Took the wife’s 308 out today, it’s a known shooter.. it shoots 3/8” on bad days with handloads, around 1/2” with federal.. so when she took a shot and didn’t hit the paper I was like huh??? What happened? I said well shoot again and so she does.. doesn’t hit squat I’m like what the heck man..

This rifle was blueprinted, wears a number 4 brux barrel, bedded into a McMillan, has a Jewell trigger, Talley rings that were lapped, and has a 4.5-14 Leupold Boone and Crockett scope.

So I get to looking and the front ring mount is split in half, and the rear one had a screw snapped off in the top of the receiver..

I had to drill/ easy out the tiny little 6/40 screw..

I got it out without damage to anything!!!!

Dang those look like they’re made out of pot Metal.

They were Talley ring mounts. Never again

Replaced with a steel rail and warne steel rings

Nothin a little JB weld wont fix!!

Well done.

I’ve used Talleys for years, based on the recommendation of my favorite and most trusted gun writer. Though I’ve never had issues with them, after handling them and some others, I just don’t feel that they’re as robust as they should be.

Wow. That’s concerning as I have the exact same set on a .308 of mine. Not that you’d want them to warranty, but I’d probably call or email Talley. If nothing else, just to let them know.

That’s dang good job getting that screw out! I would have melt the whole action after I got angry at it. Never have been good at extracting broken bolts

Lucky indeed. I’ve recommended those rings to many. Time to re-evaluate.

Last two sets of rings i put on were a set of talleys and and a set of warne steel rings. Gotta say I haven't had any issues with either. When i sent my scope in to get checked out a while back the first thing they asked was what rings I used when I said Warne they said it was likely my issue as they see lots of scopes mounted in warne rings that crunch the tube even though mine didnt even have ring marks.

A firend of mine cracked his Talley Tactical aluminum rings. A phone call, and email with a photo, and a new set of rings were on the way, no charge.

Don't trust attaching a precision instrument (scope) to another precision instrument (rifle) with plastic, just because it is a little bit lighter.

The Talley lightweights are not plastic. It simply says alloy. Who knows what that is.

Did you look closely at the rings? I wonder if they got a bad batch of stock that had some tiny voids or bubbles in it? I remember several years ago having problems with a bunch of stainless steel props throwing off blades and that's what it turned out to be.

I did look them over real good just seems like the typical aluminum fatigue crack to me, I’m just glad there’s no visible damage to the scope, I hope it’s ok because we did fire 2 rounds through it..

The rifle hasn’t been fired in two years so there’s no telling what caused or when it occurred.

Who torqued the screws and what spec were they torqued to?

These were installed, and lapped by S&S precision probably 10-12 years ago, so it was on there right, I never took them off. And the gun hasn’t been treated bad either. Just one of those things I guess stuff happens, it’s why you should go to the range and shoot a box or two before you go hunting!

tabjlr, first off good work with the drill and ease out.

Secondly, there is an argument to be made for steel rings and bases...

I emailed Talley, took a few pictures and they returned my email within 24 hours offering a new set of rings.
I even explained they had been lapped and were 15-20 years old, all that was said was send me your address and the product number and I’ll send you a new set, and please don’t lap them.

Awesome customer service, seriously and totally unexpected.

I don’t care if I get a new set, but if they show up in the mail box I’ll use them for something..

Glad to hear you had such a good experience with Talley customer service. Looks like it is my turn to test their warranty. Went to the range today to do a little .270 load development, after a few shots my friend told me my scope ring was cracked, I thought he was pulling my leg....nope he wasn’t!

Talley LW’s torqued 15 ip top and 20ip bottom

Man they were quick I had a new set in 3 days in hand..
But I went ahead and replaced my cracked ones with warne steel and a leupold mk4 steel base.

I’ll hang on to the Talley ring mounts for something later

Could you post a picture of the ring that is cracked, separated so that it shows the cross section of the cracked material? Above FTW shooter has a pic that shows the internal material that looks like a cast aluminum alloy. I'm thinking your cracked ring is turned and milled from solid billet. This will be interesting to see. You have two different failures on different pieces, but each on the same axis from the same area. Over torqueing can snap a fastener. Over torqueing could have also overloaded the compression on the ring and created a stress fracture that over time would increase as it finally did. Also, was a thread locker used?

Nothing wrong with aluminum alloy. Without the alloying elements aluminum alloy would not be as strong. But, it's not as strong as the steel material in the Warne Rings that I prefer and use. What would cause me to run away form aluminum alloy rings would be if they were cast then final machined as shown in what FTWshooter had an issue with. Aluminum alloy rings machined from billet would be stronger.

Wow that is quick shipping, hopefully I get an email reply on Monday.

Like you, I may just go back to steel rings, this is the third, (well fourth counting yours) time I have seen lw Talley’s crack. Not saying Talley puts out a bad product, but that the LW may not the ring/mount for me.

Here ya go, definitely not forged material..

Thanks. Both cast alloy, both failed.

Y’all are killing me. Now I have to go inspect mine.