MPA Rifle rings or one peice scope mount?

[0V3RC10CK3D]

Hello, I have an MPA BA PMR PRO II coming in 6.5 Creedmoor soon and a Nightforce ATACR 7-35x56 sitting on the shelf for it.

Should I do rings or a scope mount? Any idea what height I should get to keep the bell of the scope closer to the barrel? (not too close but like a 1/4" - 1/2"

Any other thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[spife7980]

Rings or mount doesn’t matter. I do rings as it’s cheaper. Somewhere around .9-1.125 should work but the trend is higher, you have a cheek rest that’s adjustable to accommodate that.

 

[Quick1]

I have a MPA rifle as well, love it. But went with the American Rifle Company (ARC) M-Brace Scope Mount and love it. I was using the ARC M-Brace scope rings for a while, but wanted to be able to remove the scope and reinstall as easy as possible and the mount makes it pretty easy. If you have not checked out ARC mounts and rings, recommend them, makes installing the scope easier.

 

[Rob01]

I have an MPA mount that will work if you wanted it shoot me a PM and we can discuss.

 

[ToddM]

Rings are often cheaper from the same company and more flexible for scope mounting position adjustments. A lot of the newer 1 piece mounts have almost no room to adjust the scope in the mount itself, so you are stuck with only being able to move it on the rail. With some scopes with a longer eye relief and rifles with a short rail, esp. if you have a shorter LOP, you can run out of room with a tight 1 piece mount. I tend to default to canti mounts just because I've ran into tons of setups where a non-canti mount would not go far enough forward, but I've never an into a setup I could not make a canti-mount work with ease.

Also with an adjustable cheek rest, there's zero benefit to the old practice of trying to get the scope bell close to the barrel. In fact for many shooters it puts their head unnaturally and uncomfortably low. We're seeing more and more bolt gun shooters going to 1.5" and even higher mounts to get a more vertical/natural head position.

 

[popeye089]

Rings are often cheaper from the same company and more flexible for scope mounting position adjustments. A lot of the newer 1 piece mounts have almost no room to adjust the scope in the mount itself, so you are stuck with only being able to move it on the rail. With some scopes with a longer eye relief and rifles with a short rail, esp. if you have a shorter LOP, you can run out of room with a tight 1 piece mount. I tend to default to canti mounts just because I've ran into tons of setups where a non-canti mount would not go far enough forward, but I've never an into a setup I could not make a canti-mount work with ease.

Also with an adjustable cheek rest, there's zero benefit to the old practice of trying to get the scope bell close to the barrel. In fact for many shooters it puts their head unnaturally and uncomfortably low. We're seeing more and more bolt gun shooters going to 1.5" and even higher mounts to get a more vertical/natural head position.

@ToddM is spot on

I love mounts better for the one piece design, and if you buy a reputable brand i.e. Spuhr, BO, Gray, Gieselle, NF, etc you can almost bet they are most times, concentric & square (I say almost because men and the things we produce are prone to error and imperfection)

If you go ring just make sure your height is correct (often times people buy too low)

If you go mount, I'd wait until scope is in hand and measure properly

Good luck

 

[0V3RC10CK3D]

Interesting, I was always worried about not having enough adjustability in the cheek rise for a higher mounted scope. You guys really think I should bump it up slightly higher? Like AR10 height? (pretending I have a handguard that I don't)

 

[Lightning8]

Trend is higher mounts for higher head position.

 

[Rob01]

Interesting, I was always worried about not having enough adjustability in the cheek rise for a higher mounted scope. You guys really think I should bump it up slightly higher? Like AR10 height? (pretending I have a handguard that I don't)

That would be up to you as different people like different heights depending on their facial structure and neck. I don’t like AR height on my bolt guns. Depending on the rifle the 1.125-1.26” area is where I like to stay. You can wait until you see how the rifle fits you when it comes in if you wanted. Would only be a few days to get a mount after you knew what worked for you.

For reference here is a pic of a MPA Matrix Pro II chassis with my Vudoo in it with a 1.26” height mount holding a scope similar in size to the one you plan to use. Asking you can see the chassis has plenty of adjustment.

 

[popeye089]

I would wait until you have the scope in hand and measure where your eye sits.
Our faces are shaped differently, and what works for me may leave you stretching your neck or crunching it.

I always fit my rifle first for my body, then I adjust where my scope sits both in height and eye box.
The important thing is to fit the rifle to your body and not your body to the rifle

I instruct shooting and this is always the first thing I notice when people shoot both prone and positionally. They fit their body to the rifle and their hits end up suffering, regardless of distance, of course this is exaggerated at distance

 

[Rob01]

He has the scope but waiting for the rifle. Fitting rifle to shooter is important and always fixed that first in the classes I taught also.

 

[popeye089]

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He has the scope but waiting for the rifle. Fitting rifle to shooter is important and always fixed that first in the classes I taught also.

thanks for that, thought it was reversed.

So, to cover the reasons why to fit the rifle first, regardless if it’s a red dot or scope

1 when you get into position, the fov of the optic should fall naturally to your sight. Think about how many times you see shooters searching for their reticle or point of aim. This leads to fast target acquisition and fast first round shots.

2 for those with ill fitting rifles, when they finally find it, their heads are often in unnatural positions that aren’t just uncomfortable, but through recoil, they routinely come off target through almost every shot. Because the rifle is being held unnaturally.

3 just getting into position, you can see it takes them longer to mount the rifles, again not just in the prone position but even standing using semiautos or lining up barrier shots. They have to use extra movements just to get into a stable firing position.

4 these ill fitting rifles leave the body often bladed which doesn’t help in recoil mitigation and secondly often leaves their natural point of aim off, again affecting follow up shots and the ability to spot their own hits or misses on target, especially when you start using larger bore rounds

Hope we helped lots of good points in the thread made by quite a few seasoned shooters and instructors here

Edited because of stupid autocorrect***