Picatinny rails and mounts

[Die Judicii]

Just wondering what other members views are in regard to Quality, and Cost, of the various "specimens" available.

I've bought several of the variants available from china (scope mounted, and barrel mounted) for mounting torches/laser/cameras etc.
Have also bought plain Picatinny rails (for mounting scopes on .22 rifles
The cost varies from around $3.00 to $6.00 each and postage amounts to the princely sum of .99 cents.

This is a far cry from similar equipment from Sporting stores in Australia, where it is not uncommon to pay a $100 or more.

For the simple basic uses on low recoil firearms, I reckon they are good value.

If Aussie made ones were similar in price to the China ones,,,,, I'd buy Aussie everytime, but Alas, they are not.

[on_one_wheel]

I've got a cheep plain pic. rail on the underside of my shotgun to mount a Lazer for night shooting . It seems to be holding up well, no slop or slippage... keeping in mind that it's only holding 50 grams or so.

I steer clear of cheep picatinny mounted quick release sling swivels after dropping my shotgun while it was on my back when one failed. Instead I've opted for a solid one piece alloy sling anchor point.

I guess if you were regularly mounting different bits and pieces on it then you'd want to make sure it was made from a high quality / durable alloy or even titanium ( ) so you could be confident that it wasn't going to wear.

[Berper]

This is a far cry from similar equipment from Sporting stores in Australia, where it is not uncommon to pay a $100 or more.

You're familiar with the mark up on shooting accessories here though of course

Price is no guarantee of quality, but can be for stinging punters

[sandgroperbill]

I would suspect the tolerances in the drilling of the screw holes and the quality of the screws would be somewhat important. As Long as the rail itself is strong and straight enough, I would be more concerned with the screws

[p3seven]

I have had trouble with screws stripping on my $13 Chinese 3/8 groove to Weaver adapters before the adapter was even tight. Had to opt for $30 US made bought from LGS. Lesson learned.

[Redwood]

I guess the screw size is fairly standard and you could get quality replacements elsewhere?

[happyhunter]

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[Gwion]

Also have a few of the cheapo rails that i use for scope mounting torches. The cheapo QR rings i use on a couple of torches, that fit perfectly on the rail that came with my Howa, are a bit sloppy on the cheap scope mount rail. Fine for the purpose on a 223 and 22lr the tolerances for manufacture obviously aren't spot on. Had to mod the ring clamp a touch to firm it up.

[Usurper]

The steel rails seem to be a lot more expensive than aluminium.

More expensive material and more expensive to machine (harder on the tools).

[happyhunter]

[.

[BBJ]

Aluminium can be machined faster too. Time is money and all that...

Aluminium also has much lower melting point and 4-5 times the thermal conductivity. Much easier/cheaper/faster for moulding as requires less energy to melt and shorter cooling periods. More time saved.

I don't know if it would come into play on something as small/simple as a picatinny rail but the lower thermal conductivity of steel means more hot spots that can distort. Alu is less prone to this too.

[happyhunter]

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[Bourt]

Had to mod the ring clamp a touch to firm it up.

Shim it?

[Gwion]

Had to mod the ring clamp a touch to firm it up.

Shim it?

A few passes with a file and a touch up with black texta!

Works just fine.

[kritch]

Good work Bubba

[duncan61]

Products from China are very hit and miss.I import ali plates through my man who has exhausts made and shipped here for the mining industry vehicles but you have to stand behind them and watch the quality control as it will drop very quickly if you are not there.I have enjoyed rebuilding BSA motorcycles and done a far bit of drilling and tapping and would not want a young Chinese worker retapping anything at breakneack speed with no care for finished product and stripping holes etc.You can get lucky and get good stuff its the chance you take