I bought a lefty model 70 safari express in 375 HH. I am looking for recommendations for a scope and mounting system. I am considering monting a
2 to 7 Nikon Monarch scope. What do you think about leupold 2 piece STD mounting system and doe any one know the correct part number for this gun?

I am new to this. I am trying to set up a gun for my next hunt that will most likely be for a
cape buffalo and leopard. Any suggestions for a mounting system and recommendations on scopes that are not more than the gun. What do you people think of Burris with the lighted recticals?
Thanks
George K

George,

I use the Leupold QR setup on my LH M-70 .375H&H, but the STD mounts are pretty good. The only issue some folks have with them is that the front ring takes all the recoil.

Leupold has a mount fit tool on their web site: Mount selector
Plug in the pertinent info, and it will return the item numbers (needless to say, you'll have to input a Leupold scope with dimensions similar to the Nikon 2x-7x Monarch.

George

George
Thanks for the reply. On the mount selector is the gun description win70exp post 64 (.330 rear) the correct one? I had bought the a set of mounts from caballas and they were the wrong ones. The rear mount had the wrong hole configuration. Is the .330 the center distance of the holes for the mount? For the QR system is the 50063 the one you have?

George how do you like the QR system? If you were doing it again would you use the QRW system? Is that your model 70 in your picture? How low of rings do you use? Do you use Winchesters sights or do you have some other type of express sights setup? What are your recommendations on scopes? You seam to do quite a bit of African hunting and have alot more experience than I do. I welcome your suggestons and opinions. Dollars spent are a concern to me but I also understand value and quality. My challange is the ballance of the two.

Thanks for your help
George K

On my lefty M70 I went with the Talley QD mounts and rings and like them a lot for their repeatability.

I'm using a 1x4 Leupold but I'm going to add a 1.75x6 or even a 3x9 in another set of talleys rings to make it more versatile.

I have used the leupold QR bases and rings and can tell you that the rear base will stick out a smidge over the bolt opening,that i dont like,but the bases do allow you to see the rear site...I have heard that others will cover up the rear and render it useless,but cant tell you for sure.I used the low rings and a 2.5x scope,also a 2.5x8 in medium rings.I cant seem to make up my mind if i like a scope on the safari rifle and keep just irons on mine most of the time,i like the balance,look and feel of the rifle with just irons.....if i want to shoot long range i have other scoped rifles for that.Saeed uses a 2.5x8 scope .... i always wonder if he cranks it up to 8x on the crocks he shoots on the sand bars?About 5x is plenty enough for me and i can see about 4x anyway so the 2.5 was more of step back.My rifle is pin point accurate with scope at long range.Both irons and scopes have there good and bad points i guess....Good luck!

I would go with talley quick detatch mounts and a first class scope. Schmidt & Bender is the best in my book, but they are pricey. Leupold is the where good scopes begin, IMHO.
Just about any rifle can shoot well enough to kill a leopard, but you can't hit what you can't see.

TerryR

I would recomend Burris signature rings.

They are avaiable in the common styles
weaver, universal, and double dovetail.

I use the weaver style rings on Weaver steel bases (Burris does not make a weaver bases, they told me to use anybodys weaver style base) so I use the weaver brand steel not aluminum bases.

The signature rings use a curved plastic bushing that surrounds the scope tube like a donut and the steel rings surround the plastic donut bushing.
Because the bushing moves in the rings during the tighting down process all torque on the scope tube is elliminated, so if you ever take the rings off the scope you won't see the usual ring dents that get press into the scope tube.
Best of all is Burris sell a special bushing set that you can use to bring a scope backing to zero without using up so much of the scopes internal adjustment range.
Check out the Burris web sight for more info.
http://www.burrisoptics.com/sigrings.html

As for the scope here is the lesson I learned:
I first bought top of line bushnell Elite 4200
1.5-6 X 36mm. I thought this would be perfect.

As most of my shooting is done at a target range I found myself allways using the scope a maximum magnification and wishing I had more.
The problem was at max magnification the scopes eye relief is at its shortest. After too many hits on the eyebrow ( Win M70 375H&H) I wanted more eye relief.
Also the cross hair wires looked like they were not made flat like the difference of a shoe lace being stretched tight or just laying flat.

So I took the scope back to the store and traded up to a Leupold VXIII 3.5-10 X 40mm.
Now at the target range I have all the magnification I want, I gained 1/3" of eye relief I know that does not sound like much of a change but I don't get hit by the scope as much and not as hard.
The other advantage is when I turn the scope down to minimum power 3.5X I get an extra one and a third inchs (1&1/3") of eye relief at a classic hunting scope power of aprox 4X.

I used the few extra weeks I needed to save up for the Leupold scope to sight in my rile using the open iron sights.
I was grouping about 5" at 100M with the iron sights!

Note the Irons sight bases on the Winchester M70 sfari express get loose after a few shots. I used red locktight on both front and rear sight bases (this was a recomended fix by the sight supplier NECG)I also changed the front sight blade to a Williams "firesight" bead and their special sight hood with the window hole cut in it.
http://www.williamsgunsight.com/gunsights/rifle.htm

quote:

Originally posted by George K:
On the mount selector is the gun description win70exp post 64 (.330 rear) the correct one? Is the .330 the center distance of the holes for the mount? For the QR system is the 50063 the one you have?

Yes, yes, and yes.

quote:

Originally posted by George K:

George how do you like the QR system? If you were doing it again would you use the QRW system?

It has worked well for me on three safaris; once the ring studs are put back into the bases, the scope returns to zero. I just tested that again this past weekend.
I do not like the QRW's looks on a bolt-action, but they're fine for my AR15.

quote:

Originally posted by George K:
Is that your model 70 in your picture? How low of rings do you use? Do you use Winchesters sights or do you have some other type of express sights setup?

The rifle in the photo below is my LH M-70 .470 Capstick. It uses Kimber/Brownell rings and bases with a Burris 2.5x scope. The sights on this rifle are NECG (front and rear). The .375 has the USRAC sights (I never use the irons, anyway).

quote:

Originally posted by George K:
What are your recommendations on scopes?

For a .375, I like the Leupold 2.5x-8x; I consider the .375 to be an all-around cartridge, so I want to be able to use it on 20yd. shots on buff (which I have), and 250yd. shots on impala-sized game (which I have).

For a 'serious' DG rifle, a fixed-power scope of between 1x and 3x is fine, since most shots are at close range. The scope must have a lot of non-critical eye relief to avoid hitting you under recoil and to enable quick target acquisition.
Of course, a really good variable could be used as well: 1.5x-4x, 1.5x-5x, etc. by Leupold, S&B, Zeiss, Swarovski, and others. I have a Zeiss 1.5x-6x42mm I am saving for a .416 (if I ever build one. )

George