Rimfire Dovetail Question

neos

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So a friend has an old Marathon Products 22 that he wants to put a scope onto. Tried mounting a Tasco 22 rimfire scope on with no luck. Tried another set of rings that were built much better, and again, no luck mounting the scope or rings. Took a measurement and it read 10mm on the digital calipers. Does anyone know what kind of mount this is? I will get him to send me a picture or two for you to see and help. Thanks.
 
Ok. Here is a picture of the mount I was trying to describe. I just confirmed it that it was at 10mm across the widest part of the outside edges. It is moreso 'square' on the sides rather than undercut like on a true dovetail. Thanks again.

 
The Marathon is an American made rifle and therefore most likely has a 3/8" dovetails. The other common size on rimfire rifles is 11mm. Many rings designed for dovetail grooves have a rail clamp that can be flipped to accommodate both sizes. You can get inexpensive (around $20) but solid UTG Accushot rings from Amazon that will do the trick. There are many others.
 
That really does not look like a dovetail at all. You mentioned --

It is moreso 'square' on the sides rather than undercut like on a true dovetail.

A quick google on Marathon rifles turned up hits suggesting that these rifles were sold as kits. If that's the case, I wonder if that rail on the top was left square with the intent that it be machined into a dovetail by the person building the kit.

If that rail is not undercut to a true dovetail profile, I don't think tip-off type rings are going to work.

If there is enough material in the rail and it is of the right starting dimentions, you might be able to mill a dovetail profile into the rail. Getting that done properly would require a milling machine and should be done by someone who knows what they are doing. Done properly, this would be the least visibly obvious modification to the rail.

Another option might be to find a set of suitable bases and drill and tap the rail to mount the bases. That requires careful setup and drillpress or milling machine work and will leave obvious holes in the rail should the scope be removed. This approach would obviously change the overall look of the rifle. I don't think I would go this route.
 
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Indeed, now that I have looked more closely at the photo in post #2, the rifle in question does not appear to have dovetails at all. No rings that I'm aware of will fasten to that. My apologies for my initial response.
 
Well, thank you all for the help, tips, advice and time provided. As it is not 'cut', we will just leave it as it is for open sights. We had a scope mounted with dovetail rings before, but it always kept on moving POI. I am now aware why. Thanks all again.
 
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