Single piece scope mounts

Introduction

The most important fact that is in common with all single piece scope mounts is that the both scope rings share one piece of material.

The whole mount is made of one piece of raw material and common process to make mount of it is milling.

Single piece scope mounts are usually made for tactical applications and are most suitable for use on Picatinny rails. Although, there are some manufacturers on the market which make elegant one piece mounts for hunting applications, such as:

Spuhr,
ERA-TAC Ultralight etc.

Besides Picatinny rails, there are other rail standards that are also common with this design of scope mounts, for example:

11 mm – Al
5 mm – Tikka, Sako TRG
19 mm – CZ 550

These type of mounts are usually made from high quality aluminium and can be either quick detachable or fixed.

Two groups of Single piece scope mounts for different purposes

FOR HUNTING RIFLES

These mounts can be found for more modern rifles, because decades ago they were not available yet. Even though we can find these mounts with great, elegant shapes (like Blaser, Sauer, Innomount and other mounts, for example), they are not that much popular with other, cheaper manufacturers.

These mounts are quite expensive and therefore they can be mostly found on modern rifles of higher price levels.

FOR TACTICAL RIFLES

Single piece scope mounts for tactical rifles are nearly perfect. It is probably the best way to mount a scope with enough rigidness, hardness, durability, reliability and precision. On the other hand, these scope mounts are normally expensive.

PROS

One of the most important advantages of single piece scope mounts is perfect ring alignment. Therefore, normally you will not flex or damage the scope with this kind of mount.

The user also gets a bigger contact surface between the scope and the mount, which is a favourable factor. One of great things with these scope mounts is that there is no lapping needed.

CONS

If you are an aesthetic freak, you might not be too happy with these mounts. They usually have the bulky appearance and bigger mass. If you can live with that, you will be just fine with the choice.

Although, you have to be prepared to pay somewhat bigger price because they are normally more expensive. Also, there is the less adjustable length for proper eye relief.

Is lapping still advisable with one piece scope mounts?

There is no need for lapping at all. You will not gain anything with it, because these scope mounts are made of one piece of material, which means perfect alignment. Of course, the mount has to be made as it should be – proper quality during manufacturing is needed.

If the quality of the production process and design is not good enough, there might be problems with such mounts. Not only that lapping is normally not needed, but there is also no need for bedding, which is also a great advantage.

Single piece mounts with an inclination

Single piece scope mounts are the most common mount form with inclination. The inclination is usually 20 MOA. Of course, matched rings are needed; they should not be mixed, otherwise, we lose this great option.

These type of mounts are great for long-range shooting because they offer whole new possibilities for long-range shooters.

Conclusion

Single piece scope mounts are great mounts because of the perfect ring alignment, rigidness and so on.

They are normally quite bulky, which might be the reason (in addition to expensive prices) that they are not so much popular on hunting rifles (except original mounts from hunting rifles manufacturers which can be very elegant and good looking – Blaser mount, Sauer mount, etc.) as they are on sport and tactical rifles. Lapping or bedding are normally not needed, which are just two more factors why they are great mounts.

Normally, if you like the appearance, you cannot go wrong with these type of mounts.

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INNOMOUNT for Sauer 303, Picatinny rail, 200 mm

INNOmount QD Mount for Sauer 303, Picatinny Rail, 200 mm

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INNOMOUNT for Sauer 404, Picatinny rail, 200 mm

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INNOmount slight long for Merkel, Picatinny rail

INNOmount QD Mount for Merkel, Picatinny Rail, Slight Long

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VIDEO

Introduction

In recent years we can observe that a trend of Picatinny rail has become widespread and global. It is driven by the NATO standardized rails, more commonly known as the Picatinny rail standard. Picatinny rail being the New Jersey Arsenal that developed it in 1995.

These mounting options are revolutionary. The biggest and best advantage being that the Picatinny rail can be used its entire length and not bordered to a few pre-designed slots like for example the Weaver rail standard was before.

The other main advantage is the ease of use and interchangeability. If a product is meant for a Picatinny rail design it will fit all Picatinny-rails, no matter the manufacturer or date of production.

Picatinny/Weaver Rail

Picatinny Rail and Weaver rail profile

Design

The Picatinny rail is almost exclusively crafted from a single piece of metal (in some cases aluminum). In this manner, the axis of the Picatinny rail is perfectly straight and aligned with the axis of the firearm. Therefore the rifle scope which is mounted onto this kind of configuration is certainly aligned with the rifle / gun and the trajectory of the ammunition.

Weaver rail design on the other hand is usually manufactured in two separate pieces, greatly increasing the possibilities for the axis to be crooked, overlapping, and out of line.

It is always harder to align two separate pieces to a third line than it is to align one piece to another. In this way, the lapping of two mounting rings on a single-piece Picatinny rail is no longer required.

The single-piece rail will assure that both rings are perfectly aligned to each other and that no unwished stress is transferred to the riflescope.

Picatinny compare to Weaver Rail

The Picatinny rail itself is an evolutionary step forward from the older Weaver rail. The main difference between Picatinny rail and Weaver rail is the spacing of the slots. Picatinny rail design has them evenly placed exactly 5.23 mm from one slot to the other, 3 mm deep. For this reason, the mounting options are repeatable and the same as other firearms using the Picatinny rail standard.

Interchangeability was a major driving force in the development of the new standard as different NATO armies need to be compatible with each other.

Weaver rail has 3.8mm wide slots and these slots can be placed anywhere on the Weaver rail and in any number that the producer wished.

Advantages of Picatinny design

A big advantage for using the Picatinny rail design is the ever-present recoil stop. Furthermore, the manufacturing of the rail is not very technically demanding and can be done without the use of state-of-the-art machines which greatly reduces the cost of the finished product, making it very affordable.

The Picatinny rail is easy to mount and usually, this type of configuration does not transfer negative stresses and forces from the fired weapon to the rifle scope.

In addition, the Picatinny rail with its very long useable surface works well for mounting longer rifle scopes or to achieve optimum eye relief.

The durability and toughness are other big pluses for this solution.

Manufacturers of Popular Models

A majority of the Picatinny rings are fixed, but a number of best rated European manufacturers (EAW, MAK,..) have, in recent years, put a lot of effort into the development of detachable ring with100% repeatability, with which it becomes easy to remove the scope from the weapon without the use of tools.

No re-zeroing is needed with such mount options, but these models tend to be expensive.

Weaver and Picatinny Rings

Picatinny rail and weaver rail share one more thing. It is possible to use the Weaver ring and the Picatinny ring on the Picatinny-rails, but it is usually impossible to use the Picatinny ring on the Weaver base. The reason being the above-mentioned positioning and spacing of the slots.

Picatinny mounts have a 5mm recoil stop that goes into the rail slot and since
Weaver rail only has 3.8mm wide slots such rings do not fit on Weaver rails.

Due to this reason, the Picatinny-rails are popular and prevailing on the market in recent years and eventually, these options will completely oust the Weaver rail from the market.

Single piece scope mounts

Introduction

Besides Picatinny rails, there are other rail standards that are also common with this design of scope mounts, for example:

Two groups of Single piece scope mounts for different purposes

PROS

CONS

Is lapping still advisable with one piece scope mounts?

Single piece mounts with an inclination

Conclusion

VIDEO

Introduction

Design

Picatinny compare to Weaver Rail

Advantages of Picatinny design

Manufacturers of Popular Models

Weaver and Picatinny Rings

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