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Creative solution for scope mounting on M595
So I picked up an excellent condition Tikka M595 just after Thanksgiving. Left handed in 223.
I’ve been having a heck of a time finding scope bases I like, and will work with my scope, simply b/c the spacing b/w the bases is so wide on the tikka, it’s difficult to find bases that A. Will fit the scope, B. Allow the scope to come far enough back for the right eye relief, and C. Be low enough. I really didn’t want to go with a rail either, because those were also very high.
The burris tru-mounts came close, but were significantly higher than I wanted.
I searched the Weaver chart for hours on Brownells trying to find a solution that would work, trying to match up lengths, screw spacing, design, height, ect. They make a base for the Tikka, but it is very tall, and still has the spacing issue.
I ended up settling on a #40A base for the front (muzzle) and a #35 base for the rear. These are both Remington 700 front bases (the 40A being an extension base), so they both have radii on the bottom for the rounded 700 receiver. They have the exact same screw spacing to match the Tikka, and come with the correct screws too!
What I did was put them in my mill, and trimmed them down to an overall thickness of .165”. This took most of the radius out. There is still a little radius in the middle, but since the bases only bear on the left 1/3 and right 1/3 of the top of the receiver, and the center 1/3 is grooved and recessed slightly, even if it were dead flat it wouldn’t touch the center 1/3 anyways. I cleaned them up on my belt sander to remove the tool marks.
Net result couldn’t have possibly turned out better. The objective-end base put the scope ring back as far as possible, and the eye-end base was a perfect mate.
I used the Grand Slam steel bases just because it made me feel better, but the regular aluminum weaver bases would probably work just as well.
The single base pictured was my prototype, I ran down to the local Gander one night and grabbed it to make sure my idea was going to work before I dropped a little over 20 bucks on the Grand Slam bases.
Hope this helps someone. I can’t wait for the weather to break to go out and get some trigger time on it. I’ve had it for 3 months so far, and have only put 3 rounds down the pipe fire-forming some brass.
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