Mounts & rings
The cheapest part of the optical system and the one most likely to be blamed on the scope when it fails.
If your scope 'won't hold zero', the mount is a more likely culprit than the scope. Rings under-torqued, bases over-torqued into stripped receiver threads, and ring height that forces a bad cheek weld cause more accuracy complaints than optics do.
What actually matters
- Ring height: as low as the objective allows. Lower is better for cheek weld and for minimising the mechanical offset between bore and sight line. Set the height by objective bell clearance over the barrel, not by habit.
- Cantilever mounts exist for AR-pattern geometry. A flat-top AR pushes the optic further back than a bolt gun does. A cantilever mount moves the rings forward to restore correct eye relief. Buying a non-cantilever mount for an AR usually means the scope ends up too close to your eye.
- MOA-canted bases buy elevation travel. A 20 or 30 MOA base tilts the scope down relative to the bore so more of the erector's travel is available for elevation. If you are dialling past 800 yards and running out of adjustment, this is the fix — but you may not be able to zero at 100 with too much cant on a short-range setup.
- Use an inch-pound torque driver. Ring cap screws and base screws have different specs, often 15–18 in-lb and 25–65 in-lb respectively. Guessing crushes tubes or lets bases walk.
- Lap or don't, but be consistent. Ring lapping improves contact area on lower-tolerance rings. Premium precision-machined rings generally do not need it and may be harmed by it. Follow the maker's guidance.
Shop the category
We list individual products here only once we have confirmed them in the retailer's live catalog. Until then, this goes straight to the full mounts & rings category so you can filter on the specs above yourself.
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