Leupold Scope mounts quality?

I have a set of standard rings and mounts on my Howa 1500. I have no complaints. An attractive and solid mount on a hunting rifle. The windage screws are handy and allow for easy disassembly. The screws came dabbed with blue loctite and I occasionally use blue loctite on many parts, including the windage screws, where necessary. For the record, the windage screws have never loosened on me.

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Personally I do not care for STD mounting system,... there is a few reasons I don't like them, but my biggest dislike is possibly putting and maintaining torque on the scope tube from adjusting the windage screws, the front dove tail mount is very tight and needs a lot of torque to be turned. With the proper tools to get both front and rear rings perfectly aligned, and Loctite on the rear adjustment screws, this setup is probably fine, but there are too many "what if's" for me,... I let mine go with one of the rifles I sold.

I use "Weaver Grand Slam" rings,.. nice solid steel construction, with 4 screws per ring,... I generally pick them up for around $40...
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Tabacco Brook said:
Personally I do not care for STD mounting system,... there is a few reasons I don't like them, but my biggest dislike is possibly putting and maintaining torque on the scope tube from adjusting the windage screws, the front dove tail mount is very tight and needs a lot of torque to be turned. With the proper tools to get both front and rear rings perfectly aligned, and Loctite on the rear adjustment screws, this setup is probably fine, but there are too many "what if's" for me,... I let mine go with one of the rifles I sold.

I use "Weaver Grand Slam" rings,.. nice solid steel construction, with 4 screws per ring,... I generally pick them up for around $40...
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I've had the Grand Slams break; or rather the clamp on the cross-bolt snap right across the hole. It would be a decent design if they machined them instead of cast, powder metal or compressed oatmeal or whatever junk they made them out of.
 
Hmm learn something everyday.
53 years of using these setups not one problem
Must be doing something wrong.
Oh now that would be many many rifles.
 
I have used the Leupold system on many, many rifles without any issues.
However, for very high recoil chamberings, I prefer the dual dovetail mounts. D.
 
Dogleg said:
I've had the Grand Slams break; or rather the clamp on the cross-bolt snap right across the hole. It would be a decent design if they machined them instead of cast, powder metal or compressed oatmeal or whatever junk they made them out of.
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Right on Dogleg,... I haven't had a problem with mine,.. when I bought the first set of these I was looking for Leupold LRW rings but the shop never had any, so the guy suggested the Grand Slams, so I bought them and have been happy ever since,... but now you've got me second guessing,... hope my OCD don't kick in on this one cause I'll end up changing all my rings,.. lol
 
They've been around long enough that they have a "classic" feel to them, and I like the look on a nice gloss-finish bolt rifle...but if you actually believe the old Leupold hype about windage adjustability I think you are in for a disappointment. Older advertisements also touted them as an almost QD-type mount; they would show the scope being swung around like a jack-handle to free the front dovetail from its recess. Total BS! If you use a precision optical instrument as a crowbar, you will no longer have a precision optical instrument.

Same thing for windage adjustment. I use a solid steel 1-inch bar to mount these rings, and it lets me jiggle the front ring back and forth until the front and rear are in line with each other and more or less parallel to the barrel. But that's as far as the adjustments go. I make sure the bar slides freely back and forth in the rings and tighten up those windage screws thoroughly before a scope ever lays down in the rings. Lapping here is your friend.

If reading that makes you think that these rings/bases are more trouble than they are worth, I sure won't argue...
 
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I've got a few of these rings with broken crossbolt screws. Heavy ring, weak screw.
I've used the Redfield one and two-piece mounts for years. Leupolds are just as good.
 
Dogleg said:
I've had the Grand Slams break; or rather the clamp on the cross-bolt snap right across the hole. It would be a decent design if they machined them instead of cast, powder metal or compressed oatmeal or whatever junk they made them out of.
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Leupold PRW ring clamps are made from the same pot metal crap. Straight from China I bet.
 
canadaman30 said:
Leupold PRW ring clamps are made from the same pot metal crap. Straight from China I bet.
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Just had a set of PRW lows break when tightening. Got them to 20in/lbs and the leg that clamps on to the rail snapped in half...... was not very impressed to say the least. Thought I was buying quality (was certainly paying for it!). I can confirm its cheap pot metal. Now what set of rings to replace these with....


 
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Mr.Crumbz said:
Just had a set of PRW lows break when tightening. Got them to 20in/lbs and the leg that clamps on to the rail snapped in half...... was not very impressed to say the least. Thought I was buying quality (was certainly paying for it!). I can confirm its cheap pot metal. Now what set of rings to replace these with....
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Call Leupold USA, explain to them and they should mail you replacement
 
I put a set of leupolds on a savage that had the rear base screws installed crooked from the factory. I didn't have enough windage adjustment in the scope so the leupold rings worked great for that application.
 
Weaver (matte) or Warne (gloss) steel weaver bases with Burris zee rings look nice and clean and will handle any recoil or abuse you throw at it.
 
Mr.Crumbz said:
Just had a set of PRW lows break when tightening. Got them to 20in/lbs and the leg that clamps on to the rail snapped in half...... was not very impressed to say the least. Thought I was buying quality (was certainly paying for it!). I can confirm its cheap pot metal. Now what set of rings to replace these with....


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What bases were you tightening them on?
Its hard to believe that 20 in/lbs would snap those unless the base was "weaver type" but undersized.

The PRW rings fit PRW bases beautifully and some other brands too. I have found that Weaver and Millet brand bases are a bit narrower and will cause the clamp to bend if overtightened.
 
I was tightening them on to the rail that came with my 10/22 50th Aniversary Edition. Only the one clamp on the one scope ring broke. The other I torqued down to 30in/lb with no issue. The one pictured just split in half; the one screw made it to 20in/lbs and the second cracked the clamp before my torque driver clicked.
 
Mr.Crumbz said:
I was tightening them on to the rail that came with my 10/22 50th Aniversary Edition. Only the one clamp on the one scope ring broke. The other I torqued down to 30in/lb with no issue. The one pictured just split in half; the one screw made it to 20in/lbs and the second cracked the clamp before my torque driver clicked.
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Gotcha,

Well that certainly isn't the norm with PRW/QRW rings, it likely was a legitimate mfg defect.
 
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