Scope mounts and rails;

[XCALIBRE]

Think it's about time we had a discussion about the quality and expense of some of these scope rails and mounts now on the market. Quite a few are going over the top re cost and quality integrated with practical use.
Some, the expense and intended use are way over the top of the quality and strength of what they are supporting. That is good up to a point. Reality of the mechanical world is similar to buying and driving a car that can do 220 MPH. but only driving it in the city or perhaps once on the open road at 160 MPH. Once a scope is mounted and locked down to a reasonable security will and does last forever without umpteen changes of scope/rifle combinations. Alloy versus Steel, yes, one is stronger than the other by near on 50%. But if anything gets knocked around by falling down a cliff face or anything, damage is to the scope first, then anything else second. $500 dollar Titanium steel or any other exotic mount material does the same job as an alloy in holding a scope the scope in the same position of it's intended use. Keeping in mind that all modern high performance cars and machinery are now made of alloys, these comments are now open for discussion.

[6602steven]

http://youtu.be/s5pVya7eask

I remember watching something like the vid above showing the stresses a scope and mounts go through during firing. I reckon the stiffer the mount the better but where do you stop?

[XCALIBRE]

This I can understand, however, by not flexing as much as the action in resistance to it's strength the frequency of vibration would increase perhaps twofold to the scope internals. Most scopes nowadays have internal plastic/synthetic lenses far superior to the old fully glass lenses with these being more flexible and would absorb more shock. Glass scratch resistant lenses are now only used at entry and exit levels of scope manufacture. Even so, older scopes do not fail within themselves other than mechanical failings of seating and bondage which is a product of the manufacturer. Good scopes, bad scopes. Still cannot get my head around the costs of some rails and mounts going from the sublime to the 'cor blimey'!