Scope ring question (kimber Montana)

[thinhorn_AK]

Hello,

I have a kimber Montana that is currently wearing a vx3i mounted with Talley lightweight low rings. I want to mount a new scope on it that has a 30mm tube and a 42mm bell.

I’m wondering if I can get away with Talley lightweight low rings in 30mm or if I’ll need to go with medium rings for this.

I’m also wondering about bolt clearance of the eyepiece.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[AK Troutbum]

This probably doesn’t help you much because I can’t, for the life of me, remember if these are lows or mediums, but I think they’re mediums. 30mm tube with 44mm objective on Montana.

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[Ndbowhunter]

Talley lows clear lrhs 3-12 and the swfa 6x.

Not a huge fan of extruded aluminum for scope ring/base application YMMV

 

[TomAZ]

Lows should work. And if you get them on amazon prime or somewhere that is easy to return, no problem


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[thinhorn_AK]

This probably doesn’t help you much because I can’t, for the life of me, remember if these are lows or mediums, but I think they’re mediums. 30mm tube with 44mm objective on Montana.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Those must be mediums.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Talley lows clear lrhs 3-12 and the swfa 6x.

Not a huge fan of extruded aluminum for scope ring/base application YMMV

Thanks. I’ve had good luck with the Talley lightweights on several rifles. I don’t use them on all my guns but never had an issue with them.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

To be fair they have never budged even holding a heavy scope on a big bommer. That said..

My brother inlaw is a mechanical engineer at an aluminum extruding company. They do everything from stadium bleachers to bindings for snow shoes.

Anyways real long story short aluminum when extruded is less "strong" (actually stiff) then forged. The grain structure is elongated in the direction it's extruded, so it's relatively weak going cross grain.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

To be fair they have never budged even holding a heavy scope on a big bommer. That said..

My brother inlaw is a mechanical engineer at an aluminum extruding company. They do everything from stadium bleachers to bindings for snow shoes.

Anyways real long story short aluminum when extruded is less "strong" (actually stiff) then forged. The grain structure is elongated in the direction it's extruded, so it's relatively weak going cross grain.

Interesting, good to know but like I said, I’ve never had issues with the Talley lightweight rings, the scope going on this rifle is only ~ 16oz too so not a heavy scope at all even though it’s 5-6 Oz heavier than the scope on the rifle currently.

 

[jhm2023]

I think if you got to the point where a set of Talley lightweights would fail due to being aluminum then your scope (also aluminum) would probably be toast. My biggest concern would be the base screws themselves, that's why I always use #8 screws.

 

[coiloil37]

Not exactly what your asking but this was a vx-r 2-7x33 with a 30mm tube in a set of mediums. It was way to high with plenty of clearance on both ends. The bolt cleared by a good 1/4”.

 

[deerkiller]

I think if you got to the point where a set of Talley lightweights would fail due to being aluminum then your scope (also aluminum) would probably be toast. My biggest concern would be the base screws themselves, that's why I always use #8 screws.

Just like Kimber does on all their rifles ?

 

[deerkiller]

Interesting, good to know but like I said, I’ve never had issues with the Talley lightweight rings, the scope going on this rifle is only ~ 16oz too so not a heavy scope at all even though it’s 5-6 Oz heavier than the scope on the rifle currently.

I use and have been using Talley's on all the Kimbers I have or set up for others - I always have used Leupold scopes of lighter weights, If a person were to mount one of the new age heavy "dialers" energy from recoil "MIGHT" become a problem, time and trial would say for sure - On the Tikkas I've been using Mountain Tactical alloy rail and whatever slot ring a person chooses (I've been using the Leupold "rifleman" rings, cheap & lightweight" up to 30.06AI and stiff 180 loads, A LOT of rounds so far and no troubles - I am putting together a superlight now in 338/06 AI and we will see …. might go with something more "tactical" or a Leupold PRW (very few added oz) just to be sure - NO one wants a problem on a hunt, best to have those things all worked out beforehand

 

[coiloil37]

I don’t run heavy scopes but I always run Talley rings. I’ve got a few Montana’s and one is a sub 7lb Montana in .338 win mag that I shoot 225 and 250 grain loads from. Let’s just say recoil is brisk. Over the years it’s worn a 2.5-8x36 or 3.5-10x40 leupold vx-3 in the same set of Talley rings. They’ve never been an issue. I’m not saying someone couldn’t have a problem with talley’s but I don’t lose any sleep over it.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

The scope I’m mounting isn’t really heavy it’s just a leupold vx5 2-10

 

[jhm2023]

The scope I’m mounting isn’t really heavy it’s just a leupold vx5 2-10

I put a VX5 3-15X44 in a set of Talley lightweights on a 33 Nosler. The rifle was right around 7 pounds and I never had an issue with that setup. I trust it enough for use on brown bear and grizzly.