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Leopold and Mini Scope mount

3K views 8 replies 4 participants last post by  davey 
#1 ·
Hi All,

Hopefully someone can help; I have a Leopold CQ-T and am having a tough time mounting it. I believe it will fit fine on the Ultimak front scout mount, but. . . I think the eye relief is too far then. The B-Square QD mount is perfect in location, but the CQ-T mounting posts spacing is not the same! Any advise before I either sell the CQ-T or go nuts!

Thanks in Advance

John K
 
#3 ·
johnk518,

I can help!! I have a Leupold CQ/T and spent about 6 months getting it mounted on the rifle, but it was worth the wait. Here's the skinny: (feel free to skip to the "what worked" section for the impatient)

Background:
The CQ/T was designed to be mounted on an M-16 handle, which doesn't help for mounting solutions on a Mini, where most scope mounts are either fixed distance bases, or Weaver rails. Leupold makes a mount adapter for a flat top ($50, have that too), but the spacing is set up for a Picatinny rail, or MIL-1913 standard base. It looks like a Weaver rail, has the same width, but the groves gapped and spaced differently. Moreover, the CQ/T has eye relief and height optimized for the M-16.

First Solution:
The B-Square side mount. Had a number of advantages, including being able to look under the base and use the iron sites as backup, and no drilling or tapping. The down side is that it is an aluminum base (underside scars with harsh ejecting brass cartridges), and is not the most stable base in the world. I must admit though, it did hold zero fairly well. So, the question then was how to get this Weaver rail to accept the scope. I toyed with the idea of milling down parts of the base to make it fit (it was only aluminum) but I didn't want to ruin the integrity of the base with additional cuts. The solution was an ARMS-12 Leupold CQ/T Mount ($135). This mount is standardized on the Picatinny rail, however only has one cross beam, so the spacing of the groves on the B-Square mount wont matter. The only problem fit wise was the groove wasn't wide enough for the cross member, so a very small amount of filing resulted in a very solid fit. That should have been ideal, however the scope is then up so high that there is not a good cheek position on the stock. In addition the eye relief was a little far forward. The search for a better base continued.

Second Solution:
Knowing the Eagle and B-Square mounts would not due, I looked for a steel mount that would be lower and still provide me a proper setup. I tried the Millet scope mount (pictured above, $38). While this seemed to be a solid setup, the Weaver base on this mount is much thinner then others, and would not work with the ARMS #12 mount. In addition the slots were too narrow for either the ARMS, or the original Leupold flat top adapter. Using the base would require a lot of cutting, which for a base so thin would not work.

Third Solution:
Finally I called up S&K Scope Mounts our of PA. I asked them about their Mini-14 mount ($61), and wanted to know the dimensions before I ordered one. Within a minute, the gentleman I was talking with gave me the exact dimensions to a hundredth of an inch. (Images of the guy with a scope mount he just pulled out of a bag and a dial caliper.) It turns out that the base has two land sections, each with 1 grove for mounting a scope. The rear grove was the ideal size for the ARMS mount cross member, and the front section was close enough to accommodate the mount perfectly. It is also a lower mount base.

What worked:
So the S&K Scope Mount worked great, when used with the ARMS #12 base. Both are rock solid, repeatable zero, and the scope is quick release with throw levers to boot. In addition I added a cheek piece from BlackHawk ($20) to raise stock comb, and the rifle comes to shoulder and up very similar to the spacing on an MP-5A2. Eye relief is a little closer with the 3x power, but not uncomfortable. I also mounted the Ultimak front rail because there is enough room under the CQ/T to mount a light or laser, and I'm guessing that the Ultimak may take some vibration out of the barrel compared to the stock hand guard (untested).

I hope that helps. Overall it was about $250 with tax and shipping for the parts actually used to set up the scope, but for an $850 scope its about par.

-davey

mount - S&K - http://www.scopemounts.com part number 2270 in insta-mounts
adapter - ARMS #12 - http://armsmounts.com item #12 in new products
cheek pad - BlackHawk - http://www.blackhawktactical.com SKU 90CP00BK
 
#4 ·
Sounds impressive. Why don't you show us the results in a gallery, Davey?

V.
 
#6 ·
Thanks a Million Davey!
Actually I ordered a Eagle Mount but they sent a B-Square mount. I was getting SO frustrated with this, that I actually posted the CQ-T for sale for the hell of it. Funny thing within minutes I had people who were interested! So my new problem, sell the CQ-T for a $50 profit, pickup an Aimpoint or a "HUD" type sight, pocket the extra $, or explore the options you went through. I thought about milling around the B-Square mount too for the same reasons you did, and then didn't (also for the same reasons). I looked at the Millet mount too, but thought that it might not hold center after a few rounds.

I do love the CQ-T but, do I REALLY need that advance of an optical? Either way I think my sighting problems are now solved.

Thanks!

JK
 
#7 ·
Glad I could help John. In the gallery I posted a picture of a close up of the mount. If you're curious about an other details or pics from other angles let me know and I'd be happy to put them up. It was long and frustrating to get the setup I currently have with all of the snags worked out, but it was worth it in the end. At 50 yards you can go through a 30rd clip very quickly and wind up with one ragged hole. Having the 3x on the scope makes a big difference at distance as well. For me it was the deciding factor for going to the CQ/T vs. a red dot like the EOTech HOLOgraphic Diffraction Sight (one of the better ones from what I could see). The scope is also so solid I don't mind not having back up sites, however I'm still tempted to put on a set of flip up style iron sites on the Ultimak rail.

Good luck and I'm glad some else didn't have to go through all the hassle I did.

-davey
 
#9 ·
John,

No it won't. The reason the ARMS mount works is because the rear of the mount has the only cross memeber, and the front braces on the side without any need to line up the front slot. With the Leupold flat top mount, it uses multiple cross members which will not line up to the two cross slots on the base.

As a picture is worth a thousand words, here is the base (muzzel down) has two cross slots (B) where the top one mates to the cross bar (A) on the ARMS mount.

Hope that helps.

-davey
 

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