Deer Rifle Scope Mount Preferences

1970-1655

Member
Deer and groundhogs have been destroying the corn and beans for years. I am thinking about thinning the numbers a little. Hopefully, the crop yield will see an increase.

Now that deer season is winding down, time to look forward to next season, groundhogs. What scope mount do you prefer, and why? I am talking about low mount, mid mount, high mount, see thru mounts. This is for a 30.06 that will see use for deer, coyotes, groundhogs, and hogs, with a "maybe" for elk.
 
You want a scope mount that when you bring up the rifle it is lined up with your eye every time. You don't want to have to move your head up or down to center your eye in the scope. Hope this helps.

Bob
 
Scope height is relative to how you mount the rifle. Figure out what fits you.
I use EGW scope rings and/or rails almost exclusively.
 
IT depends not only on the eye level as you hold the rifle, as mention below, but on the optics size of your scope. For example 32mm, 36mm, 40mm or 50mm objective lens diameter. Most common is the 40 or 50mm. The 40 on your particular rifle might fit with a low mount, the 50mm might require a mid mount or high mount for the scope to clear the barrel. Tom
 
There's also a mount made that I seen once that if you want to use the open sights the scope hinged over out of the way.
 
I would not recommend a see thru mount,they tend to put the scope to high which makes for a higher head position,usually not with your cheek on the stock.also the tip off mounts are not that solid for a 30-06.Depending on the size of the bell on your scope try to get it as close to the barrel as possible without touching,a solid mount and easier to bore sight and adjust.Weaver mounts are probably the more popular ones because of price,also very rugged,Redfield and Leupold very good also but pricey.
 
The mount should be no higher than is required for your particular scope to clear the gun barrel and anything else it might interfere with (bolt handle, hammer, etc.). Forget about the see-through mounts; you'll never be able to get a decent "cheek weld" with the scope up that high.

Leupold has a decent web tool for selecting the right mounts for a particular firearm/scope combination.
Leupold scope mount guide
 
I sold more Weaver mounts than anything. Mainly because of price. They are good solid mounts but it is a bit of a trick to tighten them and get your crosshairs vertical. Redfield, Leuopld, Burris and about any other that tightens down on both sides are just sturdy (if not more so) and are a little easier to mount a scope with. Use a length of 1 inch aluminum or wood (or 30mm, whatever the case may be)dowel to lay in the rings to make sure the rings are straight.
 
There is another option. If you have a picatinny rail mounted on your rifle they sell 45 degree angled mounts for small red dot/reflex sights. The small red dot sights are small and should be good out to 100 yds. Anything farther than that and the dot size restricts how well you can see small targets. All you need to do is tilt the rifle 45 degrees and use the red dot. They are used on tactical rifles that have a scope for long range shooting and the red dot for the up close and personal targets.
 
Tip off mounts and the see thru mounts are a compromise type of solution. Compromise sucks. Find what is is the best fit for you and use that one. When you miss an easy shot at big game because your compromise type mount has failed you, you will have paid twice for what you did not get. The gun should fit you and the scope should naturally align itself to your line of sight. Bring the gun up to your shoulder with your eyes closed. Pull it in snug to your shoulder and with your cheek on the stock. Now open your eyes. You should be able to see thru the scope.
SDE
 
I have recently been through this so I will weigh in. I purchased 2 Savage rifles, a 30-06 Hunter for me and a .308 Youth Trophy Hunter for my son. Both rifles are the bees knees. However, I did have a problem with the rings on both rifles. They were made poorly and wouldn't positively locate the scope after a few boxes of ammo. I purchased a lap bar and attempted to lap the rings to fix the problem. I came to two conclusions. Cheap rings cannot be lapped far enough to provide an acceptable contact area. Good rings do not need to be lapped. The lap bar was really handy when twisting in the STD rings. I used the lowest rings possible to minimize parallax and preserve the cheek weld. As always, your results may vary.

Aaron
 
(quoted from post at 11:45:13 01/24/15) Tip off mounts and the see thru mounts are a compromise type of solution. Compromise sucks. Find what is is the best fit for you and use that one. When you miss an easy shot at big game because your compromise type mount has failed you, you will have paid twice for what you did not get. The gun should fit you and the scope should naturally align itself to your line of sight. Bring the gun up to your shoulder with your eyes closed. Pull it in snug to your shoulder and with your cheek on the stock. Now open your eyes. You should be able to see thru the scope.
SDE

I agree. Another thing is not to get a scope thats too high in power. 4x is enough for anything outside a dedicated varmint or long range target rifle. A 2x7 variable is a great scope for an 06. I know everyone uses 3x9, 4x12 and even higher, but it's not needed at all. My 35 Whelen, (a 35 caliber on an '06 case) will do fine out to 250 yards wearing and old Weaver 1.5X scope. If I had better eye sight it would be even further. If you want to see stuff far away get a good spotting scope or binocular.
 
I'm a high power scope fan. Aim small miss small. My .223 varmint gun runs a 6.5x20 Leupold. I have 2 .270's. One with a 3.5x10 & the other a 4.5 x14.

Lot's of opinions on what you "need". You can get by with open sights but why would you?

I run all 2 piece mounts by Leupold or Redfield. Rings are matched so the scope is as close to the barrel as possible without touching.
 
In my opinion and experience Dean higher power scopes encourage "Hail Mary" shots and wounded game. 95% of hunters out there don't have a clue where their gun actually shoots at 100 yards, much less 250 with a 20 mph cross wind, but they shoot and shoot and shoot. That's why we have such fat coyotes up here. Then there are the fools using their scope as a spotting scope. Nothing like having some clown checking you out from 250 yards out with his rifle!

Of course it's also my opinion that 99.9% of hunters out there should be limited to a 7x57 or 6.5x55 and nothing bigger. Most would be fine with a 257R or something like that. Give an idiot an big gun with a big scope and it's like handing an 8 year old a hammer and a box of nails...he's going to try to do something he shouldn't.

But hey, that's just me.
 

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