Which style of QD mounts would you rather have on your double.....and why?

The claw mounts seem a little lower profile, but I could see the H&H style a little easier to strip that scope with one hand. Not having used either, loking for input. Thanks

Neither! It's a sacrilege to put a scope on a double! Save the scope for your bolt rifle.

Joe Smithson has a very, very low profile, unobtrusive system that returns to zero reliably.

I am having a set installed on my A&S 375H&H sidelock.

The system requires two hands to work, one of them can be holding the rifle though, just need a thumb over the barrels.

I will try to find a link. My mounts and rings are with my rifle at the gunsmith's or I take a photo.

Here is a link to Joe's site. If you click on "Mounts" you will se an example on a bolt rifle. Looking through "Custom Rifles" you will see a 275 Rigby with the mounts and rings, but that mount has one lock, where his current production has two. http://www.smithson-gunmaker.com/index.htm He doesn't show a phoito of a double with his mounts, but they are beautifully simple and unobtrusive.

JPK

JPK,

Followed your directions and clicked on "Mounts" on the website. If you click on the right arrow on the top row, you'll find two photos of his mounts on a Purdey double rifle with photo credit to Steven Hughes.

Regards, Tim

Tim,

Thanks. Followed your lead and went back to Joe's site and there are indeed two photos of his mounts and "bases" on a Purdey double.

The mounts and bases Joe recently sent my gunsmith are both locking bases, similar to the rear base shown on the Purdey. So now it takes two thumbs to remove the scope. But one hand can be holding the rifle while doing so.

BTW, I saw the apperature sight in the rear mount of the first photo in the "Mounts" section. I have been looking for something of this sort for a year or so, sensing that my days of elephant hunting with express sights may be wanig, as my eyes wane and my reading glasses grow stronger. I put a call in to Joe to ask about them and will report back when he answers.

I'm thinking that it would be an unobtrusive way to mount an apperature sight on any double. Just a rear base fitted on a big bore that won't see a scope, for example.

I liked your flip up apperature on the 303 a lot, as well. But I'm thinking that if I NEED an apperature, it ought o be upright all of the time. So, I'm thinking, remove the express blades and rely on the Smithson apperature for hunting. Replace the Express blades whenever desired, and they're either already indexed, or indexable.

Any thoughts?

JPK

Claw mounts.
I have a few guns with them. With the scope off you do not notice them.
Also the "part" on the scope is low profile as well.

Although both my double rifles and all of my Drilling's and BBF's have claw mounts there are a lot of good options today many of wich are much more practicle.

My favorite is the EAW hebelschwank, The camming action of the locking lever is self adjusting for wear as well as the entire mount is adjustable for wear and sight allingment.

Here's what a friend of mine dose with them for a rear sight.

Claw mounts are what my mind's eye sees when I think 'double rifle scope mounts'
They're what looks right to me.
Also, I can strip and mount a scope on claws with one hand.

That Smithson system looks awfully slick though, and I'd have to handle it to KNOW one way or the other - but if it felt right and returned to zero every time, (and I were you) I'd give it a serious bit of thought for my line of sweet little double rifles...


Here are a couple images from Smithson's site, with the Purdey mentioned above.









Cheers
Tinker

JPK,
Sounds as if you are looking toward something like a ghost ring. That may be the way to go with a big double.

My field experience with the aperture sight that JJPerodeau put on the .303 double was that I never used it. Took a bit too long to get it all together. Used the new, slightly larger front bead down in the bottom of the back vee. Worked well if I did my part up to 100 yards or just under.

Not sure that an even larger front bead and one in nickel silver instead of warthog ivory might be better. I seem to be able to find a consistent, even if somewhat blurry, sight picture with either the vee or using the top lever aperture...

Bailey is making me one of his small doubles, in .22 k-Hornet, and I've asked for a top lever aperture sight. This might be the place to seek your, and Bailey's, advice on whether a ghost ring might be more sensible rather than a normal set of blades for the back sight? Not very traditional, but maybe effective...

Regards, Tim

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Carney:
JPK,
Sounds as if you are looking toward something like a ghost ring. That may be the way to go with a big double.

My field experience with the aperture sight that JJPerodeau put on the .303 double was that I never used it. Took a bit too long to get it all together. Used the new, slightly larger front bead down in the bottom of the back vee. Worked well if I did my part up to 100 yards or just under.

Not sure that an even larger front bead and one in nickel silver instead of warthog ivory might be better. I seem to be able to find a consistent, even if somewhat blurry, sight picture with either the vee or using the top lever aperture...

Bailey is making me one of his small doubles, in .22 k-Hornet, and I've asked for a top lever aperture sight. This might be the place to seek your, and Bailey's, advice on whether a ghost ring might be more sensible rather than a normal set of blades for the back sight? Not very traditional, but maybe effective...

Regards, Tim

Tim,

My experience with ghost ring and other apperature sights is that a set of express type or any other rear sight fatally interferes with the ghost ring usage.

The bead or post centering which is natural and instinctive and the key to apperature use apparently cannot occur (well?) when something interferes with the circle of the apperature.

And that is why I'm thinking of mounting a ghost ring on one of Joe's mounts - and taking off the fixed and folding express blades.

BTW, Joe returned my call and left a message and mentioned that he hasn't made the apperature that fits on the rear mount, but has been thinking of it and has had some requests. I'll try calling him later this afternoon.

JPK

JPK

Just a thought, if you do put a Ghost Ring on a double, you might want to leave the folding leaves onthe gun, just incase the ghost ring gets knocked off.

I would prefer Claw or the Smithson.

You can have both peep and express leaves and have perfect function with both/either.

My Jeffery was delivered from the maker with both, the rear 5 leaves are *all* folding - and the Jeffery regulated peep sight features a folding aperture and a regulated elevation wheel.

Peep tucks out of the way of the leaves, leaves fold down out of the way of the peep.

In addition to that one could also have QD scope mounts, claw or otherwise.



Cheers
Tinker

Personally, i prefer claw mts., i can snap them on it a couple seconds,







and my scope "always" goes back to being perfectly sighted in.

DM

quote:

Originally posted by N E 450 No2:
JPK

Just a thought, if you do put a Ghost Ring on a double, you might want to leave the folding leaves onthe gun, just incase the ghost ring gets knocked off.

The problem with that approach is that the standing blade and the folding blades are one dovetailed unit. To remove the standing blade, the one that is the issue, you need to remove the two floding blades as well.

DM,

The Smithson mount removes as easily as the claw mounts. For the mounts shown on the Purdey, push in the nitre blued "button" on the rear mount and the scope and rings slide right off, leaving only the two bases as shown in the photo of the Purdey without the scope.

On the set Joe sent me, there is a "button" on each mount. But even off the rifle, the scope was easy to seperate from the bases.

Tinker,

All folding would do it, but my rifle has a standing blade. As far as scope mounts, the ghost ring apperature would mount in the rear base. But for a big bore elephant rifle, I wouldn't bother setting the rifle up with a scope, just the rear mount and ghost ring apperature, for when my eyes are no longer capable of quickly using the express sights. Probably four maybe five years down the road.

JPK

Just received photos from Joe Smithson of his QD mounts on my Heym PH. One photo is with my Leupold scope and one is with my Trijicon RMR on the rear mount. If anyone is interested in seeing them, I will scan and e-mail them to someone who can post them for me here. Merry Christmas to all.

WPE

Mine wears claws... also my preference