Scope mounting trouble on a Montana Rifle Company PH action with Talley rings

See the video below for full details. I am having difficulty with Talley rings locking down tight on a Montana Rifle Company PH action in 416 Rigby.

https://vimeo.com/123396009

There is obviously an issue with my scope choice as well, given the main tube is too short to span the distance of the action, but even if I get a longer scope, the ring issue would remain. So I would like to solve that first anyway.

Alternatively I could use the Leupold or Warne rings, as Montana suggests on the sheet below. I think the quality of the Warne rings is very low based on previous experience and I wasn't a big fan of the thumbscrews on the Leupold rings. Those are the reasons why I tried the Talley rings first.

Lastly, Montana also offers a Picatinny rail, which I am considering, even though I never pictured one on a dangerous game rifle.

I'm not a big fan of using bases on flat topped receivers. They are just looking for an excuse to come loose all the time. I'm also not a fan of one piece bases on hunting rifles. They tend to get in the way of ejection and loading when you least want them too.

Its sort of a catch 22. If they used a normal scope mounting system one could just bolt on an extension front or weaver extension rings. Not pretty but they hold really well. I suppose the worst case scenario is to go to a one piece base, glue the thing down and have the excess material milled away if it gets in the way of function.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It's funny how people insist on setting up custom actions for complicated, proprietary mounting systems when there are simple and rugged systems that have been around for years and designed for a wide range of latitude.

It obvious you'll need use a scope with a longer straight tube section. In regard to the rings you might be able to get Talley to reduce the thickness of their ring on the same side and position of the clamp plate or jaw so the jaw will indeed clamp onto your narrower dovetail. Hopefully the male dovetail is truly centered on your action and the amount of material removed from the clamp side of the rings will not grossly effect the windage correction needed to zero the scope. Or you could call Montana and see it they have your male dovetail cut for a particular ring manufacture.

I suppose if it was my own gun, or a customer that had a lot of money, I would make a base that slides tightly on to the actions dovetails and utilize the pre-drilled holes in the receiver as well. I have done that on many rifles over the years, including my CZ 453, 17 HMR and it works well. It's just a bit expensive to have done.

"OTHERS", might say that making a base that would hold a BIGASS Leupold scope on an elephant rifle and then using it on a BB gun could be construed as being a little bit NUTS. Well, to my way of thinking, "OTHERS" are just a little bit BORING and UNCREATIVE !

The early stainless PH action I worked on was a RPIA regarding scope mounts.

NO recoil abutment what so ever for any scope rings.

The dovetails were close to a Brno, but I only mean close.

Had to make my own set of offset rings so a Leupold 1.5 x 5 scope could be used. Worked in 1/8" hardened recoil studs into the inside of the solid dovetail half ring that engaged notches I placed in the receiver dovetail. When the scope rings were installed, the recoil abutments were hidden.

Good luck on keeping a scope in place with no recoil abutments.

J Wisner

quote:

Originally posted by J Wisner:
The early stainless PH action I worked on was a RPIA regarding scope mounts.

NO recoil abutment what so ever for any scope rings.

The dovetails were close to a Brno, but I only mean close.

Had to make my own set of offset rings so a Leupold 1.5 x 5 scope could be used. Worked in 1/8" hardened recoil studs into the inside of the solid dovetail half ring that engaged notches I placed in the receiver dovetail. When the scope rings were installed, the recoil abutments were hidden.

Good luck on keeping a scope in place with no recoil abutments.

J Wisner

Just to follow J Wisner with the recoil stops. I have seen coconuts try to use the tapered ends where the dovetails end as recoil shoulders. BAD IDEA ! I have seen this trick fail so many times that it's not even funny anymore. (Well yes it is still sort of funny) At any rate. The scope and rings slowly get pushed forward shot after shot up into the tapered area and the pressure builds to a point where the screws on the claws just get torn in half and the scope fly's off. (Actually its still REALLY funny) About 50% of the guys that this happens to, bring the gun in to me for repair and say: "Yah know, after I gave it a bit of thought, I can see how and why this happened." OH YEAH!