been corrected.

The second seems to occur infrequently on big kicking calibers..Apprarently Warne make their mounts from sintered (sp?) steel which is not as strong as forged/machined equivilents like Talley.

I have Warne QD on my 9.3x62mm and so far I've not had a problem with them. If i lived in the States and could get Talley relatively easily, I think I would prefer those on rifles such as you .458Lott. Alternatively, somebody was producing levers to convert the standard Ruger mounts into QD's..I personally like the Ruger mounts..not elegant, but hell for stout..

Regards,

Pete

That's the problem with Talley: they don't make a QD ring for the Ruger rifle.

I seem to have heard before that someone was making a lever for the Ruger rings, but don't know who, where or how to get them.

Anybody know anything about this?

GAHUNTER,

I can't help on the source of the Levers for the Ruger, but it has been mentioned a couple of times on AR..So either post the question on a couple of different forums, or try the search facility..

Regards,

Pete

GAHUNTER,

A quick search turned up the following post:

Ruger QD Lever

Regards,

Pete

Thanks Pete,

I assume Warne will fix/replace the offending ring. If it happens again, then I will look into the Ruger-ring alternative.

Are you shooting a RSM? I have run 100 + rds of Lott with the Ruger rings with no problem. They are QD and work well for me.

Yes, It's an RSM in .458 Lott. It might have been an isolated incident. Anything can break.

I'm not too worried about it, as I have five sets of Warne rings, and with the exception of the old-style cross pin in the Weaver-style rings, which the company admitted was a design flaw, I have never had any problems. I always take a backup, pre-zeroed scope with me on safari just in case something like this happens in the field. Also, my iron sights are dead on and ready for most any situation.

Warne is really a pretty good company and stands behind their product.

Yes they are. Have a QD set on my 375 H&H Whitworth

I had a set of Warnes fail on my CZ 416 Rigby...the rectangular cross pieces fixed the problem.

How do you gents like your RSM in 458 Lott ? Mine arived this past Friday and I have not been able to get to the range yet.
Craven

I like mine alot. It may not feed flat nose
rds from the left side. Check before using them
on something that hits back.