Hunters now can remove the scope from their rifles for travel and when they're remounted it's still accurately sighted.  It's the ridges and valleys.

Invention Summary

A scope mounting system includes a one or two-piece base and a plurality of scope support assemblies. Mating portions of the base and scope support assemblies have parallel v-notches engaged with parallel flat lands to set the position of each support assembly relative to the sighting direction of a weapon to which the base is attached. The “flat land to v-notch” interengagement guarantees that the flat portions of all v-notches will engage one another to prevent movement along the weapon's sighting direction. Each scope support assembly clamps to the base in a way that prevents movement thereof in a two-dimensional plan perpendicular to the weapon's sighting direction.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates generally to the mounting of a scope to a weapon, and more particularly to a scope mounting system that holds a scope securely to a weapon, allows for quick movement to a different eye relief position, and provides for a return to zero if the scope is removed and then put back on the weapon.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Rifles are typically designed to permit the attachment of a telescope (or scope as it will be referred to hereinafter) to the top of the rifle using one of a variety of commercially-available ring-type mounting systems. In general, these ring-type mounting systems have two ring assemblies that capture the scope at two positions. Each ring assembly is then attached to a base (mounted on the rifle) by means of a clamping system. While the specifics of the clamping system may differ, the general approach is to utilize jaws that are drawn together by means of a screw that is keyed to the base so that the ring cannot move. The keyway slots or boreholes that receive the screw must be sized with sufficient tolerances to receive the screw. However, these tolerances can lead to a scope mounting system that can shift when the rifle is fired or during the general handling of the rifle. This means that the scope (supported by the mounting system) may have to be “zeroed” (i.e., the well-known process of aligning a scope's reticle with the aimpoint of the rifle to which it is attached) over and over again. Further, each time the scope is repositioned on the rifle to achieve a desired “eye relief” for a shooter, the scope must be re-zeroed.