Excuse my rant, but....
Why on earth are there such crazy prices for scope rings? I mean really? I am talking about rings that I see for $165 and up!!!!
I mean what's the deal? We are talking about your scope or red dot being held in place and holding zero.....right? I guess I am middle-aged now. We got our gun, then the scope and some rings. We mounted it and zeroed it and we were good.
Now I understand there is el cheapo and solid mounts and rings. But that is usually a matter of $10 and $30 rings. I just don't understand it. I know you need better rings for a .50 BMG vs a .30-30. But please explain this to me. Is it all because of the tacticool and mall ninja's?

I'm not sure what rings you are talking about but most of the rings in that price range I have seen have targeted their sales towards long range precision shooting. That's more than I am willing to pay for a set of rings but for a competitive 1000 yard shooter who just dropped over 2000 dollars on a scope a couple hundred for rings may not seem like too much.

it's like a lot of things, purpose and brand has a lot to do with it. I've used the Leupold Rifleman Vertical split rings on scopes and red dots ranging from Tascos to Leupolds. I've used them on handguns ranging from 454 to 500 Linebaugh in revolvers and 223 to 458 Lott in T/C's and I've never had a scope slip or get damaged. Those rings are about 12.00 a pair at Wal Mart.

Yep!

I chalk it up to, some people have more money then sense. I would compare it to fly fishing. You can buy Orvis, or St.Croix and get the same affect, and save yourself about $100's.

Nice to know I am not the only one who thinks like this. Guess some people have too much money; but I don't.

They've gone up a couple bucks, but still the best bang for the buck.

Nothing with Leopold is cheap or low quality.

Mike,

I guess I can throw in my 2 cents as I do have some pricey rings. I think my most expensive would be the Badgers (Nightforce) on my switch barrel AR. I am thinking they were every bit the 165 you mention, or more. As the gun is switch barrel/caliber, I wanted something that would guarantee rezero when moving optics/barrels. And my Nightforce scope is built like a tank, including the weight of a tank. With my 458 Socom, no issues. The rings do it aplumb.

I can do the same thing, generally with Leupold QRW rings, as I have done so on other rifles and handguns. Those rings are usually just this side of 100 dollars. Still kinda pricey. I also have other guns with 12 dollar Weavers, and pretty much everything in between. I am pretty happy with all of my various setups. even the cheap ones, because I evaluate the entire system, and try and "guess" what I need for the particular application. Rather than try and use the lowest possible choice, sometimes I just bite the proverbial bullet to be done with the fiddling.

One other thing that more expensive rings can bring to the equation is less wear and tear on the scope body or base, depending upon the platform and caliber. Especially with alloy bases. Again, every combination is a system for me, and I try and not have too many components that are right at their limit.

Craig