Take a look at their explanation of why their rings have only one screw per side. It makes complete sense and IMO it is a superior design. http://www.albertatacticalrifle.com/why-us/faq/17-why-our-rings-have-one-bolt-per-side
ATRS Scope Rings
- Thread starter PrecisionLongshot
- Start date
With a proper torque wrench you will be able to tighten 4 screws the same. You need to oil the threads, and put oil under the screw head to help get the screws to the proper tension. But if you are using loctite, you can't oil them, and I have yet to hear of anyone putting loctite on ring screws. I would prefer having 4 screws per side on my rings.
Why?
I use blue permatex on almost everything except those situations that require specific thread treatment. Never have I had a bolt loosen with the stuff. I've put it through enough demanding situations that it's easily won me over.
I have TPS but would have no issues running ATRS. I wouldn't go more than two screws per side personally.
I must be really anal or paranoid then because I use 3 screws/side on my scope rings! And I do put the blue loctite on my ring screws. It must be working because I never-ever had a screw back out on me. Anyway, everyone has their own ideas of what works and what doesn't. Makes for interesting conversation....
I think it's ok to have an option of something but without trying it how would you really know for sure I dunno maybe I'm wrong. I was a sceptical guy ab tac talked me into it and the price was right. Needless to say for my needs I'm more than happy with them and there quality two bolts or ten if they work good they work good. I like opinions what are the defacto best rings guys ?
I am going to piggyback off of swissin comment on this one. with 2 screws all it would take is for one of the screws to come loose and your rifle would be out of action. With a 4 screw system, if one came loose the other three would still have enough inch pounds on the scope to hold it in place and shoot point of aim.
I buddy of mine who carried a rifle for a living didn't want to leave even 4 screw scope rings to chance and would take a sharpie and draw a line through the screws onto the rings. a quick visual check would confirm if the rings were still tight.
all the best
Trevor
mightyhunter
CGN Regular
- Location
- Edmonton, Alberta
Wolverine Supplies. Great rings, heavy though.
Gunnerlove
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Vancouver Island
Near Manufacturing.
I have a background in aviation and redundancy is the key, there are back up systems for everything in case something goes wrong while in flight to avoid a catastrophic event
The design of one screw per side leaves a guy SOL if one screw lets go. Having said this, I am running American Rifle Company rings, which I mentioned in an earlier post, on one of my rifles and I have never had an issue. For a weekend warrior this is all fine and dandy but if I was going into combat or a once in a lifetime hunt, I would prepare myself accordingly. The Badger Max 50 are as robust as they get as well as the US Optics 6 screw, I believe Nightforce may make a 4/6 screw set as well. In all reality, there are many quality ring manufacturers (ATRS included) a guy could choose from. Some of the best I would say are Near, Sako 3 ring mounts, Murphy Precision...But there are more affordable options as well like TPS and Seekins.
mightyhunter
CGN Regular
- Location
- Edmonton, Alberta
Yeah I have a set on one of my rifles that weights 16 lbs...the rings sure look indestructible.
- Location
- calgary alberta
The structural capacity of 7075 aluminum is as high or higher than the mild steel that is typically used in mass produced scope rings made by most manufacturers. Tolerances overall are not kept as tight as they could be when making rings the way most mass producers do. This is why the large gap between the upper and lower ring halves is there and why so many rings require lapping to ensure proper fit.
On most mass produced rings the screw threads are machine tapped to about 65% thread contact rather than thread milled which creates a better than 80% thread contact strictly due to cost and higher production rates. Tighter tolerance threads are FAR less likely to allow the fastener to loosen up or back off. When properly torqued the chances of fasteners loosening up is nil.
Marketing is a major part of what some guys senselessly buy into the 6 and even now 8 screw per ring rings that are on the market.
Having multiple fasteners holding on 1 part makes perfect torque virtually impossible. As you torque the next screw the 1 before it has its torque altered, and so on, so you keep applying more torque to each fastener as you go around and around in the quest for even torque.
Using larger sized screws allows for FAR more strength. Most multi fastener rings employ at best grade 5, #6 screws, going up to a # 8, grade 8 screws as we have more than the yield strength of the fasteners. Multiplying the number of fasteners does not directly increase strength. Most guys think that if 1 screw, regardless of size is capable of X number of pounds of torque to failure then 2 of the same screws will double the value, this is grossly incorrect.
The funny part with all of these 4 and 6 screw rings is that the scope rail which holds the whole scope and ring assembly to the action is normally only held in place with 4 #6 screws. More weight in the rings in this case can not be good in my opinion.
During our R&D it was the rail mounting screws that failed before the ring half screws did. Also during the testing of our rings against 2 other well known makers, their 2 screw per side rings failed BEFORE ours did in a stress test where the rings were pulled apart to see how much sheer strength the ring halves and fasteners actually had and which system was superior.
Maybe we should be welding the rail in place and then welding the scope ring halves? That way you would never have a fastener come loose.
On most mass produced rings the screw threads are machine tapped to about 65% thread contact rather than thread milled which creates a better than 80% thread contact strictly due to cost and higher production rates. Tighter tolerance threads are FAR less likely to allow the fastener to loosen up or back off. When properly torqued the chances of fasteners loosening up is nil.
Marketing is a major part of what some guys senselessly buy into the 6 and even now 8 screw per ring rings that are on the market.
Having multiple fasteners holding on 1 part makes perfect torque virtually impossible. As you torque the next screw the 1 before it has its torque altered, and so on, so you keep applying more torque to each fastener as you go around and around in the quest for even torque.
Using larger sized screws allows for FAR more strength. Most multi fastener rings employ at best grade 5, #6 screws, going up to a # 8, grade 8 screws as we have more than the yield strength of the fasteners. Multiplying the number of fasteners does not directly increase strength. Most guys think that if 1 screw, regardless of size is capable of X number of pounds of torque to failure then 2 of the same screws will double the value, this is grossly incorrect.
The funny part with all of these 4 and 6 screw rings is that the scope rail which holds the whole scope and ring assembly to the action is normally only held in place with 4 #6 screws. More weight in the rings in this case can not be good in my opinion.
During our R&D it was the rail mounting screws that failed before the ring half screws did. Also during the testing of our rings against 2 other well known makers, their 2 screw per side rings failed BEFORE ours did in a stress test where the rings were pulled apart to see how much sheer strength the ring halves and fasteners actually had and which system was superior.
Maybe we should be welding the rail in place and then welding the scope ring halves? That way you would never have a fastener come loose.
- Location
- calgary alberta
Looks and the real world do not always jive.
I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one. When I set my torque wrench to 20 in lbs...it's not going to apply more than 20 inch lbs. No matter what. When I torque the rings on our C14s I go over them at least 8 times per screw. First in a ##### cross pattern, then in line. They are all exactly the same. There is zero gap between upper and lower. They are perfect. We use an 8 screw setup in the front and 4 in the rear. Never had a screw come loose in my 3 years as a sniper with this technique. And these guns have not been babied by any means.
