Gentlemen,

I am looking for a lower profile scope mount to fit a scope sight with 42mm objective lens to a Mauser action. My intention, bolt lift permitting, is to have the scope mounted as low as possible above the barrel / receiver. The stock profile is classic. The rifle does not wear open sights, so I intend having a back up, zeroed scope in rings 'ready to go'. Ideally, I would like scope mounts/bases with windage adjustments (to make maximum use of scope adjustments).

My initial idea is / was Conetrol mounts. I had these on a previous rifle. They were low and sleek. Unfortunately, the owner of Conetrol recently dies and it is problematic whether the family/ new owners will have the company up and running, offering the ADQ Conetrol mounts soon.

Other than that, there are EAW and Recknagel pivot mounts. However, the pictures I have seen of rifles with scopes mounted using these mounts show the scope is mounted rather high.

Does anyone have experience with these, or other options? Is it possible to mount the scope low on the action / barrel?

Thanks.

I often get customers coming in wanting gadget rings that will allow them to center their scopes on hunting rifles and I admittedly always question the logic behind it. I suppose if you are shooting bench rest there is a theoretical advantage to having the image plane centered to the one holding the cross wires. But in a practical format you really gain nothing in a hunting rifle. Going to gadgety rings and bases generally just means that there is more to come loose and go wrong. As long as the gun will sight in you should be good to go.

If you want, you can have the bases altered by a gunsmith so that one of your scopes will be sighted in with the cross hairs in the center of the image plane. Odds are that the other scope and rings will be pointed to a different place. Then you can just use some tough QD rings like the Warnes or Kimbers on both scopes. Those rings use the standard Weaver style clamping system, but use leavers instead of thumb screws. They are very tough and return to zero as good as any other system. They are also all steel, very simple and little to nothing goes wrong or breaks on them.

Just an option . . . . . . . .



gunsmith rod henrickson warne qd by Rod Henrickson, on Flickr

Weaver Grand Slam windage adjustable rings are another option. They are detachable, but not QD, quick detachable.

Thank you for your replies & advice. The reason I am looking for a mount with windage adjustments is I have a Hensoldt 1.5-6x36 scope which is reticle moving. So, I do not want the centre of the reticle, once zeroed in, the be off centre and sitting in one of the quadrants. Obviously, it would be easier to keep with the more modern constantly centred reticles but the Hensoldt is a nice, classic scope.

This pic is Leupold QRW bases, which are lower than standard Weaver bases, which are pretty low to start with; a 32mm objective Leupold VX3 scope in 1.75-6x; and Weaver Grand Slam windage adjustable Medium rings. It is a pretty low setup and plenty rugged, as it is on my 375 H&H, which held zero to, through, and back, from Africa. I needed windage adjustable rings to zero my scope as I ran out of windage internally. Leupold says it is a case of "stacked" tolerances.

quote:

Originally posted by robthom:
... Obviously, it would be easier to keep with the more modern constantly centred reticles but the Hensoldt is a nice, classic scope.

If it's like the one I've got, they don't make 'em with field blending like that any more.

I take it yours is 26mm steel tubed - cheaper when new than dural but worth more outside Europe now because they have no holes drilled in them and mounts can be a little easier to find.

As airgun1 suggests, 26mm Leupold (or Redfield?) swing off mounts might be the answer. They may not come off with a flick of your thumb but a coin from your pocket works pretty quick. Lynx mounts are also very adjustable. If all else fails, have a look on the Internet for the old Australian Hillver mounts.

The trouble with my Hensoldt is it has a rail, and finding affordable, low mounts around here is not easy. I've managed to put a similar-sized Nickel Supra on my Sako Finnbear with Optilock bases and some Blaser clamps I found on ebay. It's not low but, miraculously, it lined up without my even trying to work the claimed lateral adjustments.

Sambarman338 -

My Hensoldt is a 1.5 - 6x36, with a 30mm tube. Fortunately, it is a 'round tube', no rail. The optics are good, even by today's standards - like a S&B. I am led to believe the scope was made in the 1970s.

You may want to try a Pilkington QD Conversion. It turns Leupold STD rings into into quick release rings by replacing one of the windage screws with a lever that you can turn and then rotate your scope 90 degrees in the front dovetail and then lift the scope out. I have one on a Model 70 Mannlicher in 308 and it seems to return to zero very well. The conversion is kind of hard to find though since they haven't made them since sometime in the 80's I believe, but occasionally one will pop up on eBay or Gun Broker.

Here's one on Gun Broker now.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Aucti....aspx?Item=538973692

quote:

zeroed scope in rings 'ready to go'.

It does not work that way. You have to sight it in. The idea of taking scopes of and on yet retaining zero, does not work in the real world.

Used to of a lot of hunting using jeeps as transport. All the bouncing around was tough on scopes. I used to epoxy the bases to the receiver. Also used epoxy on the ring to base joint. The ring to scope joint got rosin. The actual scope was only a problem once, the redicle broke free inside. The problem 99% of the time was the mounting system working loose. Any swap scopes in the field scheme will weaken what is already the weakest link.

Good old Redfield rings and bases, for function, are as good as it gets. You certainly could have another identical scope ready to mount. It only requires a cont slot windage screw to be removed and replaced. I'd just have a second rifle ready to go, if it were me.

I thought about this overnight and and want to add something else. Swapping scopes can be viable depending on your accuracy standards. I hunt in the west. Long shots are normal. If you are hunting thick cover with shot shots then it would work out. In that situation I would use back up barrel sights though. Possibly the scope base with a flip up peep that can be used with the scope removed might be good. Again, I had little trouble with scopes, mostly flimsy mounting systems.

quote:

Originally posted by robthom:
Sambarman338 -

My Hensoldt is a 1.5 - 6x36, with a 30mm tube. Fortunately, it is a 'round tube', no rail. The optics are good, even by today's standards - like a S&B. I am led to believe the scope was made in the 1970s.

That's interesting. In my post-war collection, Zeiss/Hensoldt and Nickel, at least, are all 26mm when steel, while the dural ones (seemingly the same inside) approach or are 30mm but all have rails. Some writers used to opine that the rail served a second purpose of stiffening up the tube - though with the extra 4mm dia. of alloy in the barrel, the need is hard for me to understand. (S&B optics must have improved since, because the old scopes I've got don't quite match the ones from Hensoldt and B. Nickel.)

According to my fridge magnet test, the Hensoldt scope tube is not steel. It is probably something like aluminium.

I have my first deer rifle scope: S&B 4x36, which I got in the early 1980s. The Hensoldt is easily as good as that scope and possibly a bit better.

Mr Wiebe, I am aware of the German Claw mounts and pivot style mounts like EAW Apfel and Recknagel. However, to me anyway, these mounts place the scope too high above the receiver. I shoot the English / American style- head low, strong cheek weld and so want the scope mounted as low as possible along the receiver / barrel, bolt lift permitting etc.

I am hoping the Conetrol mounts come back, otherwise, I will look at the Recknagel pivot mounts. Their catalogue shows some pivot mounts on a Win 70 - ones which appear to have a front scope mount partially under slung, like on European trains with the carriage partly placed below bogie level on double decker carriages. Apparently, the pivot mount rear mounts / rings come in something like 20 different heights.

The pic I posted has a 32mm objective less than 1/8" from the barrel in medium rings. It not only functions great it looks great. Not bad for a little over $50.00.