Are lightweight mounts strong enough to do the job?

[Giggles]

Are lightweight mounts strong enough to do the job? With light weight being the trend will something light a aero precision scope mount be able to take a serious bump. From the weight of a gun, during a fall. To me it seems the length of the scope between two point of contact would give strength to the mount. The reason I ask is because I like the looks of their stuff... But wonder.

[GH41]

You could build a mount out of forged steel and someone could tear it up. I would think the scope is the weak link.

[SomeOtherGuy]

Are lightweight mounts strong enough to do the job? With light weight being the trend will something light a aero precision scope mount be able to take a serious bump. From the weight of a gun, during a fall. To me it seems the length of the scope between two point of contact would give strength to the mount. The reason I ask is because I like the looks of their stuff... But wonder.

Try this: get your hands on a piece of 6061-T6 aluminum that you don't care about destroying, and try to rip it apart with your hands, then tools, then drill through it. You should be able to drill into it with decent quality bits, but will find it's as much work as drilling into steel. (Note: must be real 6061-T6, don't trust anything aluminum from China.)

I have two of the AP lightweight mounts in use and expect they would easily survive any fall that the scope would survive. Now drop the package from 50 feet up and I'm not sure which part will fail first.

I like the AP mounts, mostly because they are so much lighter and smaller than most other options. And don't have tons of sharp corners - do you hear me, Leupold and Samson??? My biggest concern would be whether they would hold the scope steady under severe recoil, but with a .223 or .308 platform I don't expect any problems, nor have I had any so far.

[Mr blasty]

Try this: get your hands on a piece of 6061-T6 aluminum that you don't care about destroying, and try to rip it apart with your hands, then tools, then drill through it. You should be able to drill into it with decent quality bits, but will find it's as much work as drilling into steel. (Note: must be real 6061-T6, don't trust anything aluminum from China.)

No it's not. I drill through metals as much as some machinist and there's nothing difficult about drilling through any form of aluminum. I've drilled grade 5 titanium right in my living room with a cheap cordless ryobi and garbage Chinese bits without difficulty. Drilling and hardness have jack to do with its ability to take an impact. Aluminum has a fairly low yield strength regardless of the type. It's certainly an adequate material for the job but engineering of the product becomes the real issue. The simple reality is that the lighter you go, the weaker you get.


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[Digital_Damage]

I would not worry about it, the force require to damage it would jack up the scope first.

[Mr blasty]

I would not worry about it, the force require to damage it would jack up the scope first.

That's not true. There are some pretty burly optics out there. A good sideways push on the optics could certainly nock the mount out of zero while leaving the optic unscathed. The reality here is that you can either get a burly mount and worry less, or get a lighter mount and just pay a little bit more attention. Quality LW mounts should work just fine but just be a little bit more mindful about it. You shouldn't be needlessly beating your optics anyways.

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[ColtSeavers]

Are lightweight mounts strong enough to do the job? With light weight being the trend will something light a aero precision scope mount be able to take a serious bump. From the weight of a gun, during a fall. To me it seems the length of the scope between two point of contact would give strength to the mount. The reason I ask is because I like the looks of their stuff... But wonder.

I'm willing to give it a try, as I've got one incoming for my burris veracity 2-10x to sit in instead of the QD PEPR mount that 'Santa' got along with the scope. I've read nothing but surprised reviewers giving it credit for holding up to non combat use and abuse, and shaving off 5+ ounces of weight is always nice. My only complaint, if it is even fair to have one at this point, is the use of torx screws. If it fails through non combat use, I'll gladly report it.

[Digital_Damage]

That's not true. There are some pretty burly optics out there. A good sideways push on the optics could certainly nock the mount out of zero while leaving the optic unscathed. The reality here is that you can either get a burly mount and worry less, or get a lighter mount and just pay a little bit more attention. Quality LW mounts should work just fine but just be a little bit more mindful about it. You shouldn't be needlessly beating your optics anyways.

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Nonsense... out of the 16 one piece 6061 T6 non-QDC mounts we tested from industry leaders all of them passed a 30 lb pendulum blow, no impact on zero.

At 55lb we started seeing broken scope bases before any change to zero.

Your weakest point in these mounts will be the clamping force and one of the worst performers were a brand that just sold a ton of them to the armed forces.

[Giggles]

So here another question. Is there anything or any brand I should absolutely avoid when it comes to choosing a non QD mount?

[Mr blasty]

Nonsense... out of the 16 one piece 6061 T6 non-QDC mounts we tested from industry leaders all of them passed a 30 lb pendulum blow, no impact on zero.

At 55lb we started seeing broken scope bases before any change to zero.

Your weakest point in these mounts will be the clamping force and one of the worst performers were a brand that just sold a ton of them to the armed forces.

So because you did some testing, the real world can't possibly contradict it. Uh huh. I've made a lot of money repairing things people thought where beyond strong enough to stand up to something and backed by engineering. Sorry but the kitty litter box has produced a plethora of soldiers coming back with stories about how there mounts broke but the optics were fine. Acogs, aimpoints, nightforce, us optics, etc all have a reputation for building a brick shit house of an optic. Many of these lightweight mounts cut much of the weight from the mass between the clamping area and the interface with the optic itself. I'm not referring to any one particular mount, but it's become a bit of a trend to make mounts lightweight by basically mounting the optic on stilts. And 600 series, 7000 series, and any of these other exotic alloys of aluminum being used are still aluminum, ie. they yield and deform quite readily as soon as they hit there working limits. Aluminum does a great job for lightweight weapon components but it has its limits.

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