6061 vs 7075 Scope Rings

by moondog on October 27, 2024 with No Comments

https://youtu.be/oojhvIJSdDs

If you own a pair of scope rings or really any firearms accessory that’s made of metal, chances are that metal is aluminum. And if you look at the marketing description it may describe it as “Aircraft grade” aluminum or “Aluminum Aloy” which means that chances are that type of aluminum is 6061.

But there is also 7075 aluminum which was secretly invented in Japan before WWII and used in the famous Mitsubishi A6m “Zero” fighter. This aluminum is technically lighter and harder than 6061. But also harder to mill and work with, which makes it more expensive than 6061.

Discovery optics new line of scope rings and mounts are surprisingly well designed and constructed, with features like lightening cuts and recoil lugs. Moreover they all feature clearly printed informative labels with useful information like the height and diameter or the rings, the amount of torque to apply to the star Torq screws, and the sequence to tighten them down.

The 6061 “lightweight” cantilever offset mount features an index pin to more precisely align the top and bottom halves of the rings together and provide reinforcement against recoil sheering sheering forces on the screws. As the name implies their 20MOA Heavy Duty mount has a 20MOA cant built into the base for Extreme Long Range shooters and features “Pre-Lapped” rings that are polished down to the bare metal providing the mirror smooth contact surface with your scope tube. It also offers 6 screws per scope ring which offers more clamping power if you’re mounting a heavy scope on a big bore (ie. 50BMG) or magnum cartridge rifle.

If you don’t need the 20MOA for pushing out to Extreme Long Rang shooting, you probably don’t want it because that also means you’ll need to compensate by adjusting your scope 20MOA to counteract that ballistic drop of the mount for “normal” range setups.

Both the 6061 and the 7075 rings also feature this pre-lapped treatment. In fact, I’m a bit hard pressed to find a use case for the 6061 rings over the 7075 rings. Certainly the 6061 rings are lighter and 40% cheaper than the 7075 rings but both are under $100 and therefore so affordable as to make the difference in price negligible.

In general you should choose scope rings for the most versatility in scope setups on bolt action and semi-automatic rifles. Discovery Scope mounts will only fit on Picatinny 1913 rails due to their triple recoil lug bases. But if you’re mounting a scope on an AR or a rifle with limited rail space, you may need a mount to provide enough forward offset to push your scope eyepiece far enough forward to provide you with sufficient eye relief to use the scope safely and effectively.

No matter which you choose: scope rings or an offset scope mount, Discovery’s offers exceptional value and by all appearance, exceptional engineering and construction. In all but the most extreme conditions, either 7075 or 6061 should provide you with a strong enough mounting system for your scope.