Alaska Arms

Alaska Arms

My name is Dane Sorensen and I live in Perth, Western Australia. I’m a past customer of yours and have a tale I’d like to share with you.

Right – a little story about scopes mounts and new rifles. I purchased a new 375 H&H CZ Safari in mid 2013, and shortly after, ordered quick release mounts from Alaska Arms in both 30mm and 1 inch, which duly turned up a few weeks later, as explained, due to production schedules. Great service, from the other side of the world. In the mean time, wanting to get some loads sorted out and needing suitable mounts – I purchased 30mm CZ mounts to suit. In Australia, the gun does not come with the mounts supplied. These were used to mount an excellent Kahles 2.5 – 10 x 50 – however, when trying to zero the scope – I found that at the full extent of the adjustment of the scope, the closest I could get to the point of impact was 100mm – not at all a good result for a new rifle / mount combination, especially as both are from the same manufacturer. Now, you might think the simple solution would have been to take the lot back to the dealer and let the importer sort it out. Well, I live in Australia, compared to the US, we have VERY restrictive licensing laws. As I reside in Western Australia the situation is compounded – here we need to apply separately for EACH fire arm, with supporting documentation outlining reasons for requiring a new firearm and it is a protracted process that takes up to 4 months – even as , in my case, I have other high powers and handguns. To give up the gun for a warranty claim may well mean I don’t see the gun for – well, who knew how long. I persevered – the age old method of shim metal under the offending back mount – this got me on the paper and everything seemed OK even though I was somewhat disappointed. After a couple of hundred workup reloads and the odd quick hunting trip which went pretty well, all seemed alright and I arranged a trip to the Nullabore, 600 miles East of Perth, my home town.The first couple of shots were less than impressive – upon inspection, the mounts had come loose at the center pillar screws. Rarely do things under stress preform as hoped – for long. I should have both expected this and checked for it. Upon close inspection and the application of vernier calipers, I came to the conclusion that receiver dove tails might not be in alignment, as the CZ mounts both measured precisely the same in all facets. At this stage, I was resigned to the warranty course. Then I read an article about scope mount alignment and honing kits – had a mate (buddy – OK (: .. ) turn some up and checked out where the problem really was. Custom made mount alignment pins fitted into the Alaskan Arms 1 inch and 30mm quick release mounts. CZ mounts in foreground.

First of all, I mounted the alignment pins into the CZ mounts, then refitted the mounts to the rifle – this resulted in the confirmation that there was .68 mm miss alignment between the pins, approximately half way between the mounts. Side alignment was checked using a straight edge and there was around .45 mm out of line on the side parallel. To be honest, this is a little bewildering as I ran the verniers over both CZ mounts and dimensions are identical between both mounts. Regardless – the alignment pins don’t lie – I rotated them through five steps of about 30 degrees and the miss alignment was constant.

Close up of CZ mounts with logo clearly visible.

I then remembered my Alaska Arms mounts, tucked away in my cupbord – beautifully presented in their tin case and wrapped in a velvet drawstring bag, each mount individually packaged in a moisture proof zip lock plastic bag, with simple straight forward instructions included. You might think I’m going on a bit about the packaging, but I believe it shows the devotion to quality you take with your product.

Not having to disassemble the rings as you do for scope mounting, rather simply loosening the top and bottom screws, it was a very simple job to mount up my gauge pins and attach the mounts to the rifle.I did the 30 mm rings first and low and behold – almost perfect alignment. I thought this was too good to be true, so immediately fitted the 1 inch rings – same result. The miss alignment is less than 0.08 mm – if I was measuring it correctly – it ranged from 0.05mm to 0.12mm but most of the readings were around 0.08mm – in effect, nothing to worry about with both sets. As mentioned – almost perfect alignment with the Alaska Arms rings on the same rifle

At this stage, I’ve mounted the scope (the Kahles 2.5 – 10 x 50 ) in the 30 mm quick release rings. I’d centered the scope on both adjustments, windage and elevation prior to fitting and was keen to see how it came into line with the new mounts. I have a lazar bore sighting instrument so fitted it to my barrel and turned it on – at 50 metres (54 and a bit yards) it was within 50 mm (2in) – incredible considering my first debacle with the “genuine” rings. I removed and refitted the scope as per the quick release instructions supplied with the rings – same point of aim. I’ve yet to live fire to sight in, but this is an incredible result considering I couldn’t get closer that 4 inches with full elevation previously, using the CZ mounts with no shimming. I will of course need to confirm results with live firing and will get a 1 inch scope of a fixed 2 or 2.5 power so I can assess both setups, and will continue this report in due course. I do however, have enough experience with things mechanical and optical as well as guns/shooting, to know that I can now expect the results I was hoping for when I first purchased this rig. It’s then my intention to submit this article (suitably edited and with the live firing results) to a couple of our Australian shooting publications in the hopes they’ll publish my story. I need to clean it up and will probably need photos of the 1 inch rings – I still have the pins mounted in them and as I can now confidently remove and replace my scope – this presents no problems. Kahles Scope with rings fitted prior to mounting on the rifle.

Now, you may be wondering why it took me so long to get around to trying you rings. Well, in truth – I was convinced the dovetails machined into the rifle’s receiver were to blame – as I said, I’d run the verniers over the CZ mounts and prior to having the alignment pins made up, I was convinced they were OK. In part, this was confirmed in my mind because I’d mounted the Kahles with the front mount only, leaving the rear one loose, and it was free of the rear dovetail by about 0.8 mm. Obviously those CZ rings are …. well, they’re not good. So Morris, in closing, let me say how absolutely pleased I am that I made the choice to deal with you, on my part, blind good luck although I did do some research – the fit and finish of your mounts is superb. If you’re interested, I’ll finish the story when I’ve done some shooting.In any case, my very best regards and thanks.