Cheap Scope Rings - Lesson Learned

K

Kvon2

New member
So at my local range the rifle range only goes out to 100 yards. I'm visiting the in laws this weekend and yesterday my father in law and I went out to his range. They have a rifle range for 50, 100, 200 and 300 yards. I was very excited to shoot at 2-300 yards for the first time.

Range rules state you must qualify at 100 yards by shooting a 2 inch 5 shot group. Good news - I qualified! Bad news - after qualifying I had to wait until.the next cold range to run out to the 200/300 yard boards to put targets up. So I kept on plinking at 100 yards. Randomly I noticed I went from tight groups to my shots moving lower and further left with each shot. I figured it first it could be barrel heat but while I was giving it a rest I noticed the quick detach lever on my scope rings was well...detached.

I bought these rings over 5 years ago(was a college student) and have never had one single problem. They were probably less than $20. And of course when I needed them the most? Broken :(

I won't be skimping on the next set of rings but man was this a heartbreak. Luckily we visit every few months so I'll be back on a mission.

I was shooting a stag model 6 and hornady steel match ammo BTW.
 
Yeah, but keep in mind that rings don't have to be expensive to be good. The Weaver Grand Slam series is as good as rings costing 3x as much. Here lately, I have been using Talley integrated base/ring. The base and ring are one piece. They are rock solid. Its kind of the same concept as DNZ, but in my opinion much more refined.
 
I read a lot of these thing's about different product's and can't help but think a lot of guy's seem to think that a lot of company's only care about selling one product for every individual in the country! I don't spend a lot on much of anything, thrifty, ex said cheap! Why would anyone spend the money require to start up or to design a new line with the though that no one will ever buy their product the second time? Guy's that buy $k+ scope's think anything that cost less is junk! Really kind of funny reading a lot of this stuff but it's a dis service to new guy's coming in. They don't have a clue and are easy prey for the nay sayer's.
 
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^ very true. I know someone that just bought their first AR and is pretty new to firearms. Spent over $500 on a red dot.

I have a tasco scope on my AR and it works well enough for my purposes! I think it was around $80?
 
Kvon, very unfortunate, sorry to hear. The older I get, the more I buy into the idea of "buy once, cry once." and it sounds like you might be too. Haha

2" group at 100 before moving out to 2 or 300 yards? That doesn't seem to pass the common sense test. Depending on who you ask, deer vitals are typically 8" (or more) and that would not be considered hard to hit at 200 yards with a modern, functional rifle and a decent rest. I guess I could see 4" at 100 yards, but even that seems unnecessary. Just struck me as interesting.
 
I also had a very similar problem/experience. Got my Savage Scout with Leatherwood 2-7x sighted in at 100yds was hitting directly on POA. Then all of a sudden it started going all over the place. Then I went out to 200yds and could barely hit a 12" circle target. The savage scout has a rail that is screwed down to the bbl, so I'll be tightening/loctiting every screw from the mount>base>rings. Also going to invest in an in-lb torque wrench.
 
I disagree. Buy once; cry once.

What you don't need to do is spend a lot of money on "light" rings. The weight savings of an ounce or fractions of an ounce ridiculous to me for what titanium or ultra light rings cost. Then again I tote heavy rifles and shotguns all the time.

Buying 6 screw rings with wide contact plates is just SOP for me. The more modern rail systems are certainly an improvement. To me a dovetail only goes on a .22.

I RARELY swap scopes once a rifle is set up, so lapping or bedding them is key. Once it's set I can forget about it. And yes Virginia, I do use at least the blue Locktite (sometimes red). The key is to use an inch/pound torque driver to avoid over-torqueing your screws when the threads are wet.
 
This is just a guess but I suspect more ring's fail due to being improperly installed than any other reason
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Well the spring that holds the tension to make them "quick release" rings no longer holds any tension. Not quite sure what I would have done wrong there?
 
This is just a guess but I suspect more ring's fail due to being improperly installed than any other reason.
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Not in the case of the O.P. But I agree with you in general. I have a friend who was an engineer for a major U.S. scope manufacturer. He said the vast majority of their warranty work was due to tube warping during improper installation. Now he is engineer for a major European optics company.

Simply put, if you put ring marks on a scope, you installed it wrong.
 
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