About Scope Rings and Bases

You’ve spent all this time looking for a scope, but now it’s time to make sure that you have a method of mounting it to your rifle that is just as well thought out as your initial scope purchase. If you thought there were a lot of choices in the scope world, wait until you see the ring world! Take heart, however – we’ll guide you through it.

Rings vs. bases:

Ruger Stock Base

Most hunting rifles do not need bases as it is extremely common to mount the scope rings directly to the receiver. Even so, a good scope base is still a preferred solution on most bolt guns. If you have an AR or semiautomatic rifle then a scope base isn’t for you as you most likely already have a flat top upper with a built in base. But if you shoot a bolt gun, look into a base as well as rings. Here’s why:

• A scope base provides a great attachment point for a variety of optics, so you can try other scopes or change out your scope with minimal effort as opposed to removing rings from a receiver.
• A scope base can be had with a cant – for example, a 20MOA scope bas is canted 20 MOA up, which gives you that much more elevation for long range shooting.
• A scope base raises the rings up so you don’t need to buy taller rings.

Definitely look into a scope base as they usually cost less than $20 and they give you lots of options.

Buying Rings:

Ideally, you’ll buy rings made by the manufacturer as they are guaranteed to fit the scope, assuming you have selected the correct main tube size. Alternatively, you can buy excellent rings from companies like Weaver, Badger Ordnance, Larue Tactical, and a variety of others that are as good or better than factory rings. What you really want is rings that are light, well built, and strong, as they do secure a very important piece of kit on to your rifle after all. The main considerations with rings are:

A scope ring

• Make sure they are tall enough to accommodate the objective lens of your scope, but not so tall that there is too much air space between your scope and the rifle’s receiver.
• Make sure that the rings’ fasteners are all installed with Loc-Tite or some other similar thread locker, since recoil will turn the screws loose.
• Make sure you take the Allen or hex head wrench that the scope rings use with you to the range or in the field in case adjustments need to be made. Remember, any adjustment to the scope rings will require re-zeroing the rifle.
• If you buy quick release rings so that you can share a single scope between two or more rifles, you will have to re-zero anytime the scope is removed.

Lastly, make sure your scope rings are as good a quality as your scope. This is not the place to go cheap!