Scope mounting is a process vital to accuracy that many don’t pay as much attention to as they should. I joined Craig Arnzen at Area 419, a manufacturer of precision scope rings and mounts, to discuss their processes and best practices.
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Area 419 Offerings
Area 419 machines a variety of mounts designed for different purposes, with all parts made in house.
For example, their HUNT scope rings are narrower and lighter than their MATCH scope rings.
They also offer mid and full cantilever mounts as well as a number of scope bases.
Area 419 takes a different approach to their machining, final boring the inside surface of their mounts and rings to raw aluminum. The rings are reassembled after anodizing and inline bored as sets.
To ensure ring sets stay together, they are zip tied as they come off the machine and serialized on the laser. This process is advantageous as it ensures rings are square and true. This allows for consistent clamping force and prevents scope tube distortion.
Anodizing aluminum creates a protective layer over the 7075 aluminum, much like a hard candy shell on an M&M protects the soft chocolate. Craig explained that Area 419 wants a softer contact surface against the optic as to encourage wear on the rings before wear on a much more expensive scope.
The softer metal also allows for a minute amount of “squish,” further securing the optic to the mount through grip without pressure. This is evident when you set a scope in ring bases and attempt to turn it – it generally doesn’t want to move freely.
Scope Mounting Demonstration
Craig put it simply: “the core job of your rings or one-piece mount is to hold the optic as securely as possible without causing any damage to the rifle.”
This seems easy, but execution can be difficult. All rings/mounts contact two things: the optic and the receiver. The optic is always less robust than the receiver and more prone to damage. Just as stress-free bedding is desirable, so is a zero stress hold on the optic.
We decided to use Area 419 MATCH scope rings for this demonstration as there is more nuance to mounting a scope in rings than in a one-piece mount. As a proponent of “wet mounting,” Craig added a small amount of lubricant to the sides of the mounting rail where the rings would “grab.”
He explained that most torque is lost to friction, so lubricant prevents binding. Next, he set both ring bases in the middle of the Picatinny rail, and carefully placed the scope within them. (Note: the ring bases are not torqued at this point in the process and the rifle is secured in a vise.)
Craig prefers to keep the base screws on the non-ejection port side of the rifle for a cleaner workspace. While the direction of the base screws doesn’t matter, it’s best to keep the ring caps and bases together. Area 419 labels their bases and caps A, B, C, and D for easy reference. This isn’t the only feature that sets Area 419 rings apart from others. Pins in the ring bases help guide the caps down square onto the optic.
With the scope on full magnification, Craig got behind the rifle to check eye relief, carefully moving the scope forward and backward until he reached the ideal position. Proper eye relief is when the shooter can see the entire sight picture without shadows. It is best to check eye relief on full magnification as is the least forgiving eye box. Keep in mind that moving the rifle’s cheekpiece will allow for vertical adjustments. (If your stock does not have an adjustable cheekpiece, ring height and scope bell size become more important.)
Craig likes the scope to be at least 0.25” off the barrel to minimize mirage from a hot barrel. Once you determine proper eye relief, you can choose to carefully move the ring bases forward or back within the notches to fit your preference without disturbing the scope location. When you have the rings where you want them, push them forward. Next, snug the ring base screws and back them off just a touch before adding the ring caps.
Area 419 recommends 18 inch-lbs. of torque on their ring cap screws. Craig used a 15 inch-lb. Fix It Stick to tighten two screws diagonal from one another on the rear ring, just until they barely touch.
Next is leveling. While we didn’t have a plumb bob set up in the video, it is important to level the rifle and reticle, not just the scope. After leveling all axes, Craig barely snugged the rest of the screws in a criss-cross (X) pattern. No torque is applied at this point. The next area of concern is making sure the ring gaps are equal. After adjusting the screws appropriately so all is level and the gaps are equal, it is time to slowly apply full torque, once again in an X pattern. The final step is to torque the crossbolts on the bases.
Conclusion
Torquing the cross-bolts last instead of first allows for stress-free mounting on the optic. Any stress is transferred to the receiver, the stronger of the two. Personally, this is a different method than I’ve long been accustomed to, but it makes sense!
Get the Gear
Area 419 Cantilevered Tactical One-Piece Scope Mount
Area 419 Tactical One-Piece Scope Mount
Fixed Scope Level for Area 419 Rings and Mounts
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Thanks,
Gavin Gear
