Every so often, timing just plain works out. I was in need of a set of low 30mm rings for a rifle that I just had restocked and was dying to get out and shoot it being it had been missing for quite some time. I was pleasantly surprised when Jeff asked me if I would do a review on these relatively new rings with a built in level. You bet I would! My 300 Win Mag was also itchin to give them a try and the rings would be encasing a Leupold VX lll. This would be a good test as this combination was already tried and true.
A few days later, the rings arrived and off to the races I went. As with everything first impressions are important and right off the bat, the Xtreme HardCore Gear Rings made a good one. Man, they are just cool looking! I was excited to give these rings a try as I really liked the idea of a built in level machined into the ring base and for me, it would eliminate another piece of separate gear and meet the need for a scope level.
These are the details from the Force Recon Tactical ring packaging. “Made from billet 7075-T6 aluminum, class lll hardcoat anodize, 6 torx head ring cap screws for superior clamping force, 2 10-24 cross slot bolts and wide .875” ring base offer a stable mounting platform for high recoil magnums, the ring base clamp rides on guide rails to keep the clamp perfectly aligned and a precision level is mounted into the machined base of the ring.” Further specs on the 30mm low rings list them as .850” high from top of rail to center of scope tube or .260” high from top of rail to bottom of scope tube. Xtreme Hardcore Gear also recommends that all the bolts be tightened evenly and snug—-They do not need to be over tightened and they do emphasize that. I did not have a scale to weigh the rings but they are fairly lightweight, especially for a tactical set of rings.
Being that I was reviewing these rings, I did not lap them which I normally do on my rifle scopes. I could not find anywhere on their packaging what they recommend but I would suspect that if it was one way or another, they would have specified. Mounting was fairly straightforward, however these had 6 torx cap screws per ring which takes a bit more time to get snug and even. Xtreme does provide 2 different size wrenches to mount the rings.
I don’t know if it was me or the rings but I did have more trouble than normal in getting my reticle straight. Not exactly sure why but I think that maybe I wasn’t snugging them up in the proper sequence. In any case, I managed to even and tighten them up after several tries. The cross bolts on the base fit very nicely and snug in my Near Mfg Picatinny rail.
I am left handed and I prefer my levels to be on the left side of the rifle scope. One drawback on these rings is that my bolt hit the level when it was mounted on the left side. So I mounted it on the right side as to not interfere with bolt cycling. I realize this is a personal preference that would not affect most shooters. That being said, the nice thing about these rings is that you can mount them either direction as to the shooters preference.
What, exactly are the purpose of scope rings?????? Well, near as I can tell, they really only have one function and that is to hold the scope. SECURELY. Being we are all long range shooters, it is absolutely imperative that your scope does not move under any condition—–pretty darn simple. After these rings were all mounted up I was able to zero my rifle, check my turret function for repeatability and one week later, I headed out to our long range rock chuck safari in eastern Idaho.
This trip was a very good test for the rings. As I earlier commented, this rifle and scope had been validated on numerous targets and hunting trips so the only variable were the rings. So…………….did they hold up? Well, our club has two trophies that we give out every year and I was able to take both of them for 2016. Longest shot on a rock chuck—757 yards and the 1000 yard competition on a MOA steel target. This ring/level combination works great and I would highly recommend them especially for a shooter who is trying to eliminate a separate level. And……………they look really cool!
Randy
“If you can see em, you can shoot em”
Go HERE to ask questions and discuss this review.