Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics How many of you have had Talley LW’s fail

Yes.

For some.

True, but I personnaly now eliminate that risk by not using Talley LW. None of my other brands of rings have failed. I liked the look of the Talleys but never really considered the weight savings as an important factor. They failed on me so they're gone. If others don't mind a porential failure issue then that's their choice.

I have Talleys LW on several guns, including my main hunting rig, which is chambered in 300 Ultra. However, with that said Talleys are cheap junk. The design is poorly manufactured and they need to be lapped or they mark the hell out of your scope. The failures IMO are caused by unequal tightening of the 4 screw design in concert with not enough material thickness.

I meant to mention your point Ben. It's important tightening them to go slowly while evenly tightening all 4 screws on each ring "in concert" as you say. I'd think this sort of stuff is obvious, but perhaps not.

Well, if anything this thread serves to be aware how you install Talley LWs if you choose to use them.

8 seasons on these lapped and bedded (scope tube and bases to receiver)Talley LW's with a 5.5-22X50 NF NSX. It's 300WSM-based wildcat I call the '300 WWM' for deer and elk whacking

It shoots my hard antimony 150's pretty well. -Al

Al, with all due respect, its not the ones that don't fail that concern me. Obviously the failure rate is low enough that there are plenty that last. A guy has to determine his own tollerance.

Never under estimate the ability of the general public to screw things up!

3M Vinyl electrical tape - is fool-proof.

Flows/extrudes at the high spots and creates 100% contact on the bases and caps.

Like they were painted on.




GR

Some people are ham fisted almost beyond belief. In fact a lot of people are.

I have broken two sets. It is WELL documented .

What do people use instead?

I’ve had a set break. They were fine for years, then one morning, they were broken. They were fine the day before, then broken the next morning. Not a big deal for me and the way I usually hunt. Just grabbed the back-up rifle from the truck. Talley replaced them and I still use them. That said, if I were going to Alaska or Africa or somewhere that getting a different rifle wasn’t as easy as reaching into the back seat, I probably wouldn’t take that rifle with the Talleys on it.

I never had ANY Tally's fail, but I have, use and like steel Leupold Dual Dovetail. Steel Talley's are very well made, as some other brands.

That said, I am not sure on the metallurgy of current Leupold product vs. old - I would not expect any to fail, but maybe someone can chime in if Leupold has cheapened their metal quality over time.

I’ve never had an issue with them and I’ve owned 20+ sets of them over the years. With that being said any setup I have where I use a 50mm-56mm scope I always use a rail and Seekin rings. For my 40mm-44mm setups I use the Talley Lightweights. Like most folks, I like my scopes to sit as close to the barrel as possible and I just haven’t found a better option for the 40mm-44mm scopes than the Talley Lightweights.

If someone else already asked this, I missed it...

Has anyone had a failure with unmodified (lapped or othewise) LWs torqued to Tallley’s specs? Seems like most of the failures are with ones that have been “improved” or altered to suit the user’s notion of the “right way”, or possibly over-tightened.

And, as an afterthought, has anyone had a scope slip in rings tightened to spec?

An article on wilderness rifles in the new Sports Afield enthusiastically recommends the LWs for their strength. Add that to JB’s extensive experience and my meager half-dozen or so, and something doesn’t seem to add up. Anyway, I’m trending towards using Weaver or pic mounts now for ease in swapping scopes and more mounting latitude, but definitely not because theTalleys have failed to perform or marked my scopes.

I use Talley LWs exclusively on all my rifles, including my 300Rum, although it does have a brake on it.

Haven't had one fail.

I do torque to their specs, and make sure the ring screws are evenly torqued, and the gap between both screws and both sides of the rings are as close to being the same as I can eyeball.

That would tend to make sure the stress is as evenly distributed as you can make it. I also torque alternate side screws, like you do car wheels. I work with mechanical engineers, and I know the importance of proper torque techniques. That being said, I've seen mil grade equipment, using mil grade alloys crack due to improper torque and/or over stressing . So the bottom line is even the best alloys can fail ....

Also, after I mount the base part, I place the scope in the bases, and slide it back and forth to make sure it does so freely without binding. Haven't had one that wouldn't allow the scope the easily slide.

But, I do inspect my rifles prior to using them. Schiit happens .....

YMMV

Also, after I mount the base part, I place the scope in the bases, and slide it back and forth to make sure it does so freely without binding. Haven't had one that wouldn't allow the scope the easily slide.

Me too. Just lucky so far, I guess.

Have a set on my 338 Win mag, 280ai, 7x57, etc. So far so good. No issues.