Can someone point me in the right direction on what type of mount and rings to use. I have a Leupold VXIII 3.5-10X40mm which will sit on a model 700. Is there any advantage using the one piece base over the two piece? What about the dovetail mount and rings over the standard type? Any help would be most appreciated.

Reddog132

You don't want dovetails mounts. Use traditional mounts. Go to www.leupold.com and go to the section for mounts or rings. It will then allow you select the model rifle you have and the model scope you have and it will TELL you exactly what rings and mounts to use. Also, remember that the less moving pieces you less chances you have or something to go wrong. The only tradeoff you make for one piece mounts is that they force you to mount your scope higher.

For my hunting rifles, I have gotten away from STD types (front dovetail, rear windage adjust). Anymore, I use dual dovetails for any new rifle I get. Nobody needs that much windage adjust on a hunting rifle.

Also, its easier to mount. I use a wheeler kit with alignment tools. And also lap the rings in 80%. With dual dovetail and one piece base, this is much easier process. But with windage adjust STD rings and bases, the alignment tools are pretty much a waste. Cause you can get the tips touching but its all relative to the placement of the windage ring. You can see this when you start lapping.

Now for target rifles, I want that scope to be aligned with max adjustment for windage, so I use the STD rings.

Use Warne rings and bases. They are much stronger and more consistant and look ten times better than Leupold rings and bases.

I see too many Leupold rings and bases that do not fit properly. Dovetail rings that when installed rock back and forth on the base cause they do not get tight, dovetail rings that are too large to fit inside the dovetail cut out in the base, screws that are too long and must be shaved down so not to make contact with the bolt, inconsistancies with the thickness of the bases thus requiring shimming.

The only rings I hate worse than Leupold are Millett.

One piece bases are the most secure. I use either weaver or leupold bases and rings. The most readily available and least expensive is probably the weaver bases and rings.

Just wondering how do you figure that a one piece base is more secure than a two piece base?

The one piece only has three screws holding it to the receiver yet the two piece has four screws attaching them to the receiver. Not to mention that a one piece weighs more which puts more sheer force on the three screws than does the two piece bases.

Another little annoyance is that a one piece base covers up half of the ejection/ loading port and makes loading just a little more dificult for folks with big hands.

I have a nearly brand new 700 BDL in 30-06 and I was going through the same dilema as you a few months ago. I bought the Leupold 2 piece Dual Dovetail low mounts and they are awesome! I'd highly recommend them. They mount VERY securely, came highly recommended, and despite what someone said, look good. My choice should I do it again - Leupold Dual Dovetails!

Maybe a tad exaggerated but I believe your partly right. I have seen a few sets of Leupold rings lately that don't have me impressed. One set was out of round and I have had to take back. And the last set dovetail turned very easy by hand. And one had the wrong screws in them. It does suck having to take these back. I have had about a dozen sets of Leupold rings. So 3 failures out of 12, maybe ain't that bad, but shouldn't be.

Problem with other sets are thier availability. Leupolds may have thier issues but its convienent, and they generally look nice. When I first read your comment, I thought that is not right at all. Then started counting up my problems, and started rethinking.

Yeah, it's not like it happens all of the time but off and on one will see these things. Yet one person that mounts a scope once or twice a year probably won't have any problems cause the odds are in their favor.

However, at the store we mount 10 - 30 scopes a day and I get to see a lot of the quality control problems with different manufacturers of various items, as others here do as well, and lately Leupold has had far more than its share of quality problems concerning their scope mountings.

BB, perhaps the one piece base may not be more solid or secure than a two piece but it is certainly not less. I have both one and two piece leupold and weaver bases. It is my opinion that the one piece base in most cases is more solid due to the fact that one large solid piece of metal is definitely stronger than two small ones. While I don't have the experience and training you do, I've been shooting long enough to know what I like and what I don't.