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Mule Deer,
Did it come with the scope and rings or did you have the rings fabricated? I am interested in sourcing a 1" set of claw rings to update my 98 Mauser 8x68s.
No, it didn't come with the scope and rings, but had bases for claw mounts. Melvin Forbes of New Ultra Light Arms made the rings as a favor to Eileen--before starting NULA he was a general gunsmith and did lots of stuff. He'd worked out a system of machining Talley steel bases to fit claw bases, and then the gun's owner could use steel Talley rings to mount whatever scope they wanted to.
Should also mention Melvin gave us permission to show his system to top-notch local gunsmith John McLaughlin 2-3 years ago, because I had a 16x16/6.5x57R Sauer drilling that came with a scope--but I didn't like the scope much, a Hensoldt 4x with a typical heavy German reticle that made it difficult to aim at big game beyond about 150 yards. So had John do the same Talley job on the drilling, and I mounted a 1-4x20 Leupold with the standard Duplex reticle--and killed a pronghorn buck last fall last fall at 230 yards. (Would have been comfortable at 300-350.) I dunno how much John charges for the job now, but his website is
https://www.mclaughlinmetalworks.com/
