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Base & Rings: Mix or Match Steel & Alum

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Hollywood58 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hollywood58 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Base & Rings: Mix or Match Steel & Alum
    Posted: October/05/2015 at 18:13

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Ok, so is there any real information out there that supports you should use steel base and steel rings or it is ok to use steel base with high quality aluminum rings? 

I'm not carrying this rifle over mountains, going to be a target shooting gun. But I do want the combo that works the best together.

Remi bolt .308 sps tactical, vortex viper 6.5-20x44, steel nightforce base
http://nightforceoptics.com/accessor...ece-steel-base

All of the better rings are between $100-$200, so price isn't really the driving force, just quality, purpose, and warranty.

Rings I was considering:

Steel:
-Badger
-TPS
-Ken Farrell

7075-T6 aluminum:
-Vortex 4 hole low rings (lifetime warranty)
-Seekins 7075-T6 Billet

TIA!
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supertool73 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote supertool73 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/05/2015 at 18:47
I have mixed and matched several tumes without issue. I have alum rings and steel base on my precision rifle right now with no issues so far.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cheaptrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/06/2015 at 05:53
Me too. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bugsNbows Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/06/2015 at 07:58
Me three on the mixing. No issues to date ... as long as they are quality pieces.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote USMC2111 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/17/2015 at 20:51
Just mounted a Mark 4 with steel Badger rings on a Sadlak alloy mount no issues
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cheaptrick View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cheaptrick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/18/2015 at 05:59
I read somewhere Vortex rings are made by Seekins. I've had all you mentioned, sans Ken Farrell and I'd go with with Seekins now.  
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote stork23raz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/19/2015 at 07:33
The Vortex Precision rings are made by Seekins, so they are the same.
Vortex Precision/Seekins or Badgers are top picks in my book
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Gunshow75 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/29/2015 at 17:38

When a material is heated or cooled, its dimension (length or width) changes by an amount that is proportional its original dimension and the change in temperature.  Called Linear Thermal Expansion, it can be expressed mathematically by :

dw = W x a x (Tinit - Tfinal)

where dw is change in width, W is original width, a is the linear expansion coefficient in m/m deg C, and Tinit and Tfinal are the initial and final temperatures in deg C.  m is meters.  The linear expansion coefficients for steel and aluminum are 0.000012 and 0.000023, respectively.

Lets suppose that you put a set of steel bases and aluminum rings on a rifle and that they are 0.75 inches wide when you install them at a temperature of -25 deg F (-31.6 deg C). Lets further suppose that you shoot the rig at a temperature of 110 deg F (43.4 deg C). 

With a change of 135 deg F (75 deg C), the steel base will be 0.750675 inches wide and the aluminum rings will be 0.751294 inches wide, or a difference of 0.000619 inches.  Even assuming no elasticity in the ring clamp, I doubt that 6 ten thousandths of an inch would allow enough change to be seen. 



Tom



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