Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Which lightweight QD Picatinny rings?

I'm looking to add a picatinny rail to my Tikka T3x so I can easily change between a conventional scope and a thermal. I've used some steel Leupold lever locks on a Ruger 10/22 for the same purpose and might go that route, but the levers on the Leupy's are pretty pronounced and stick out a bit too much. I came across some UTG rings for $20 that are more of the design I'm looking for and surprisingly they get some decent reviews, but question if they really are quality and repeatable. Anyone else have some options I should look at?

I've used the Sportsmatch which mount directly to the integral rail on Tikka/Sako; I've swapped some scopes with them and haven't noticed poi shift. They aren't QD, but they clamp to the rail using 2 hex screws that are easy and quick to loosen, and then you don't have a lever sticking out to catch brush and other things.

To me, the main reason to add a pic rail to a Tikka is to add inclination. Otherwise, why add more parts and pieces to come loose into the assembly.

The Pulsar Thermal has a quick detatch base and is already set up to easily fit on a railed receiver 10/22 and an AR-10. Trying to use the same approach for the Tikka bolt gun, so figured adding a picatinny rail to the Tikka would work best.

I’d avoid anything UTG in general. Unless they have changed recently, most of their stuff is pretty low quality.

In my opinion, for the money you will be better off getting quality rings with a cross bolt design and a torque driver vs. a cheap QD ring. Good QD rings are expensive.

I bought the Leupold cross slot back country rings. Seem like the best option for this application. I have a good quality torque driver that's always in my shooting bag.

I have the warne maxima QD on my .243 that I like to occasionally shoot the irons on. I haven't ever tried to ascertain exactly how good/bad the RTZ is, but it's close enough that I've never been concerned or needed to adjust anything.