Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Browning BLR scope and rings recommendations

The mounts on my BLR are quick detachable Talley rings on Talley bases. Those rings come with screws with levers and with screws without levers. I chose to use the screws without levers. Naturally, If I wanted to use the sights, I'd have to remove the scope and look over the bases. The bases are high enough that I can only see the top half of the rear sight notch. So its doable, but not ideal. (Note, when I took the above photos, the gun was brand new and the scope and bases were only loosely attached as I was still rying to figure out what I wanted to do. The bases in the picture are backwards. There is a recoil lug at either end of each base, one thick and one thin. The thick recoil lug goes forward, not that it much matters.)

No, I've never used a BLR with a weaver style base, and not even sure one is made, but I think there is. I brought it up because weaver bases are generally pretty low, and sometimes have a U channel down the center making it easier to see iron sights. You could use some kind of quick detach rings on a Weaver base and then have the option to use the scope, or take it off and use the irons. Just a thought.

I know some people use see-through mounts on BLRs so you can look under the scope and see the sights, or raise your face a little and see through the scope. Those are kind of ugly and change your cheek weld a bit, but not enough to really need a riser. It's kind of an old school solution to preserve the ability to use the iron sights with the scope still on the gun. I think Leupold still makes these. Again, just a thought.

One thing not mentioned: the aluminum receiver lightweight BLRs are drilled and tapped for scope bases and the screw holes are steel lined. Before I mounted my scope, I called Browning to see what the maximum screw torque was when mounting bases. Browning says NO MORE THAN 18 inch pounds. The guy I spoke to said on his personal gun he used 12 inch pounds and it was fine. I decided to use 15 inch pounds on mine, along with blue Locktite, and they have stayed nice and solid.