Thread: Dum

Ha - the base screws are a legendary thing. The front base often has two screws of different lengths, the front screw of the front base is often shorter than the front base rear screw due to the presence of the barrel shank. Often I see the two screws reversed, meaning the screw in the front hole bottoms out on the barrel shank before it bears onto the base and the rear is only hanging on by a few threads. This means that effectively the scope is only supported by the arse end base... Not good on a lightweight expensive scope!

This is one reason on heavy caliber or precision type rifles where weight isn't such an issue I opt for a rail and bed it to the action. Almost 100% success rate like that, although I am not knocking a well set up set of bases as they are very reliable if set up correctly. I've been presented with several brand new rifles with loose front bases with this issue and from some quite big name suppliers - who you'd think would be able to set things up correctly. Kinda disappointing considering the $$$$$ involved - not even factoring in the confidence knock a new to shooting owner gets when things aren't working right.