Optic sight mount Evolution

I was an active shooter in the 70s when only quacks showed up with scopes on their guns.  Then Joe Pascaralla won a couple of national championships, first with an Oxford Light Sight and then with an Aimpoint red dot scope.  Joe got tangled up with the legal system and was gone but the cat was out of the bag.  The mount of the day was a grip mount from Jim Clark and I forget the name on the other.  Mine  was the other and had two extra holes in it with matching holes drilled and tapped into the grip frame to keep it from torquing the grip screw bushings out of the frame.  In the mid 80s the All Guard Pistolsmith convinced me that a slidemount was the way to go and he recommended the scope that Burris made for Gil Hebard.  He mounted the scope in Burriz Z rings on short pieces of weaver rail screwed and glued to the slide.  Most people used the red dot Aimpoint or the Tasco Propoint.  Forward 30 years and the slide mounted red dot, usually Ultradot, is the standard.  Where did the grip mounts go?  These duscover mounts looks good but the gun is much harder to clean.  Accuracy wise should be a wash since a frame mount is a frame mount.  Some of the grip mounts were very limited so far as scope location but the hi tech grip mounts of the day, like the Cal Grip, were very versatile with a few top plates available to chang the balance of the gun to fit the individual shooter.

I used an NPC grip mount (the one with the 2 extra screws) for a while, and then a Clark grip mount for a couple of years.  The Clark mount not only had 2 extra screws, it also had a recess milled into it.  You put release agent on the frame and then poured steel epoxy bedding compound into the recess just flush with the inside of the frame.  When finished, the mount had a raised "plug" that exactly fit your frame (and only your frame). It worked well and never shifted a bit, but it was heavy and a bit unwieldy.  I lived in the Washington, DC area and the matches I shot were at Quantico with the Marines.  They were all using slide mounts, so I went that way and never looked back.  The weight of the red dot on the slide seemed to smooth out the recoil impulse in the same way the old Bomar ribs did before the optical sights came along.

Axe, the bridge frame mount you're talking about is still around.  Yes it makes cleaning a pain in the backside, and it sets the dot (IMHO) WAY to far above the slide.  The grip mounts just never had the staying power to keep them in the game.  As Dr. Don stated they were problematic and much heavier than other options.  The slide mount does tend to dampen the recoil impulse.  But I also like a frame mount, just not the current bridge mount availalbe from Baer or Weidner.  I have a frame mount that is installed on the left rear of the receiver and has integral 30mm rings.  That is the lowest mount that I know of, with the exception of an integral weaver rail cut into the slide.  Just another option if you're still looking for a frame mount.

KC, you have any pictures of your mount?  The 30mm fixed is a problem since I don't do battery powered sight systems and prefer the Gil Hebard Burris but I'm always open to something new.  Have you drilled and tapped holes in a gun with this Severn Hard Hat treatment?

Axe, if you go to my web site click on more at the upper right and click on photo's the first pic that come up in the scrolling bar is that mount.  I'm not framilur with that treatment.  Let me google it and see what I can find out.

KC, mounted this Cal Grip Mount on the gun.  I had forgotten how tall it was. I'm thinking I need to look into another scope mounting method.  Did you find out anything about drilling and tapping this gun with the Severn Hard Hat treatment?

Let me try to get in touch with him again. I'mean sure that with carbide I would be able to do the frame mount I have.

Axe, I just got an email from Severn Custom.  Yes using carbide tooling I would be able to install the frame mount.   

Excellent!  I'll get you on the phone soon.

Sounds good, I'll be getting on the road Saturday morning.  Best time to call is later in the afternoon after I get back to the house.  Say 5-6 range so I can relax a bit and take notes.

Looking forward to hearing from you.