Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Lightfoot's new split ring for the old Stith Mount

I ordered one of the new split rings that Mike (Lightfoot) is making for use with 1" Stith mounts. This allows for virtually any straight tube 1" scope to be used in a Stith, since the objective bell does not have to be removed to put it into the rear mount.

I'm getting set up for a bear hunt this coming fall and I wanted a good low light scope. I decided on a Leupold VX I 1-4X with a heavy duplex reticle. It's a lot of scope for the money ($200) and should be just what I need. I've got the scope and mount on a 1930s T in .300 with a thumb safety.

I've got nothing but good things to say about Mike's new product. It's simply a matter of replacing the old rear ring on the Stith; it couldn't be easier.



Rod

One of my guns has the straight tube front... darn, can't remember which. Soon as I find out I think I'm gonna have to get one of these.

Very nice!

I own the prototype that Mike made, haven't put a scope on it yet though.

I bought one also, just dont have a rifle to put it on! have scope, and all else tho!

Thanks for the plug Rod! I have torx screws to go with it if needed.

How much of the Leupolds tube is in the front mount? Just curious. I have an order in.

That may be the weak link in the setup. I'd like to have more of the front tube engaged. It's only in the front mount about two inches. It seems rigid enough, but many of the older scopes had longer tubes and would bottom out in the front mount of a Stith, giving them extra rigidity.

Are there longer tubes available for the front mount? I seem to remember seeing different length tubes for the 3/4" Stiths; is this true of the 1" mounts?

Rod

I just measured 3 1" tubes.

2 of them are 3.5" and one is 3 1/4" measured at the bottom of the tube to the back.

There is a bastardized fix for the short tube. You can use a front tube for the Win 70 QD style Stith. You have to bend the strap down to line up with the tilt in Savage sight dovetail. I can post some pics when I find them again.

That's just damn cool. Would it be more rigid if you sleeved the tube in front of the scope? Thanks for putting up the picture.

Alas tis an unfinished job Mike, your mission, should you choose to accept it is to now make a front tube to take a modern scope, maybe a 32, 33 mm objective.

Should'nt take you to long to get it sorted

Johno

I'd like to see what you come up with on this Mike. Thanks.

It's not the "length" of the front tube. If you look inside from back to front, you'll see a ledge inside where the inside diameters change. In order to have a solid rigid set-up your scope needs to butt up against that ledge. If the scope doesn't make it you'll need to put a spacer in the tube between the scope and the ledge. Once you have the scope installed and have your eye relief set look in from the front and get a measurement from the ledge to the front of the scope. That will tell you what size spacer you need.

Ahhhh... thanks Steve. That makes sense. I'm thinking that a spacer could be made from a section of tube from a junk scope.

I have a couple inches that I cut into various lengths of black plastic that I used. Another way to get that measurement is, if you already have the scope installed where you are comfortable with it, take a sharpie and mark the scope at the front tube. remove the rear ring and slide the scope into the tube and make another mark. The distance between the two marks will give you the width of the spacer you need. An old scope tube will work, but it's harder to work with.

That's what I meant with the sleeve. I had a machinist make one up out of aluminum for that reason about 15-years ago for a Stith.

This is good info. I didn't know the scope had to butt up against the ledge in the front tube. I think one of my Stith setups doesn't butt up against the ledge. I'll have to check them. David

Here is a Weaver V4.5 I mounted with a Stith split rear ring windage mount and the Win 70 front tube. I took a pic before bending the Win tube just to show why parts don't interchange that well.

That doesn't look bad at all. How is that rear ring working? I have one and had a bear of a time getting it to stay in place on recoil. As a matter of fact it was with the same Weaver scope that you used.

The base block that the ring goes into is reversed. Turn it 180 so the recoil doesn't slip the ring out of the slot.