Maybe a basic question on scope mounts

[Incitatus]

I bought a Contender barrel with a scope.  The mount is in the picture.  Now, recently my bro bought a Rem 700 with a scope and it had the same sort of mount.  The question that I have is why would you need those screws on the side to adjust windage?  They seem pretty rough in terms of adjustment sensitivity and anyway, the scope has it's own adjustments.

What am I missing?

[charles p]

You should turn your windage on the scope all the way from one extreme to the other, and count the clicks.  Then you center the scope's windage.  After mounting the scope, use the windage on the base to get your left to right adjustment about perfect.  Use the scope windage for the remaining adjustment.  This assures that the plane of the lenses in the scope are nearly straight with each other, rather than cranked to some extreme angles.  In theory, the sight picture should be better.  For certain you will have the same amount of left and right adjustment should you ever need it.
Those windage adjustments on the base are not as crude as you think.  You can get the scope almost perfect by just using those screws simply by bore sighting down the barrel.

[Brithunter]

What your missing is a bit of history.


That mount is the Redfield Junior design, no matter who made it, and dates from about WW2. Back then a lot of scope only had elevation adjustment and most scope mounts were complicated and expansive AND required lots of skill so fit and set up so was a specialist gunsmith thing. Redfield with his Junior design changed that.


The problem is that those "Windage" jam screws with their small cones are all that locate the rear ring and it's not the strongest set up hence over the decades many better mounts have appeared on the scene.


Yes the windage is a bit coarse on adjustment with the jam screws but as Charles pointed out scopes do work better in the middle of their adjustment range.


I have a Leupold set up on a rifle, the only reason it's still on it is that a previous owner must have used a whole tube of loctite to fit it. Will have to drill the head off a couple of screws to remove it and fit something better at some later point. OK it works but I prefer other designs.


Col Townsend Whelen in his book "The Hunting Rifle" tells of the new Redfield Junior mount. He does not suggest it's used for heavy recoiling rifles like those of .300 magnum as he felt that those small screws may be injured or damaged by the recoil.. Just goes to show that time has proven things a bit differently. However like the good Col I feel that the contact area is a might small so prefer other designs.


Redfield claimed that the scope could be removed and replaced without the need for re-zeroing.. Those that have tried this have proved that on occasions this may be the case but not always.


Hope that helps a bit.

[Incitatus]

Thanks a lot, guys.  Very clear.

[Incitatus]

Another thought: doesn't this mean that the mounting holes on the receiver are not accurately placed?