Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Detach mounts on a 416Wby

I am looking for some advise/opinions on the various detachable scope mount/ring combos out there. It is to equip a 416Wby Mark V which has open sights. Scope will likely be a 1.75-6X32 VX-III (1" tube). The base would need to be low enough as to not obstruct the view of the open sights when the scope is removed. Obviously they need to be pretty durable and not recoil sensitive as well. What works for you guys?

The best QD mounts are and have always been a properly fitted pair of European Claw Mounts...

Another good option is the Talbott QD, its a dandy and it works.

Mostly I use surface ground receivers and hand fitted Talleys and they suit me fine when installed in that manner.

I have used all of the above on big bore rifles..but on big bores the scopes are mostly the problem, they will come apart and rattle like a bb in a box car in the really big bores. The only scope that will work on a 505, 458 Lott beyond 300 or so rounds is the Leupold 2.5X compact because the internal adjustments are directly under the adjustments.

Ray has some good suggestions, but for myself I don't have a scope on anything bigger than a .416Rigby.

A pic of my model 70 classic stainless .375H&H with the Warne quick detatch rings and bases. The steel bases are weaver style and allow a clear view for the iron sights.





Hope the pics were not too big- this is my first attempt here on 24hour.

I have Warne rings on my CZ 500 in .416 Rigby. They guarantee return to zero.

I always thought Talley was the act to beat on big bores. I have them on my M70 .458 and they work fine. So does my Leupold 1.5-6X.

I use the lowest mounts available. With them my .458 and my Weatherby MkV fit very well. I close my eyes, shoulder the rifle, open my eyes and I'm centered.

The .300 has no open sights. The .458 front sight appears blurry at the bottom of the scope picture when it's set at 1.5X. It's easy to learn to ignore this.

Anytime a scope mount company guarentees return to zero, call them and ask them how close to zero that guarentee is...Most will say withing 3 inches and most mounts will not even do that unless you get real lucky...I have tested most of them and few will return with 3 inches..

IMO 3 inches is not good enough, I want return to exact zero or at least one inch, and this is a real problem...If a gun returns to 3 inches then it will be off 6 inches at 200 and so fourth. I personally find this unacceptable. Plain old Weavers, Rugers will return within 3 inches if you place the levers the same on return..

I approached this situation by doing a lot of testing and found if I have my rifle receivers surface ground and the bases hand fitted that they would return to exact zero or very close..I do this on all my rifles then my preference of bases in order of what I think best is: European fitted Claw mounts from US gunsmiths, fitted Talbotts or Talleys. I am sure other QD's will work also.

Leupold QD worked fine on my Weatherby Mark V in 300 wea mag but this is not a huge caliber ... still working good on 300 wsm and model 70 ... again not a big bore ...

I use Warne rings on my 416 Rigby Ruger RSM. They work fine, but I'll admit I haven't really tested their ability to return to zero. I look at a QD mount as someting to be used in an emergency if something goes wrong with the scope and you're foreced to go with irons. I put them on and leave them in place. Didn't have any problems droping a charging elephant at 12 yds looking through the scope (a Leupy 1.5x5 set on the lowest power).

I agree with Labman95 in that the intended purpose for quick detatch rings/bases are to quickly facilitate the removel of scope in the event it becomes damaged. The set-up I pictured above is the Warne rings and bases that advertise a return to zero but I'm guilty of not testing the accuracy of their claims. At least in my defense I have tested and hunted with the irons. Rodney.

I load my 416 Rigby up to near 416 Weatherby speeds i.e. 350's at 2700+ and 400's at 2400 + a bit. On my rifle the Talley QD's have been solid and do, in fact, return to zero within 1/2 inch at 100 yards. My rifle, though, is a customized CZ550 which has the scope bases milled into the receiver. If I were forced to use a DGR that did not have the bases milled right in I would, at a MINIMUM have the scope base holes re-drilled to 8-48's and use a very strong loc tite formula. What I did with my wildcat .340 Tyranosaur was to have a set of Weaver (picatinny) steel bases permanently affixed and then went with Burris Posi align nylon insert rings. These rings have stood up to many rounds fired through such beasties as a .458 Lott, the aforementioned wildcat 340 and well over a thousand rounds from my 300RUM with no hiccups even though with the 300
RUM and 340 I was using heavy 30mm tube 2-10x44 Burris Euro diamond scopes. On the topic of scopes, I have had the same Burris 1.75-5 Signature safari with posi lock on my hot rodded 416 rifle for about 10 years and many, many days afield. No problems despite the rifle having ridden thousands of miles in Land Rovers, Land Cruisers, the funky littel french land rover copycat rigs, Boats in Alaska of several shapes and sizes including rafts on rivers, having been dropped.... and being fired over 1,000 times while having over 100grs of H4350 powder set in motion projectiles weighing 350-400 grs launched beneath it. I am a big fan of Burris Posi Lock scopes as well as thier posi align nylon insert rings on big or severe duty rifles. I alos try, as much as is possible, to have the scope bases be integral or as permanently affixed as I can arrainge up to and including haveing them welded on. Scope base screws are notorious area's of failure in severe testing. I hope this helps out some.

I've used Warne QDs on several 416s, and they worked great...never a problem. I have a set on a 338 Win and a light weight 375 H&H right now, and still no problems.

Some of the problems are few folks ever try their QD mounts, I know a bunch of shooter personally that swear by their QDs and have never taken them off the gun. A few that did found a return to withing 3 or 4 inches just fine..

I also know that some factory rifles have properly ground receivers but many if not most do not and that creates a problem.

Real problems start cropping up in the really big bores IMO with mounts and scopes btw...

The only problem I have found with Warnes is if for some reason you have to mount them on the bolt side of a bolt action as on a Mauser 98 custom with low bases and rings that cannot be mounted on the off bolt side as the levers interfere with the bolt release..In a heavy recoiling rifle the levers will jump out of engagement and turn around, as the disign of the spring tension levers will allow them to move around and get out of position and then block the uplift of the bolt and that rifle is then jammed..I have seen this occur more than a few times with clients on Safari, and it near got me stomped to death on one ocassion. I finished that safari with the levers taped in an upright position with electrical tape. I think perhaps a stronger sping would be the correct answer to the problem but not sure as I dumped all my Warnes on return from that Safari and went to Talleys. In my case the rifle was a 338 Win. and I was very lucky as the PH killed the buff. I was not the hunter, just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time trying to snuff out a wounded bull.

I really appreciate the feedback on this. I intend to test the detach mounts extensively and I am really hoping to have something that will be within 1" at 100 every time I re-attach it. When using the rifle for dangerous game I want to have the option of removing and re-attaching the scope whenever conditions dictate and 3 or 4 MOA won't do when presented with a 250 yard shot at a once-in-a-lifetime Sable at 250 yds on a chance enounter while hunting Buffalo. I am sure the recoil will be a test for this system.

I've always used Talleys. So far I'm happy.

I took my .458 Win Mag CZ 550 Safari Express Magnum to Tanzania a year and a half ago.The first set of Warne detachables I had would not hold as noted by Atkinson.I contacted Warne,and they asked me to send them back.Turns out they had changed the design,they sent me the new ones,and I purchased a second set.Their customer service people were among the best I have ever dealt with on any product problem.
I mounted two Leupold 1-4x x 20 shotgun scopes on the two sets of mounts,interchanged and shot them several times.They were never out by more than one minute of angle in either case.
The set and scope mounted on the rifle during transit was only
out by a little over one minute of angle when I got to camp after three plane rides and about twenty some odd miles in a rifle rack in the back of a Toyota Landcruiser pick up.
A couple of weeks after I got back,I took the rig out to my local range,and both scopes were still interchangeable and pretty close to dead on.

I have a shoe box full of mounts and bases. Warne (Kimber) and lesser attempts. I have six rifles and eleven scopes all hunt ready, Every rifle now wears proven Loopie QDs, (the lever in the base type). They pass my RTZ tests (to include two 416s and some snappy handgun barrels...the REAL test!) I will be listing the contents of the "Shoe Box" in the classafieds, all are for the WBY/700 contours. 'Had to sell the machine shop four moves ago...you can replace iron cheaper than moving it, now a days! BTW it is real nice to tear down and clean/lube and inspect your gun, the first step of that business is to remove the glass, clean it and store it well away from the bore cleaning chemicals.