Can someone teach me about rings/mounts?

[cc426]

I have a set of rings that came with my scope that I have been using for my AR but they are too low. So I was going to replace them or add a riser.

What's the benefits/drawback to riser vs higher rings?

What's the benefit/drawback to one piece rings vs 2 piece?

What's the difference in all the rings? I see rings that range from $5-$500 why such a discrepency in price? I get there are some feature differences such as steel vs aluminum, quick release, 1 piece vs 2 piece but even with all features being equal I still see a range from $30-$500...I don't get what I am paying for in a $500 mount vs a $30 mount (I'm sure there's some quality differences, but what? I mean I'm not trying to use my scope rings to bust down doors...)

[negolien]

Alot of people use PEPRs they are 1 inch height.

http://www.burrisoptics.com/arpepr.html

[EvolutionGSR]

The benefit of a one piece like neo posted is that you can position the forward ring further out over the handguard while having the base fully mounted on the receiver. This allows you to have the scope positioned more forward than if you had two rings on the reciever. I believe that separate rings should always be both placed on the reciever, not rear on receiver and front on handguard. You have more room to adjust how forward you mount the scope for the way you shoot with a cantilever one piece mount.

You can get a cantilever riser....but at the price of mounts like the pepr....might as well just get a pepr.

[HK Dave]

The relation of the stock on an AR to the rifle itself is much higher than on a traditional rifle.

Because of that, in order to get proper cheek weld and eye placement, the optic has to be placed higher up.

Optimal placement for most Optics on an AR15 is 1.3" to about 1.5"

Most unimount companies have taken all that into account.

The cheapest I'd go is a PEPR mount for a non QD (Quick Disconnect) mount.

The reason for the price difference is the following...

-Will the QD device bring the Optic back to zero reliably
-Are the rings themselves lapped or perfectly concentric so they will apply equal pressure to the scope tube
-Will the mount maintain zero through extended firing
-Can the mount take a hit and still maintain zero

These are some of the reasons for the price discrepancy. There of course is the "name brand" portion of the price.

All in all, if you don't need a Quick Disconnect mount... and in all honesty most don't.... get the PEPR and be done with it.

If you've got money to burn, take a look at GDI P-Rom or SPUHR.

[negolien]

I agree with the above. The PEPR is super easy to mount optics in also. Compared to dual rings it's alot easier to get them mounted right. More than likely you will be Nose to Charging handle when looking thru a scope on an AR. Unless you use a riser. I don't use those but maybe someone could chime in on that.