Help me understand; Leupold Dual Dovetail rings?

Sleek looking. Less screws to worry about. Strong.

For starters, strongly pre-dates the picatinny rail system.

And while Weaver bases (and several related ones) have existed l long time, there are many others. Lots of euro guns, even military ones, use internal or otherwise obscured attachments, for the reasons
ColtPythonElite stated, about sleek looking and therefore not snaggy.

Another thing many other systems have is that any screws or levers are secondary attachments. They prevent something else from moving and THEN the scope getting loose. Any directly clamped system (Weaver) is directly dependent on the screw threads being properly installed, and not failing in use. Even crossbolt/cross-lug systems (late Weaver, Picatinny) only offload recoil resistance to the crosslug but the scope is going to loose zero instantly if you have a screw/lever failure of any sort.

The DD bases (IIRC) are a system that essentially cannot fail. The scope tube itself keeps them aligned, and by the time you've lost so many screws the scope falls off, base misalignment is not so much a worry It is overall a pretty slick setup, but is proprietary, intrinsically not QD so cannot take over the whole market, and also people are cheapskates, so not everyone is gonna buy Leupold bases and rings, hence it got pretty popular back in the day, but never dominated.

Leupold pushed marketing like mad to make it seem like the best thing since sliced bread, but it’s overall not a great system. They pretend it can reduce stress on the tube from misalignment of base screw holes, but completely neglects misalignment in vertical and axial alignment. Use them a couple of times and the dovetails “waller” a bit and can be loose, and when brand new, they really depend upon a thin-walled aluminum tube to force a high torque, interference fit between steel rings and bases.

I have a bunch of them; they are sleek, sexy, light, and solid the first time when properly aligned and lapped. I have even more of the single dovetail+windage bases. I drastically prefer a single piece rail with quality rings, or Talley bases.

Varminterror said:

...when brand new, they really depend upon a thin-walled aluminum tube to force a high torque, interference fit between steel rings and bases.

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Oh yeah, you should totally use alignment tools to install them especially. The kind of thing that Leupold probably thinks they have covered by saying the usual "have a professional gunsmith install these" but might have been better off providing some cheap alignment tool with each set.

Not enough experience to see one loosen up, but I suspected they are one-or-a-few-times installations, not good for repeatedly messing about. Which is usually fine. Most installs are complete, and one time.

Dey purdy!

That's really the only advantage imo.

An even slicker looking setup is Conetrol. Tally one piece bases are sleek and solid also.

Another and perhaps best attribute of the Leupold/Redfield system is that the course windage ajustments are accomplished by the rear base/ring screws.
The scope should be centered in its adjustment range before initial windage Zero. And shot placement zeroed by adjusting the rear ring. Then the left scope ring screw locktited. This will allow scope to be removed and reattached while maintaining zero.

On a new installation, I recommend lubricating the front ring with anti seize compound and rotating several rotations both directions with a 1” hardwood dowel to “lap” in the dovetail. This will prevent bending the scope tubes. (One of the few things Leupolds warranty DOESN’T cover).

Although heavier than the Weaver/Picatinney bases/rings, it’s superior for heavy recoiling rifles. My Marlin M1895 GuideGun has Leupold base, rings, and scope (1.5-5 VX3).

The dual dovetail has no rear windage adjustment. Both front and rear rings are dovetailed. It is crucial to align the rings correctly, and lapping is almost always required to correctly mount the scope.

The dual dovetail and front dovetail and windage adjustment scopes are a throw back to the original scope mounts. Original scopes had no internal adjustment. You zeroed them by moving the mounts. Later, even with adjustable scopes it wasn't uncommon for the mounting holes to be drilled incorrectly on some rifles and it was impossible to mount the scope directly in line with the barrel. Having an adjustable base helped correct that. That is the only practical reason to own a scope mount with dovetails.

Some people like the look and the dual dovetail was introduced simply for looks.

In reality they are the weakest scope mounting system, the hardest to install and the one most likely to cause problems if not installed correctly. Think about it, there is only a tiny metal post connecting the ring to each base. And with use the fit will become loose and allow the rings to move in the base. The ones with adjustable rear rings only have 2 fingernail slivers of metal holding the ring to the base. Then compare the strength of mounts in a slotted base like Weaver or Picatinny rail or the mounts that have the lower ring integral with the bases. They are much stronger. You'll never see any target rifle using dovetails mounts of either style.

berettaprofessor said:

So, why hasn’t Leupold reengineered the mount and modernized it? The Browning SA-22 isn’t going away....

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They offer other options as well, but the original fixed and adjustable are attractive, and function well enough that alot of folks really like them.

I wanted a set for my Browning, but modern scopes are generally too short unless you use extension rings and I don't like those.

As much as I love uninterrupted 1913 rails there are a few instances where they fall short of ideal. Top loading rifles often have limited space to load/unload especially when the scope is a hugger (sits low due to compact lens diameter). In those few instances I prefer 2-piece Weavers or the aforementioned Talley mounts.

I have rid myself of all Leupold mounts save a single pair of QD rings I inherited a few weeks ago and those won’t be finding a home on any of my rifles. Dual Dovetail mounts have forever been my least favorite mounting solution bar none. What you should understand is that I hate them as should everyone!

My Model 70 blind mag.


Not much room for my 10 thumbs in there. Some 1-piece rails do offer a cut out around the action.


Opposite side.

Skylerbone said:

uninterrupted 1913

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Eeeewwwww!

jmr40 said:

In reality they are the weakest scope mounting system, the hardest to install and the one most likely to cause problems if not installed correctly. Think about it, there is only a tiny metal post connecting the ring to each base. And with use the fit will become loose and allow the rings to move in the base.

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After buying and installing one set of dual dovetails, I'm not a big fan either. I'll agree that they are hard to install and you must be careful to have the rings aligned. But the metal on the dovetail is far from tiny and I'd consider it to be one of the stronger ring to base hookups. As for coming loose "with use", I can't imagine that unless, for some strange reason, you kept working the dovetails until you wore away metal. My set was incredibly tight when I first installed them, resulting in a solid fit.

I see a lot of complaints about the original Redfield/Leupold dovetail mounts on gunboards. I wouldn't put them on a hard kicking magnum rifle, but otherwise they have worked successfully (when properly installed) for about 100 years. I think the ability to roughly adjust windage on the scope mount is a nice feature

Isn’t the true weak spot on almost all scope mounting systems the pair of wimpy little 6-48 screws holding it all to the receiver? One of the things Ruger really got right was eliminating one component of the system with their integral bases.

I’ve never used the dual dovetails but I have a bubba’d M98 that couldn’t be scoped without some serious windage adjustment in the mount. For that application the single front dovetail saves the day.