Scope Mount for Savage 12 F-Class?

Hello, all,

I want to mount a Leupold Mark 4 ERT 6-5-20x50 scope onto a new Savage Model 12 F-Class rifle (model 18155).

Can anyone tell me what one-piece base(s) would be good for that application?

Although I can't seem to find my exact rifle listed, I'm led to believe (at the Leupold site) that the appropriate one-piece Leupold base would be the 55724/55721/55726 (as appropriate for the finish) which they describe as "STD Savage 10 RH-SA Round Rcvr 1-pc" and shown below:

http://www.leupold.com/wp-content/up...306.jpg?d37ffd

Does that sound correct to you folks who know?

Thanks in advance.

1.618

Yes, they take stand Model 10/11. Some bases may have a part that protrudes below and will not let them sit flush on the solid top model 12s. I have become a huge fan of EGW bases and Leupold PRW rings.

Side questions:
What caliber?
What distance will you be shooting?

Thanks, Jamie.
It's 6.5-284 and I hope to shoot up to 600y and 1000y, eventually, if I can get the gun and "the nut behind the bolt" dialled in.

Question: What would be the most solid, inherently accurate way to mount that scope to that rifle, does anyone know? I used to handload for a Win 70 in 270 Win and "benchrest" off the hood of my car back in the early '80s but I've been out of it for a while, and things may have changed. (I think my 270 barrel is beginning to go downhill, so instead of rebarrelling I decided to splurge and get a target rifle.) I seem to recall Jack O'Connor or someone writing that a one-piece Redfield-style base was the best way to go; is that still true? This will be my first "target" rifle and I want to avoid buying stuff twice, if I can...

Thanks again.

1.618

I have been happy with the egw scope bases myself. The bench source and Farrell bases are also very nice. I would imagine if your scope has enough adjustment the 0moa base with the 6.5-284.

If your going to shoot long distance, you should go with a 20moa EGW base with Burris Signature rings

This question has to be qualified by your budget oh follower of the golden ratio. Ken Ferrell Steel bases are good.
http://www.kenfarrell.com/index.html

They have aluminum in clear and mat black as well. Many serious shooters trust these bases.

The EGW and Even the weaver tactical will do ok as well.

There are many options for rings and the Lupe PRW are nice. I like Warne but some people don't like how difficult they are to mount. Once in place they are great.

I love my 20 moa bench source base. The quality is exceptional.

Try this one from EGW
Home > Scope Mounts > Savage
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Savage Round Back F-Class 3" Ext Short Action Picatinny Rail Scope Mount
Savage Round Back F-Class 3" Ext Short Action Picatinny Rail Scope Mount

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Price: $69.99
Product ID : 41030-41042

1.618 I have a savage 12 f class in 6.5 284. If you are going to shoot out to 1000 yds you may need to go to a 20 moa base. I had to I went with a Warne #M666-20moa. I have Medium Warne Tactical steel rings #614M. My objective lens is 56mm on a 50mm objective lens a low ring may work. PS I wanted to shoot out to a mile so i had my 20 moa bace milled another .0025 to get enough elevation to shoot out past a mile. I have a Sightron SIII 8-32X56 It has 70 MOA of adjustment so i can O at 200 yds with 5 MOA to adjust down and adjust up 65 MOA for out past a mile Hope this helps

Another vote for the EGW bases. I have quite a few and love them. I find that a picaninny base works best for me so I can space the rings on the scope how I want them.

Thank you all again for all these helpful replies.

As I said, this long-range shooting business is new to me, so please bear with me on these newbie questions.

If I go with a base with 20 MOA downward tilt machined into the base (for 1000 yard shooting), will I have enough adjustment in my scope to zero it at 200 or 250 yards or whatever without using a different base?

(I also plan to use this rifle for deer hunting from a stand, and would want to be able to zero it at 200 or 300 yds without changing bases.)

According to the Leupold website, my scope has 70 MOA of elevation adjustment (I guess this means 35 MOA above and 35 MOA below the reticle at its midpoint), so I think I'll be OK ... but I wanted to check with you folks, first.

BionicBob, I like the Warne base because it's steel, since steel is stronger and harder than aluminum, and I don't care about weight ... but am I mistaken to worry about aluminum not being hard/strong enough?

Thanks again for all the great replies. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all.

1.618 I went with a steel base because of the size and weight of the Sightron SIII 8-32 X 56. With your leupold an aluminum base should be fine. I dont shoot F-class with my rifle. I shoot longrange steel targets. With A 20 MOA base you should be OK to 0 at 100 or 200 yards. With my base cut to a 40 MOA i can still 0 at 100 yards if i wanted. my rifle is 0 ed at 200 yards and i still have 5 MOA i can dial dawn if i needed to

Golden Ratio, You should have at least 10 possibly 15 MOA left to go up with a 100 yd zero with your scope and a 20MOA rail. You can't go wrong with 20 MOA If you plan on LR shooting.

Good deal.

Thank you, all.

I can't wait to get this rifle, get it set up and see what it'll do!

Have dies, brass and 139 gr Lapua Scenars on order; looks like I'll be trying H4831 and H4350 first.

In Litz's "Applied Balistics" I see he calculated a G7 BC of .288 for 2500 f/s ... is that about what you all are using for the 139 gr Scenars? (I'd like to print out a table so I'll have a clue where it should be hitting.)

I'll try not to pester you all with too many questions, but I have a feeling I will!

Thanks again.

1.618

1,618 Pester away I have not tried that bullet but have most others. Mine settled on Sierra 142 MK With Hybrid 100V. My gun maxed out for pressure at 2950 fps with h4831sc. so i tried reloader 17 and got good results . Maxed out at 3200 fps But wanted a powder that was not to temperature sensitive so i worked up a load with Hybrid 100 V. My load is Lapua brass CCI BR2 primer Sierra 142 MK and 51 gr 0f Hybrid 100V for 3100 FPS THIS IS A MAX LOAD SO WORK UP TO IT. My rifle will shoot this load at around 1/2 inch groups at 200 yards. Summer and winter only very about 10 FPS.good luck with yours. PS I love my big Savage 12 F-class rifle in 6.5 284

Can't go wrong with a Night Force 20moa one piece steel base (Pn for your rifle is #A168)

http://nightforceoptics.com/wp-conte...once-piece.jpg



.... One thing I would HIGHLY recommend with the 6.5x284 in order to utilize the case size is to use Lapua brass , be very cautious using any load data in any brass that isn't Lapua... When they say to reduce 10 percent and work up from there they mean it lol... Hot loads with good lapua brass could be catastrophic with cheap brass particularly if you start to get bullets seated into the lands. Good luck

Gosh, you guys are GREAT!

Thank you again for all the great replies. This thread is getting saved on my hard drive.

OK, I've made a preliminary choice on the base and rings.

Do you fellas think these will work and be an appropriate choice?

(I prefer steel because it's stronger and I don't care about weight. Also, once I mount the scope, I don't plan to remove it, so ease of installation/removal isn't a concern, either.)

Base:
TPS 1-Piece XP Tactical Picantinny-Style 20 MOA Elevated Base Savage 10 Through 16 Round Rear, Axis Short Action Matte Steel
Link:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/253...on-matte-steel

Rings:
TPS 30mm TSR Picatinny-Style Steel Rings Matte Medium
Link:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/845...s-matte-medium

It seems like there are so many choices out there, my head is spinning looking at them all.

Also: When you fellas mount your bases, are you using blue Loctite or red Loctite for the base screws? (Somewhere I saw a manufacturer recommend blue Loctite but my gut says to use red.)

Thanks again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 1.618

OK, I've made a preliminary choice on the base and rings.

Do you fellas think these will work and be an appropriate choice?

(I prefer steel because it's stronger and I don't care about weight. Also, once I mount the scope, I don't plan to remove it, so ease of installation/removal isn't a concern, either.)

Base:
TPS 1-Piece XP Tactical Picantinny-Style 20 MOA Elevated Base Savage 10 Through 16 Round Rear, Axis Short Action Matte Steel
Link:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/253...on-matte-steel

Rings:
TPS 30mm TSR Picatinny-Style Steel Rings Matte Medium
Link:
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/845...s-matte-medium

It seems like there are so many choices out there, my head is spinning looking at them all.

Also: When you fellas mount your bases, are you using blue Loctite or red Loctite for the base screws? (Somewhere I saw a manufacturer recommend blue Loctite but my gut says to use red.)

Thanks again.

---

I've never used those bases personally but I have heard that some earlier models came with a recoil lug if you will that won't work with your action (if you look in the picture of the nightforce setup you will see the small lug , they no longer have that lug for the savage target actions) ... Not a big deal if it does as you can simply remove the lug by carefully using a dremel.

If it's the version without then lug then you're good to go , as far as Loctite goes generally speaking if you use red you won't get the screws out without heating.. I prefer just using the blue and ensuring the threads etc are clean.

When you do go to mount your base it'd be a good idea to do a dry run not using any thread locker , here's what I do .

I install the base to the receiver using only the front screws in the receiver , torque them to spec and see if you can slide a piece of paper under the rear portion of the base (That has no screws fastening it down)... If you can indeed slide a piece of paper under the rear I will then proceed to remove the base and prep it for bedding to ensure a proper no torque fit.

Here's a youtube vid (not mine) explaining it in detail. One thing I do not do that this gentleman does is install the rear base screws for the bedding process , I only torque the front ones and plug the holes in the receiver and the base with putty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nv5KCXchSgY

Patch,

Thank you very much for your detailed reply, and for the video. He explains it well.

Just a minor note for future readers regarding the video, the guy says that he uses WD-40 or vinegar on his Q-Tips when removing the excess epoxy, but as one who uses epoxy a lot, I would advise against using vinegar in that application, because vinegar neutralizes the amines in epoxy, and I would be afraid of "poisoning" the epoxy with the vinegar. (In marine use, when we get epoxy all over our hands, we use vinegar to wash our hands and tools, and it breaks down the uncured epoxy allowing you to rinse it off with water, but we keep the vinegar far away from the actual layup to avoid ruining the epoxy.)

(I think I'll probably bed the base in epoxy just to err on the side of caution, to make sure there's an intimate fit between gun and rail.)

Thanks again.

1.618

Good vid and info!

Well, I ended up going with the

TPS 1-Piece XP Tactical Picantinny-Style 20 MOA Elevated Base Savage 10 Through 16 Round Rear, Axis Short Action Matte Steel

referenced in post #19 above, but I couldn't seem to find rings "in stock" anywhere that were steel, 30mm, medium height, and for Picatinny rails for under $120, so I went to ebay and bought the $30 steel rings shown below (they're Weaver):

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/CCOP-Rifle-Sc...dRg~~60_57.JPG(Sorry for the huge image size, but I couldn't seem to link a smaller image.)

If I understand things right, reading this, you can put Weaver rings on a Picatinny rail, but not vice-versa, because the "key" on the rings that fits into the slots between the recoil lugs on the base is narrower on Weaver than on Picatinny.

Question: So long as I position the rings such that the "keys" on the rings are in contact with the recoil lugs in front of them (i.e., closer to the muzzle), I shouldn't have a problem with recoil moving the scope ... right?

Is there any downside to having the Weaver-width key in the rings not completely fill the Picatinny slot between the recoil lugs on the base? If so, I suppose I could TIG some filler onto the rings, or silver solder a tiny piece of steel in there to make the keys the proper Picatinny width, but would much prefer not to kludge things up if I can avoid it.

Is there anything else I should be concerned with, using Weaver rings on a Picatinny base?

Thank you all again for all the help. I've learned a lot from your responses, and would have been lost without your help.

1.618

1.618

You are correct. Just make sure that the recoil lugs of the rings are in contact with the front of the slot they sit in and tighten down the screw that holds them to the base. Lap them (with the top half's in place) if you wish, otherwise, install scope, align reticle for vertical and eye relief, and torque to specs.
Good Shootin!


Snipe

Thank you, PitSnipe.

When you say "lap them with the top halfs in place" do you mean, "lap the inside of the rings so they fit the scope intimately"?

I'm not familiar with that procedure. Would it be done similarly to bedding the base to the receiver, using epoxy on the inside of the rings and a release agent on the scope tube? Or maybe wrap the scope tube with sandpaper, grit side out, and "lap" the rings to smooth out any high spots on the inside of the rings...?

Sorry for the newbie questions, I'll try to do a search.

Thanks again.

Thank you, Stangfish. I think I get it now.

Lapping is a big reason people started using Burris Signature Zee rings isn't it? You don't need to lap with the inserts or the off-set inserts if necessary. Lapping certainly works well but your rings will be useful only mounted on the one rifle since you are modifying the rings to match the imperfections of the mounts and mount holes for that one rifle.

That's not to say that people haven't gotten very good results not using either too. The theory is that you get a perfect match between rings and scope. There will be 100% contact and there won't be any stress on the scope from the rings.

I remember when things were much worse though. I've put cut outs from pop cans under mounts to correct badly aligned mount holes. That was way more tricky than what we have to work with today. Of course my wallet wasn't nearly as effective in those days either come to think of it. But I still have one rifle that has a piece of a pop can under a mount. I've won a bunch of contests with that rifle too. It's a Savage MkIIBTV. I actually tried Burris rings on that rifle but they wouldn't compensate enough without the off-set kit so I used the old trick thinking it would only be for a short time. But it worked so I figured why fix what wasn't broke.