Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting What are the best light weight Picatinny rings?

Thinking of getting the Nightforce Light weights or Seekins. I have a light weight rail coming for my Forbes.

Anyone know which rings are lighter? Any other light weight suggestions?

I use the nightforce ultralites. they seem to work pretty good. I just wish the underlug that interfaces with the pic slots was squared instead of rounded off. I think you want more meat in that area.

Murphy precision

Never weighed any but the NF Seekins TPS and even the swfa's have gave no problems so far.

Started out with the Talley picatinny and the lows have broke on every set I'm familiar with. I'd bet a dollar they've fixed the problem but I won't bet 180 dollars they have.

Murphy makes a titanium and a ss model ring, they weigh 3ounces plus or minus and they IMHO are a very sleek ring

+1

Hawkins precision

APA's are pretty light...

APA, Nightforce, or Seekins.....all excellent products!!

Don't overlook Iota

Hawkins

Interesting design for sure. They seem to have gotten them very low while not thinning the ring with the clamp... Found some additional pictures in this review...
APA ring review with pics

Read that when they first came out........really good review!

I've always thought someone could go low like this (sub .250"), simply with a traditional, or common flat-toothed clamp design, by making the body thicker on the clamp side with a longer screw, but haven't seen any designs take that approach for going low. What I'm saying... Picture more material where the clamp closes so the groove where the clamp bites is not cutting into the ring... Just bump that area out maybe .150" and you could drop the 30mm circle down, yet maintain ring thickness. APA did it by ditching most of the tooth on the clamp and having the whole works radiused... Or something to that effect so it'll still functionally clamp...

These low APAs would have been the huckleberry on a couple of Ruger 77s I had fitted with 20 MOA rails. They were just too high with typically available low (.25") 30s.

Go lower by doing something like this with screws and a machined lug...

Funny you should mentinon this, I've been looking at Picatinny rings for a last few weeks, and the exact thing you mention had occurred to me as well... I don't get it.

I used the term flat-toothed for the common clamp style and that was a poor description. The tooth, or maybe call it a wedge, biting into the ring circumference is not a new challenge for lower mounting and is more pronounced, I'm guessing, with larger diameter tubes. These early Warne Premiers ended up too thin compromising integrity. Going to the Weaver base width, would just in itself, allow this basic design to be used at a lower height. This has a double wedge simple clamp, (although not flat), which would not work on the concept I mention. As illustrated above it would take a different clamp design extending the wedge that goes to the base. Using a machined lug like some of the premium rings in this thread opens up some possibilities, cost be dammed. No hijack intended. Lower could be lighter and simple could be more cost effective.

They're gonna have to be aluminum, for the weight factor.

I like the TPS TSR aluminum 30mm rings for AR use; alum integral rail w/alum rings. Very lightweight and Excellent Quality. Leupold also makes an aluminum Mk4 ring. Have owned several steel sets of mk4 rings and they are Excellent.

Best Value is TPS.

Anyone use or know anything about warne mountaineer bases and rings?

Just saw those yesterday. Have a set coming, 30mm low. Will report back on the height and weight. I did not fully delve into the different contact surface with the bases NATO STANAG stuff...They are Weaver compatible too... Stainless hardware. Found for $87 shipped IIRC.



Precision CNC machined from 7075/T6 aluminum for a high strength & lightweight platform
Mil-Spec hardcoat anodized finish for abrasion and corrosion resistance.
Rings feature stainless steel hardware for “Element Proof” protection.
Mil-Spec 65 in/lb., 1/2″ tactical nut attachments for securely clamping to the rail.
Fits Picatinny & Weaver style mounts and are NATO-STANAG compatible.
Available for 1″, 30 and 34mm tube sizes; in Low, Medium, High and MSR ideal height; For maximum compatibility with most scope/firearm combinations.