Scope rail vs Leopold mounts

[Chilly Willy]

I have a semi custom 300RUM built on a factory Remington S/S BDL 700 action and barrel. The stock is an HS Precision which fits like a glove! I'm reloading 200 grain accu bonds @ 3000 FPS with Retumbo and doing well. However my question is what benefit if any will I get from changing out my Leopold mounts (windage adjustable rear, dovetail front) for the tactical style scope rail and rings? The scope I have mounted is a 4 - 12 x 40 A/O 3200 Elite. Is this worth the $210 its gonna cost me? Would I be better of sinking this money into a barrel?

 

[BountyHunter]

Chilly Willy

Short answer is absolutely no benefit, other than you might go to a tapered base to keep cross hair in optical center.

Long answer is you do not need to spend $200 for quality set.

Ken Farrel tapered base is only $41 from Brownells.

FA Enterprises Tactical Rings are only $80 from Brownells. That is full retail costs also on both items.

You can also go to Burris double dovetail bases for $24 and Burris Signature rings with insert kit for building in MOA up to 40 MOA. cost is $44 plus $9 for inset kit. Once again full retail costs from Brownells. They are as strong as anything on the market. Tactical bases and rings are mainly for taking off and on optics on a routine basis while strong and reliable and return to zero. Not exactly essential criteria for non combat hunting gun.

Spend the money on reloading, barrel or scope upgrade first.

BH

 

[Brent]

I agree with BH in that you don't have to break the bank on converting. I do however believe that the one piece Weaver setup is superior in design and strength. Bedding a Weaver rail eliminates induced stress on the optics and mounting system, and yes, it will also let you swap scopes with like rails or remove/re-install with good repeatability. "My" main focus is on eliminating movement from the base and rings short of welding it all together, which certainly has crossed my mind. Harold Vaughn examines this in his book "Rifle Accuracy Facts". Like others I know also feel, the windage adjustable rings are simply the root of all evil, twist in rings offer no more comfort and will loosen and flex, and can shear off. When you consider that every .0001" movement on a ring can translate to .1" at 100 yards, or 1" at 1000 yards, you can quickly see that ZERO flex or shift is manditory to top accuracy. This is the same reason why so much importance is placed on a tight, straight and square, well machined barrel and receiver threads, and sometimes the type of thread used... point of impact shift.

I would certainly upgrade the rings and bases before rebarreling. Also, if it's a Farrell base I'd opt for the G-Force model. My preferance for rings are the Leupold MK4.