CAA DVSR one-piece mount bench review

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Here's a review of the increasingly popular CAA DVSR $23 one-piece mount. Lots of pics, lots of detail.

http://www.maxicon.com/guns/optics/caa/caa_dvsr.htm

It's essentially a clone of the KAC 32968 mount, and is working very well for 30mm users. It's not so good for 1" using the supplied adapters, as shown in the review.



Here's the text from the conclusion:

Conclusions

The CAA DVSR appears to be a sturdy, well made 30mm mount for a reasonable price. Though it hasn't been to the range for testing under fire yet, there don't appear to be any weak spots that would fail under the stress of the 5.56 round.

It clamps firmly on a 30mm scope, but is marginal on a 1" scope using the supplied adapters. Like many one-piece mounts, it won't work well for scopes with long eyepieces or very long eye relief, but for scopes that fit well, it's had good reports from those who have used it.

It's flexible enough to fill many people's needs for mounting a scope on a range gun, and inexpensive enough to give a head start on saving up for that LaRue SPR-E mount.

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This mount is a good performer so far, but one of the drawbacks is that it doesn't work well with 1" scopes, due to the half circle ring inserts it uses, and I have lots more 1" scopes than 30mm.

Over at arfcom, someone pointed out these airsoft rings with full circle ring reducers for only $8 ($11.29 shipped), so I bought a pair to see how they do.

http://www.combatoptical.com/catalog/30MM-MEDIUM-RING-WEAVER-STYLE-1-INCH-INSERT-QW30M-182.html

I also picked up another CAA DVSR mount from the arfcom EE - the newer style with a full length clamp - so it worked out well.

The inserts are a bit odd, as they and the rings have fabric lining them, presumably to keep from scratching the scope. They're made of aluminum, and are very light. The host rings look OK from a distance, but they feel terrible - light, sharp edges, single screw for the cap, and generally cheap feeling.

Anyway, I stuck a Leupold VariX IIc 2-7x40 gloss scope in the CAA with the inserts, and they hold really well - much better than the CAA half-inserts. The top ring half still tightens up snug against the bottom, with no gap, but there's enough force to hold with these inserts. I thought about pulling the fabric off, but that would have reduced the size more and reduced the clamping force.

I haven't taken it to the range yet, but I have no doubt they'll hold for 5.56. I'll take some pics and update my web review soon.

I also looked at the LaRue LT136 inserts, as it would be interesting to compare them, but they're $29 ($38.25 shipped). They look like they'd work fine, and that's not super expensive, but they're 1.5x more than the mount, and nearly 5x the cost of the cheap inserts. If the airsoft ones don't work at the range, I may give the LaRue a try.

Here are the $8 rings:


And the inserts: