building a custom base

I'm designing a custom base for my 111 and I have a couple of questions for you guys. First, the design. It is going to be a 0 MOA one-piece steel Weaver-style base. My friend that is machining it for me is going to measure my Warne QD Maxima rings and build it to fit them so the fit will be very tight. My first question is how long to make it. The back will obviously run to the rear edge of the receiver, but I want the front edge to run to the end of the barrel nut, not just the front of the receiver. Every mount that I've looked at that extends over the nut always does so above it, but I want my mount to actually lay on the nut. I originally planned to also have a lug on the bottom that fit into the slight recess at the recoil lug and rest on it, but my friend said it really wouldn't be needed. What are your opinions on the mount touching the barrel nut? The second question is about the recoil lug. The Nightforce mount, for example, uses a recoil lug that extends slightly down into the ejection port at the front part of the receiver, but there is no lug at the rear part of the receiver. Here is a link to a picture so you can see what I'm talking about.http://nightforceoptics.com/nightfor...sonepieceL.jpg. I can see the purpose of the front lug to help spread out the energy at the moment of recoil, so would it be beneficial to also add one at the rear?

Always good to see people wanting to make something on their own, great to keep the mind busy.

I'll just give you some of my personal opinions on your project. First I'd wait till I had all the parts in hand that I was going to use. Scope included. This will answer your questions about how tall the base should be and how long. For my builds I prefer the base to take up most of the height and use the shortest rings possable. Height is height and you need to get it somewhere and the base will be the strongest place to do that. On the base, their is no advantage running it out beyond the receiver, actually stop short to give it plenty of clearance in the lug area. Now you can run the top of the base extended above the nut if you like, but that will depend on your scope length and how much room you have to work with when you have a location for your eye relief. Even using a Nightforce with 3 to 4 inches of eye relief on a short action will not allow you to run much of an extention on the front without running into the scope. Might look for a scope that will have a straight tube and no objective bell may better serve your purpose if you insist running an extention beyond the base. Recoil lug is a great idea and they do work. Just catching the top front of the ejection port will do just fine. For adjustment and to make it easy just use a large set screw like Ken Farrell does. Don't worry about the angle being perfect because you can correct it with the angle you put on the set screw. You might want to install larger base screws also while your at it.

Hope this helps you in some way and good luck with your project.

Later, Brad

Thanks for the response Brad. What I meant by extending the mount out to the barrel nut is that the top would still be on one plane, but the bottom of the mount would lay on the barrel nut instead of the bottom being cut at an angle to clear it like all the others I've seen. I'm not sure if I'm being too clear about what I'm saying, but hopefully I'm making a little sense. I don't need a scope with no objective bell, and unfortunately it won't be a Nightforce scope. I was looking at the Nightforce mount to use as a reference, but I'm pretty sure the scope will be a 3-9x42 Sightron SII. I'd like to add the larger base screws, but the machine work is being done at my place of employment and I'd get in a little bit of trouble if I took the rifle in there to open up the screw holes.