Help picking mount or rings?

[_Will_]

I currently have a Vortex 3x15x44 that I plan on mounting to my 20" PA10 with a Magpul ACS stock. I placed the scope ontop of 1" blocks HDPE (plastic) with the plastic touching the tubes. If I take my head and place onto the stock with a cheek weld, the eye relief and view is pretty much perfect... The objective has 1" clearance from contacting the rail.. I'm good in that aspect. According to diagrams on measuring ring height, if I measure the base to the centerline( middle of the scope tube) it appears to be around 1.5". ( I measured from the rail to center of the tube" maybe it should be 1" versus 1.5 ?? Maybe I'm doing it wrong?

The question.. Which mounts or rings are recommended? Naturally, the Vortex extended 20 MOA cantilever comes to mind. I was also eyeballing for the Burris XTR sig rings which have internal MOA shims which are pretty neat.

Second question.. my scope has 75 MOA of adjustment ( 37 up and 37 down?) that would be pretty close to maxing out 900 according to a chart. Do I need or want a 20 MOA base? Most will say yes..

Cheers!

 

[Evintos]

You want AR height mounts which are generally from 1.4" to 1.55". You got Badger, Warne, Seekins, American Defense Manufacturing, Bobro, American Rifle Company, Midwest Industries, Geissele, etc; basically any mount designed for the AR15. What's your budget?

You don't need a mount with a 20moa cant but it "gives" you back some dialing range which allows you to not need to combine dialing and elevation holdovers. This ultimately depends on the type of ammo and best way to figure out if you should get one is to look at your ballistics chart or calculator and see the amount of drop you're potentially looking at for the distances you intend to shoot at.

 

[PinesAndProjectiles]

I would stay away from the Vortex Cantilever mounts.

I had one and the screws were Chinesium junk.

But, with your one inch spacer and a 30mm tube, ultimately you would want a mount with 1.59” of height.

This calculated by half of your tube diameter, which is 30mm, and adding one inch (spacer height.)

This seems kind of high. There may be mounts this high, but I’m not familiar with them.


If a 0 MOA mount can get you to 900, that will work if you plan on shooting less than 900 yards. Obviously, further will need more elevation, or you will be holding to cover the difference.

 

[AleksanderSuave]

You want AR height mounts which are generally from 1.4" to 1.55". You got Badger, Warne, Seekins, American Defense Manufacturing, Bobro, American Rifle Company, Midwest Industries, Geissele, etc; basically any mount designed for the AR15. What's your budget?

You don't need a mount with a 20moa cant but it "gives" you back some dialing range which allows you to not need to combine dialing and elevation holdovers. This ultimately depends on the type of ammo and best way to figure out if you should get one is to look at your ballistics chart or calculator and see the amount of drop you're potentially looking at for the distances you intend to shoot at.

agreed with all of the above, with primary arms or aero's offerings being the cheapest I'd go with.

However, having owned a few, I believe Bobro makes one of the nicest AR mounts, especially if you want quick detach capability to move it from one rifle to another. That is my personal recommendation. Its pricey, but it works well.

 

[st1650]

Aero is lightweight and very nice for a lpvo. It is a bit of a bitch to plum the scope because as you torque the screws it tends to rotate the scope but it’s very lightweight and seems able to hold zero quite well, wouldn’t use it for say a heavy 5-25x but for a 16oz lpvo or a vxr patrol 3-9 it works well.

For heavier duty I like the Warne Quick Detach Gen 2 Extended MSR. The QD works well, fairly lightweight, horizontal split rings, nice heavy duty torx screws - I like it better than my ADM mount.

The ones I don’t recommend are the vortex cantilever (bad hardware) and the kinetic sidelok (doesn’t hold zero, the qd doesn’t work well and can bind - expensive garbage.)

 

[_Will_]

You want AR height mounts which are generally from 1.4" to 1.55". You got Badger, Warne, Seekins, American Defense Manufacturing, Bobro, American Rifle Company, Midwest Industries, Geissele, etc; basically any mount designed for the AR15. What's your budget?

You don't need a mount with a 20moa cant but it "gives" you back some dialing range which allows you to not need to combine dialing and elevation holdovers. This ultimately depends on the type of ammo and best way to figure out if you should get one is to look at your ballistics chart or calculator and see the amount of drop you're potentially looking at for the distances you intend to shoot at.

Thanks for the response. I would say 200ish. I was looking at ADM mounts before and the Warne also came up in other searches. For some reason Warne was getting " poo poo'd" on Reddit. No idea why.? I always thought they were top quality.

 

[_Will_]

I would stay away from the Vortex Cantilever mounts.

I had one and the screws were Chinesium junk.

But, with your one inch spacer and a 30mm tube, ultimately you would want a mount with 1.59” of height.

This calculated by half of your tube diameter, which is 30mm, and adding one inch (spacer height.)

This seems kind of high. There may be mounts this high, but I’m not familiar with them.


If a 0 MOA mount can get you to 900, that will work if you plan on shooting less than 900 yards. Obviously, further will need more elevation, or you will be holding to cover the difference.

That was my fear with Vortex... Imported Chinesium.. Just to be clear.. the spacer was just plastic blocks to simulate ring height. Either way, it sounds like the general consensus is 1.5 -/+ ring height is optimal for AR platforms. This seems consistent with my findings also, assuming the measurements I took are accurate. base+centerline( scope tube) =ring height 1.5 -/+

 

[Trigger Monkey]

That was my fear with Vortex... Imported Chinesium

Vortex has several different cantilever mounts, not all of them are made in China. What you described, with 20 MOA of cant, is the Precision Cantilever mount that is a Vortex branded Seekins mount, made in the USA and about the best you can buy.

The Sport Cantilever mounts are made in China.
Pro Extended Cantilever mounts appear to be Vortex branded Warne mounts so made in USA.
The Precision QR Extended Cantilever mount is a Vortex branded ADM mount, so also made in the USA.

 

[Evintos]

If you're interested in the Warne, the MSR Line is what you should be looking into. https://warnescopemounts.com/product-category/msr-mounts/

Most of the negatives I've seen with Warne is with their super weird two piece vertically split rings that utilize base/rail clamping as part of the tightening of the rings (pic below). The traditional horizontally split cantilever style mounts such as the MSR XSKEL line gets generally positive reviews.

https://www.admmfg.com/mounts
For the ADM mounts - Recon series are vertically split ring where clamping on of the base is independent to tightening of the rings to the base. Utilizes 2 QD adjustable lever or 2 non-QD bolts. I have good experiences with these.

Scout series is similar to Recon except utilizes a single QD adjustable lever. Not recommended

Delta series is horizontally split and comes in either 2 QD adjustable lever or 2 non-QD bolts. Also normally more expensive than $200 but if you're patient, I have seen them on sale for in the $180-190 (pre-tax)

Be careful when choosing because of the many options in regards to eye relief (Dimension 'D').

If you like the ADM style QD mounts and horizontally split rings but find the ADM price is a lil high, the Midwest Industries are a good alternative with a very similar adjustment style to the ADM and a lower price, especially with their frequent sales.
https://www.midwestindustriesinc.com/category-s/354.htm

 

[AleksanderSuave]

Vortex has several different cantilever mounts, not all of them are made in China. What you described, with 20 MOA of cant, is the Precision Cantilever mount that is a Vortex branded Seekins mount, made in the USA and about the best you can buy.

The Sport Cantilever mounts are made in China.
Pro Extended Cantilever mounts appear to be Vortex branded Warne mounts so made in USA.
The Precision QR Extended Cantilever mount is a Vortex branded ADM mount, so also made in the USA.

thanks for clarifying. Lots of misinformation shared on forums typically because Vortex as a brand seems to get some odd hate.

 

[_Will_]

If you're interested in the Warne, the MSR Line is what you should be looking into. https://warnescopemounts.com/product-category/msr-mounts/

Most of the negatives I've seen with Warne is with their super weird two piece vertically split rings that utilize base/rail clamping as part of the tightening of the rings (pic below). The traditional horizontally split cantilever style mounts such as the MSR XSKEL line gets generally positive reviews.

View attachment 7807713

https://www.admmfg.com/mounts
For the ADM mounts - Recon series are vertically split ring where clamping on of the base is independent to tightening of the rings to the base. Utilizes 2 QD adjustable lever or 2 non-QD bolts. I have good experiences with these.

Scout series is similar to Recon except utilizes a single QD adjustable lever. Not recommended

Delta series is horizontally split and comes in either 2 QD adjustable lever or 2 non-QD bolts. Also normally more expensive than $200 but if you're patient, I have seen them on sale for in the $180-190 (pre-tax)

Be careful when choosing because of the many options in regards to eye relief (Dimension 'D').

If you like the ADM style QD mounts and horizontally split rings but find the ADM price is a lil high, the Midwest Industries are a good alternative with a very similar adjustment style to the ADM and a lower price, especially with their frequent sales.
https://www.midwestindustriesinc.com/category-s/354.htm

If you're interested in the Warne, the MSR Line is what you should be looking into. https://warnescopemounts.com/product-category/msr-mounts/

Most of the negatives I've seen with Warne is with their super weird two piece vertically split rings that utilize base/rail clamping as part of the tightening of the rings (pic below). The traditional horizontally split cantilever style mounts such as the MSR XSKEL line gets generally positive reviews.

View attachment 7807713

https://www.admmfg.com/mounts
For the ADM mounts - Recon series are vertically split ring where clamping on of the base is independent to tightening of the rings to the base. Utilizes 2 QD adjustable lever or 2 non-QD bolts. I have good experiences with these.

Scout series is similar to Recon except utilizes a single QD adjustable lever. Not recommended

Delta series is horizontally split and comes in either 2 QD adjustable lever or 2 non-QD bolts. Also normally more expensive than $200 but if you're patient, I have seen them on sale for in the $180-190 (pre-tax)

Be careful when choosing because of the many options in regards to eye relief (Dimension 'D').

If you like the ADM style QD mounts and horizontally split rings but find the ADM price is a lil high, the Midwest Industries are a good alternative with a very similar adjustment style to the ADM and a lower price, especially with their frequent sales.
https://www.midwestindustriesinc.com/category-s/354.htm

Thanks for those links. I think i'm leaning towards the Warne MSR XSKEL at this point. I don't see the need for QD levers in my situation. I won't be swapping optics often. I like the idea of torqueing bolts with a torque wrench vs QD torque nut settings. The Warne looks solid with a traditional clamp style scope ring vs the vertical split like on the ADM recon..

 

[TonyTheTiger]

Here I thought I was the only one to struggle with the cheap Vortex cantilever mount. I went through every metric and standard allen key I have trying to find one the right size. The "close enough" one immediately rounded out the screw heads.

 

[Trigger Monkey]

I bought one of the Vortex MIC cantilever mounts years ago to have something to use for reviews and what not so I didn't have a pull a scope from a mount already in use. It came with those quasi sae/metric allen head screws but I swapped them out for T-15's. Since then it's held up surprisingly well for a sub-$100 mount.

 

[Jigstick]

I believe Seekins makes the mounts for Vortex.

 

[NotBotvinnik]

Another vote here for Bobro

Get one… and be done with it

 

[max1840]

I like the ADM mounts and they are all I use on AR's

 

[stevieb92]

I have a few of the sport mounts from Vortex, and they aren't the greatest. There are better options at that price point. However, for a precision rig, I have several of the Vortex Precision Extended Cantilever mounts and they are solid. I believe these are made for Vortex by Seekins, and are very similar to the Precision Matched Rings (also made by Seekins for Vortex).

https://vortexoptics.com/precision-extended-cantilever-mount-30-mm-20-moa.html

 

[AleksanderSuave]

Another vote here for Bobro

Get one… and be done with it

I think people are quick to dismiss Bobro because they think the value proposition is primarily the QD option.
Its probably more so equal parts QD and a VERY high quality well-made optic mount.