Rifle Scopes Sphur mount problems statistics

[Shooterpaddleman]

Hello to all of the forum members !

Sphur mounts are very popular in the shooting community around the world and I personally use their products with great results. However, for the last couple of month we had a number of issues reported with Sphur mounts among Ukrainian shooting crowd. Snapped rings for instance, where people are sure they did all the mounting by the manual...

So decided to create this post to see more global statistics and prove that above mentioned problems are a question of user errors. Please, write your experiences with Sphur, especially negative ones if there were any.

 

[Steel+Killer]

I have 4 SPUHR mounts I always tighten the rings to 20 inch pounds never had a problem.

 

[PinesAndProjectiles]

I've got two and no issues in almost two years.

 

[skullworks]

So what frequency are you talking about? Have you been in contact with Spuhr (or the shop you bought it from)?

 

[Shooterpaddleman]

What caused the failure? Pretty hard to imagine a spuhr failing like that under any circumstance really.

There is no explanation, this particular example is from the military guys. They are sure they did everuthing by the manual..... I am not so sure))

 

[Shooterpaddleman]

So what frequency are you talking about? Have you been in contact with Spuhr (or the shop you bought it from)?

A couple for the last two month, all examples are said to be tightened by the manual, but I am not sure. Thats why I decided to back up my opinion with global statistics and created this post..

 

[Downtown]

Is it possible those mounts were counterfeit? I know some manufacturers of popular items have dealt with product returns that were determined to be fake. I believe Kasey can speak to this concerning his Atlas Bipods.

 

[BreachBangClearRyan]

That picture almost looks like the front of the ring is partially mounted on the bottom of the bell which would but excess strain on both the optic and the mount ring. I would be interested to see what it looks like under that ring.

 

[DustBun]

Assuming they are not counterfeits with the Spuhr name, they are out there, and assuming they are torqued correctly and evenly, the thing I noticed in the picture was that the clamp was right where the bell for the objective was increasing. Maybe it is the camera angle. If so I would move the bell away from the clamp more as this could be inducing a stress riser through the clamp because of two different diameters, even if it is a small difference. When I torque mine, I half torque the screws, then go full torque.

 

[Shooterpaddleman]

Assuming they are not counterfeits with the Spuhr name, they are out there, and assuming they are torqued correctly and evenly, the thing I noticed in the picture was that the clamp was right where the bell for the objective was increasing. Maybe it is the camera angle. If so I would move the bell away from the clamp more as this could be inducing a stress riser through the clamp because of two different diameters, even if it is a small difference. When I torque mine, I half torque the screws, then go full torque.

that is the camera angle.

 

[Ds91]

I’ve had zero issues with two spuhr mounts.

 

[wigwamitus]

I have five ISMS mounts, and lots of "accessories" hanging off the sides and tops ... I tighten to 25 i/p and have had zero issues. My five were acquired over the past 30 months, with two of the five in the past 6 months.

 

[mercracing]

I’ve had 2 with a third on the way. Nothing but great results.

 

[jd138]

While I was torquing a Sphur mount to a rail, the screw failed and stripped a bit. Of course this is a screw, not the mount itself and MileHigh had a new set of screws in the mail the same day. Pretty awesome mount that even comes with alignment shims (if that is what you call them).

Edited to add MileHigh sent the screws at no charge, not even shipping.

 

[DDT]

@Shooterpaddleman

there were an early (called gen.1) ISMS mounts which had bad design around screw holes on the ring clamps - there were no enough material left, so rings were prone to crack (like your ones). There are a few photos on this forum with this gen.1 mounts with cracked rings. I thought that Spuhr updated the new design for more crack resistance...but you bring the same thing with gen.2 too, strange.

edit: not the same thing - your ring is cracked on the different place, not over screw holes, but above them ( ! )

 

[hlee]

You'll never get an accurate consensus on the Internet. Human nature is to bitch. Or fanboi.

What they say is true, "Treat someone well and they will tell their friends. Treat them poorly and they will tell everyone."

People that have a beef come to forums to bitch. Those that are emotionally invested in their stuff come to fanboi. Those that are merely satisfied sit on the sidelines, blissfully ignorant of the Internet furor.

I don't own a Spuhr, but when I saw this post title, my first thought was to the cracked rings that were talked about here, some number of years ago.

The %ages reported online will always skew towards a bigger problem than there really is because most people are neither having problems nor feel the need to defend some company they're associated with beyond being a customer...

But, for those with a problem, it's a real problem.

I've read about people torquing (non spuhr) rings until the scope internals fail to function correctly, without damage to the rings. Based on reputation, you'd really have to gorilla-torque a Spuhr to get it to fail, and the scope would show that- somewhere.

 

[The DFC]

Use a torque wrench.

 

[Drew890]

While I was torquing a Sphur mount to a rail, the screw failed and stripped a bit. Of course this is a screw, not the mount itself and MileHigh had a new set of screws in the mail the same day. Pretty awesome mount that even comes with alignment shims (if that is what you call them).

Edited to add MileHigh sent the screws at no charge, not even shipping.

I had the same issue and experience with Mike High. MH is awesome.

 

[newguy2k3v2]

I have 5 or 6 and zero issues.

 

[wigwamitus]

I can actually think of one issue ...

When they send me the SIMRAD mounts, or is it the 4mm spacers for the SIMRAD mounts, yeah I think it is the spacers ... the screws are too long and you'd better file them down 2-3 mm or you will drill a hole in the top of your scope. And the instructions even warn you. But who reads those !!??

So I haven't drilled any holes in my scopes, but I have marred up the finish on two of them before going "oh sh^t".

So giving us dummies the power to mess up our scopes would be my ONLY issue

 

[Jcaplinger199]

Just ordered a new scope and my first spuhr. Don’t have either yet. They are coming in next week. Anyone had any issues with ring marks and spuhr when installed correctly? Just curious?

 

[wigwamitus]

I just temporarily moved my NF 4-16x T3 from its spuhr over to a Larue and then back (was testing a specific clipon that needed 1.5 center mount) ... and what "rings" there were, I was able to wipe off with a silly cone cloth.

 

[hk dave]

@Shooterpaddleman

there were an early (called gen.1) ISMS mounts which had bad design around screw holes on the ring clamps - there were no enough material left, so rings were prone to crack (like your ones). There are a few photos on this forum with this gen.1 mounts with cracked rings. I thought that Spuhr updated the new design for more crack resistance...but you bring the same thing with gen.2 too, strange.

edit: not the same thing - your ring is cracked on the different place, not over screw holes, but above them ( ! )

Had this happen too. Spuhr was aware and replaced the ring for me. No issues with my other Spuhr mounts.