I love my Ruger American Rimfire. A lot. So much so that I end up shooting it more than my Appleseed compliant 10/22. Even with .22LR prices what they are, it is still a deliriously fun time to rack that short throw bolt and burn through a few hundred rounds on a lazy Sunday afternoon. It is especially well suited to teaching the fundamentals of “precision” rifle shooting to new shooters. As I mentioned in my review of the gun, one of the best features is the ability to swap from open sights to scoped shooting with the addition of a different stock comb. One of the essential pieces of gear that facilitates that sort of swapping back and forth is a set of quick detach scope rings like the Maxima rings from Warne.
For some reason known only to Ruger engineers, the RAR ships with a grooved receiver that refused to accept the set of rings that my other Ruger .22 had used for over a decade. I’ll never know why Ruger made that design choice, but it did give me an opportunity to get on the blower with Warne, and get a set of rings coming. I’d never actually planned on getting a set of QD rings, but I was pleasantly surprised to find them nicely packaged on my doorstep.
Once I ripped through the shrink wrap, I got them loosely mounted to the receiver, and used the include Torx bit to clamp them down on the scope. One of the most appreciated features for the detail obsessed is the ability to tighten the inner screw of the clamp piece enough that a 1/4 turn of the handle clamps the whole things down. You can match both the front and back so they look symmetrical. The small things count.
Speaking of small things, even a small change in point of impact from removing and reinstalling the scope make quick detach rings totally worthless. As you can see, the first group was high and right from the point of aim, and the second group after removal and reinstallation was still right of the point of aim, but “on” elevation wise. That’s not encouraging to see, but to put some numbers around it, I calculated the shift in POI to be 5% in the horizontal plane and 26% in the vertical plane. Those are pretty big shifts, and for a 1000 yard gun, these mounts would be totally out. But its important to remember that this is a .22 that probably won’t get shot much beyond 50 to 75 yards. In practical terms, those shifts were .063 inches in the horizontal and .334 inches in the vertical at 50 yards. That’s well within the bounds of practical accuracy in my book, and at a touch under $40, I really think they’re a solid buy.
Specifications: Warne Maxima 7.3/22 QD Scope Rings
- Diameter: 1 inch
- Price: $39.94
Overall Rating * * * *
While I’d love a set of rings that returned to an absolute zero each and every time I removed and reinstalled them, I’m also a practical guy. My testing showed a shift in point of impact of roughly 1/3 of an inch at 50 yards. That’s a very small difference and well inside the range of what this gun can accurately shoot.
I’ve got a set of Warne QD rings on a Ruger 44 carbine. Concur – very nice rings.
So do I! I love that little gun… What do you think of yours?
Warne has the best rings for the money right now. I will go as far as to say you’re a fool for buying damn near anything else cheaper or more expensive.
I have a pair of the Warne 200LM QD rings (http://warnescopemounts.com/product/maxima-quick-detach-rings/) and a pair of the Leupold QRW QD rings (http://www.leupold.com/hunting-shooting/mounting-systems/qrw-mounting-systems/qrw-30mm-low/). Prices were very similar (the Warne were a touch less pricey).
The Warnes bolt together at the top and bottom, while the Leupolds bolt together at the sides. And therein lies the one reason I would choose the Leupold rings over the Warnes. When attaching the rings to the scope itself the Warnes simply fall apart and are something of a pain in the ass to reassemble. With my fat fingers I dropped the recoil lug multiple times before getting everything together and mounted on my rifle.
Once mounted both setups are fine. But I’ll be sticking with Leupold in the future.
Lol. I’ve ‘lost’ those little lugs a few times, only to find them later when they are sucked up by the vacuum.
I think that the POI shift is pretty darn good given that you have a 3/8 inch rimfire dovetail as a base.
Maybe you’d get better with a Weaver/Picatinny style rail and matching mounts, or with Ruger centerfire mounts, and maybe not.
I doubt Tyler is getting the EXACT same torque when tightening, and ring location every time. Locking levers, and a way to return it to the same spot make a huge difference with QD mounted optics. For the price of theses ring, there is little to complain about.
I’m rocking a pair low mount non-qd warnes on my 6.5 creedmoor and for 30-40 bucks they are damn nice. Steel even. Makes the 20 dollar aluminum ones on my 10/22 look/feel like junk, makes expensive ones on my AR seem… overpriced.
My results with these rings are quite different than what is shown here in terms of repeat-ability. I use these rings on my CZ 452 Full Stock with a Weaver RV-7 scope. This CZ has excellent tangent sights that I have upgraded with a JP ghost ring blade insert, so I enjoy shooting it with and without a scope–hence the choice of QD rings. Typical groups at 50 yards with a scope range between 0.2 and 0.5″ depending on ammo and conditions and how the shooter feels that day. My before and after results are within 0.2″ diagonal in terms of POA vs. POI in multiple tests. That difference is not even worthy of a scope adjustment for any realistic purpose.
The dovetail on my rifle is 11mm, and I have the rings properly installed for that size. I suspect the problem experienced by the reviewer has something to do with the oddball dovetail Ruger chose to use on his rifle. Also, if you look at his mounting photos, you can see the clamps are angled out a bit, which could mean they are upside-down. (Mine are quite vertical). That will introduce cant, which will impede accuracy. It could also mean these rings are simply not a good fit for his rifle.
I’m trying to decide whether to mount the scope directly to the grooves in the receiver of the RAR or to mount bases. Does any have any suggestions on either option?