• DNZ Products "GameReaper" Scope Mounts

    Game Reaper scope mounts are relatively new to the gun market, and they are a product of DNZ Products located in Sanford, North Carolina. The mounts are made by Certified Machining in the same location. Considering how many firearm related products are now made in China, it's refreshing to see an American made product.

    Game Reaper mounts are machined from billet aluminum into a single piece mount. There are no moving or adjoining parts other that the ring caps. Multiple piece rings/bases will allow for rings to come loose from their bases over time which will let the scope start to wander. On this mount, it is all a single piece of aluminum. The machined billet also allows the base to be light weight while remaining strong. The other advantage to machining from a single piece is that the precision tolerances that the mount is made to can be kept higher than the common cast and stamped mounts that are on the market. The mounting screw holes lined up perfectly with the tapped holes in the receivers of both the centerfire and rimfire rifles they were tried on. To ensure the caps do not try to come loose, the ring section is drilled and tapped quite deep. This lets the Game Reaper use longer than standard ring screws.

    Installation was very easy since, as stated before, the screw holes lined up perfectly and there's only one piece to install. I simply put a little oil on the screw threads and tightened the screws. I could not find any noticeable gaps around the mounts on either the centerfire or rimfire mounts. All that was needed next was to set the scope in the mount, get the reticle squared to the rifle and tightened the ring caps. Once finished, I bore sighted the scopes. The only issue that I was really concerned about was whether or not the Docter Optics 3-9X40 scope was going to work as it has a somewhat short tube. With the mount being a solid piece, there is no way to adjust the rings reward or forward. Fortunately, the scope did fit on the short action I mounted it on.

    Fellow site member CatusBill also helped out a lot in reviewing the DNZ scope mounts as he purchased one for his left handed centerfire Savage. The following are his observations:

    1. Construction is of military quality ISO-9000 standards and is evident upon close inspection. I did notice some deviation in a couple of the top caps where an operator failed to surface the face of the cap before the item was sent on to the coating department. The base of all three mounts where true CNC quality. All scope mount openings measured 1.000" horizontally and .975" vertically leaving a .025" for crush. Crush in my opinion is the minimum clearance you should allow for proper grip of the scope tube for firm support. If the throat was a perfect 1.000" and your scope was a perfect 1.000" then it is for certain that your scope is going to move under the recoil of a .308 or a massive magnum load.

    2. The Parkerizing finish is dull black and is similar to the finish found on most AR-15 components. The coating thickness was not measured but appears to be sufficient to withstand normal handling and inclement weather condition. Again, they are aluminum.

    3. Appearance of course is subjective. I like thin and low profile mounts and rings. But, usually you will not find a quality aluminum base and ring combination that is thin. In order to build strength into the one piece mount, DedNutz has added mass in the boss and rings to withstand average handling. In addition, they have machined their name and application on the connecting bar.

    4. Installation was a breeze, mounting holes aligned perfectly with receiver holes. Placed one in the rear and the rest where dead on. The three different height mounts HIGH - MEDIUM - LOW are distinguishable by a stamp on the rear. H=High, M=Medium, L=Low. Again someone was savvy enough to add a little feature that makes life easier.

    5. After mounting the Low mount with a 40mm objective lens scope the clearance between the bell and barrel where just right for the lens cover to fit nicely. I placed the Model 10 into my rifle rest and removed the bolt for bore sighting. I find bore sighting at a object 100 yards away and adjusting the elevation and windage close to the center of the object, will normally get me on a 12"X12" target at 25 yards. Then I fire two to three rounds and adjust the impact to vertical center and slightly above the bull's eye.

    Firing the .308 at 100 yards prove to give acceptable grouping. So installing the mount and physical bore sighting is simple enough. I have spend hours working with two bases and rings to find out that my alignment was bad.

    Next, I extending the range to 200 yards and found my group was well within the point blank range for my load. So with confidence you can be assured this one piece mount is true and accurate and eliminate any mounting errors for the novice.

    6. In conclusion the one piece mount is strong and well made. The engineering and design is well thought out. The price point is competitive with a good set of two piece mounts and rings, and well below the cost of a one piece Weaver style base and quality rings. So in my opinion a $55.00 solution for a quality one piece mount compared to a $150.00 for a one piece base and rings is more on target for the average rifleman. This is not a tactical solution for combat but if DNZ Products expands their line to include a Picatinney style base to fit an AR I will be first in line for one.

    I also had the chance review their mount for the Savage rimfire rifles (Model 93, Mark II, etc). There are very few quality mounts on the market for this application. when I discovered that DNZ Products has a mount for them, I jumped at the chance to get one. I was very pleased to discover that it was made the same way as the centerfire mounts. The only difference being the base dimensions where it attaches to the receiver. The same precision, fit and finish was given to the rimfire mount. The catch to the Savage rimfires is that they are somewhat finicky to mount scopes on. The way the barrel is made on the heavy barreled rifles usually means that you must use a taller base to get the objective bell of the scope to clear the top of the barrel. This was the case here. I contacted DNZ Products and they sent me a taller base and this was barely tall enough to clear. The scope is a Leupold VX-2 6-18X40 AO. Later, I mounted a TruGlo AO scope and had a little better clearance but not much. Fortunately, once I had the mount issue straightened out, there were no more problems. The scope mount performed quite well.

    I was concerned that, with this being a single piece mount, if there would be any problems with the base covering the port on the rimfire's receiver. As you know, one of the Savage rimfire's biggest issues is the really small port. They are sometimes a bear to try to feed manually. There was no obstruction of the port with the Game Reaper mount. I could feed and eject rounds normally.

    In conclusion, we feel that the Game Reaper scope mounts from DNZ Products are a good quality product. Being that they are made by a small American company and sold at very competitive prices makes this mount a great value.


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    DNZ Products, Inc.
    2710 Wilkins Drive
    Sanford, NC 27330
    (919) 777-9608
    www.dnzproducts.com