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.

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Discovery released new scope rings made of 7075 aircraft grade aluminum and with precision features like their “Lightweight 7075 offset mounts”. The design makes extensive use of lightening cuts to reduce the weight. Uniquely the upper and lower ring halves have an index pin to precisely line up the halves without the need for play in the Torx screws.

Discovery also went to the extra effort of pre-lapping the rings with a finishing buff on the rings inner surface to assure a smooth, high contact interface with your scope. The rings come in 30mm, 34mm, and 35mm tube sizes in 1.5″ center height and higher profile 1.93″ heights. Overall the rings look as good as those made by big brands for a lot less than half the price.

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Discovery Optics website https://discoveryopt.com/ 

Discovery recently updated their premium scope ring and scope mount offerings with their new Lightweight Scope Mounts. The “Lightwenght” typo in the first batch of boxes was not an intentional Trademark name. I pointed this out to them to their embarrassment but I won’t judge given the number of typos in my articles.

The rings are made of 7075 aircraft grade aluminum and make extensive use of lightening cuts to reduce the weight. Technically these aren’t cuts but milled indents into the surface that do not go all the way through. This allows a thin wall of material that helps keep it stiffer.

The mount comes in 30mm, 34mm, and 35mm tube sizes in 1.5″ center height and higher profile 1.93″ heights. Its my understanding that more SOF trainers prefer higher profile mounting of optics to promote a more heads-up shooting position for operators. Discovery also offers mounts with a 20 MOA tilt for long range; the mounts I tested were standard 0 MOA.

On close surface inspection the milling and construction appears of high quality. The mounts have recoil lugs, use Torx screws (star), and a unique indexing pin on the rings which in theory provides more precise alignment of the ring tops and additional stiffness without having the rely on the quality and alignment of the screw/bolt supplier. Using my Monstrum laping kit, I found the mount to be nearly perfectly aligned, requiring no lapping (Those competing in ELR will probably still want finer tolerances). Overall the mounts look as good as those made by big brand mounts for a lot less.

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Discovery Optics https://discoveryopt.us/collections/0-moa-scope-mount 10% off code: MOONDOG

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