I am in the process of customizing a rifle. Received a Leupold VX 2 4-12 x 40 for Christmas. How do I determine the best rings and bases to purchase? What do y'all recommend? Thank you and Merry Christmas.

That's a pretty nice scope, think you'll like it!

Some of the manufacturers offer some pretty good info on ring heights and such, but msaybe someone can give you first hand advice if you tell us more about your rifle.

Personally, I always avoid the conventional setups with adjustable windage on the rear base. A lot of folks have used those for many years without issue, and there are times when the adjustbbility is handy BUT if I can use dual dovetail mounts and rings or a steel Weaver-type mount with good steel rings, I will...it's just much more reliable. Whatever you do, don't buy the cheapest aluminum crap out there. Your scope is worthy of quality mounts and rings.

I'll second what river rider said. Please no $13 Leupold rifleman rings. You don't have to spend $100+ to get good rings, a $45 set of warne Maximas would be fine. As far as bases go, I've used earned in the past that have been fine. Not sure what brand I'm currently running, as they were preinstalled when I bought the rifle.

Thank you RR. I definitely want quality, just don't know enough about rings and bases to know what I need. I am putting the scope on a Savage 7 mag with a new Bell and Carlson stock, ER Shaw fluted barrel with brake and Timney trigger.

Did you mean to say Warne for the bases? If so, I agree strongly. Weaver offered or does offer very similar steel bases, and they are just as good if you can find what you need. I've got Weaver aluminum bases on two rifles (a pair of 788s) because I cannot find comparable steel bases. I would not object to picatinny mounts if I could find them in steel.

Nope. Had a set of weaver brand bases on 2 different rifles in the past. Didn't realize I had made a weird typo.

I'd help here if I could, but I don't have much experience scoping Savage rifles.

You can try this:

https://www.leupold.com/mounting-systems/

Sounds like you've got a nice quality build going. I love my TPS steel rings. They were a hair over $100 IIRC.

Like so many things your choice of rings and bases is nothing more than personal preference. The setup with windage adjustable rear base(Leupold Std) is never my first choice but sometimes are needed. I have them on one rifle because the receiver was drilled and tapped to the left instead of straight.

Warne, Leupold, Weaver, Talley, Burris and DNZ are all good, it is your choice.

I prefer two piece bases for their looks but don't use them anymore. Instead I use a picatinny base and Warne Maxima or QD rings. The reason I don't use two piece bases anymore is that some scopes cannot be mounted using them and even if you can, there is not enough tube length to adjust for proper eye relief.

Any of the above brands and some I haven't mentioned will work great for you, you just have to decide which system floats your boat.

As an aside, Weaver rings are the hardest to mount IMO due to their design. One they are mounted they work just as well as any others though.

Thank you all for the tips. Unfortunately I have no personal preference because I do not know one base and/or ring from another. I don't know good brands from bad or which style(s) would fit my needs best. My rifles are used for nothing more than hunting and I won't ever remove the scope. That is unless I change the scope in the future. I have invested in fairly high quality parts for this rifle and want to provide a high quality base and rings to mount the scope. Can some of you experts in this area make recommendations? What would you purchase. I value your opinions. Thank you all.

If it were my rifle I would purchase a Warne picatinny base or an EGW picatinny base and Warne Maxima low rings.

Thank you boo!

What ever you end up going with, check the ring alignment and lap them if needed and you will be fine. I just bought a Tikka T3X Hunter 30-06 and decided to try out the Talley rings with the built in base. They were dead center on alignment and I didn't have to lap them. They seem to hold up well and didn't cost a lot.

Do y'all recommend a one or two piece base? I was looking at bases on the Warne website. How do I determine which base I need for my rifle?

It's a hunting set up. I would keep it simple and go DNZ. Less chance of failure. Picatinny makes sense if you like moving scopes around.



https://www.midwayusa.com/product/301116...h-116-flat-rear

Thanks Scott. What are the pros and cons of aluminum vs. steel?

Steel is stronger, aluminum is lighter. Most my rings are aluminum. You don't need steel to hold a scope in place. The Talley one piece rings are extremely popular. The DNZ is the same concept and has also become very popular. Makes this easy and gives you one less potential failure point.

Thank you all!

I'm a big fan of a picatinny rail and solid rings that mount to that. This type of mount is solid as a rock. Plus, if you outfit all your rifles this way, it makes scope swapping very simple.

These mounts below are the worst to get (see link). The rear mount with the side windage screws become loose very easy. Also, the "wings" or "ears" on the bottom of the ring where the screw holds them on also strip or begin to tear off. I have seen some magnums shear the wings or ears clean off. This style is common on hunting rifles, they are cheap, and I've seen have the most issues on rifles. I'm not a fan. (The front dove tail is ok, but going to dual dove tail mounts often are not exact or lined up correctly to the center of the scope, and sometimes the scope runs out of adjustment with this set up with a proper zero).

Worst style rings to get here.

Good advice here.

Rings wise I like TPS rings a lot. Also, I just purchased some Burris Zee rings and I am really impressed for the price.

I haven't been disappointed yet:


http://www.talleymanufacturing.com/Products/Permanent/1.aspx

http://www.talleymanufacturing.com/Products/Scope-Ring-Bases-Peep-Sight.aspx

I mentioned it above, but I really like my TPS rings. They were my first pair of truly quality rings, and everything about them just feels well made. And I think they look great too.

Exactly. Those style of TPS rings are what I recommend. There are many mfg's of these types of rings, and will be very solid.

If on a picatinny rail I like the Warne. Used leupold for many years no problems. My last set up was with Talley and I happy with them to.

DNZ makes a good product. I have their one piece on my Savage 6.5

Rest of my rifles I have pictanny rail and Badger Ordnance two piece set ups.