Scope Mount Recommendations

[LRRPF52]

One thing I will warn you all about with some of the cheaper mounts that I have personally seen issues with, is that they will strip out on the side where the cross bolt is supposed to be embedded in the mount base. When I say strip out, I mean using a torque driver with the correct number of inch lbs applied, not Big J Hoss McRoid cranking on a wrench.

That means cheap Chinese aluminum, bad anodizing or coating to look like anodizing, or soft metal that doesn't hold up to even low torque values.

While discussing this offline with a fellow forum member, he told me some words of wisdom shared with him by his father...

"Son, only rich men can afford to buy cheap things."

We had a chuckle over that, but it is so true. I tell people frequently that if you want to buy certain products that are priced too low to take seriously, just take the cash, walk out to your driveway or back porch, dump the bills into a can, pour some accelerant on them, strike a match, and warm your hands.

That doesn't mean I'll pass up an Aero Precision mount for under $100 though.

[am4966]

Man I can't believe I forgot about the Aero they make quality products at a fair price and I'd use GG&G too. For me if under 100.00 Aero can't be beat and for most we don't need QD.

[Lightning8]

The AERO's were hard to get for a while but back in stock now (or where in stock a few days ago). There are some great pricing on AERO scope mounts on eBay right now. I picked up two to replace a PEPR and a NIKON.

[am4966]

I know they where like unicorns talked about but never seen

[jeff556]

Please forgive my ignorance, but if you are using a flat top receiver, why do you need a mount at all? Shouldn't you be able to simply put your scope in a tall set of Weaver style rings and mount them directly to the rail?

I went with a unimount for two reasons. First, I needed a cantilevered mount to get the proper eye relief without spanning the upper receiver and handguard. Second, I wanted a 20 MOA cant. Badger makes a nice riser you can install on an AR to get a 20 MOA cant. However, it doesn't address the problem of eye relief.

A unimount, with 20 MOA built in, solved both problems for me.

[Drillboss]

I like Warne mounts, solid and come in at a mid range price point. No experience with QD mounts - prefer fixed mount as I never intend to take them off and fixed seems to eliminate a potential weak spot; although the top end manufactures have apparently mastered the QD system. FYI Burris has good customer service - returned 2 PEPR mounts (one for issues with the ring screws and the other for the bolt that tighten it to the rail) and got two new mounts fairly quickly - I would not hesitate to contact Burris.

Bill,

You're right about Burris' customer service. They confirmed that the QD levers have to be jammed down so tight that they are very difficult to un-latch and they recommended trading them in for fixed mounts. Thanks for the input.

[Drillboss]

I entered the following as an edit to my original post, but I wanted to repeat it here so that no one gets a negative opinion on Burris based on my experience.



Update: I got in an Aero Ultralight and a Warne RAMP. I shot 5 rounds each of Alexander Arms 123gr Scenars with each of them and then shot 5 rounds with the PEPR. I had the same group size with all three mounts. Maybe I had the PEPR torqued down better this time, I don't know.

That said, I love the slim, sleek, elegant look of the Aero. The Warne seems to be a fine mount, but I could use just a little more eye relief with it. It does come with the 45 degree side mounts for iron sights and that seems to be a pretty good setup if that's what you're looking for.

I'll go ahead and swap the PEPR QD with Burris for a fixed mount and I think it'll be just fine for my purposes. Thanks to all for your input.