How to pick the best rings for your rifle and Nightforce scope

Your riflescope needs a solid platform to ensure you are getting the maximum performance out of your rifle and optic. Luckily, Nightforce offers a variety of rings, mounts, and accessories that are designed to provide the ideal solution to mounting your Nightforce SHV, NXS, ATACR, BESAT, Competition, or Benchrest scope and your rifle.

Ring and Mount Types

Standard Duty

Nightforce Standard Duty Rings are the perfect combo of durability and value. They are a simple, two-screw design for 30mm tubes and come in .90, 1.00, 1.25 and 1.50 inch heights and made from aluminum. They are also narrower front to back than many other ring types, which can be useful for rifle setups without much available ‘rail estate’.

Their precision machined recoil lug and positive locking jaws ensure accuracy and perfect fitment on standard picatinny 1913 rails. For long range shooting, these are best used when installed on a 20 MOA base.

Best uses: Plinking, Hunting

X-Treme Duty Steel

Nightforce X-Treme Duty Steel rings are high quality rings with an all steel construction. They feature a grade 8 cross bolt and with a precision machined recoil lug surface. For long range shooting, these are best used when installed on a 20 MOA base.

Best uses: Non weight sensitive applications, tactical

X-Treme Duty Ultralite 4 Screw

Nightforce X-Treme Duty Ultralite 4 screw rings are tough and reliable without adding substantial extra weight. These rings feature CNC machined 7075- T6 hard anodized aluminum bodies and titanium beta series crossbolts and jaws. These rings are designed to take whatever you can throw at them. For long range shooting, these are best used when installed on a 20 MOA base.

Best uses: Hunting, Tactical, Competition

X-Treme Duty Ultralite 6 Screw

Nightforce X-Treme Duty Ultralite 6 Screw are made to the same high standard as the 4 screw rings but provide a larger contact area on the scope. This is ideal for ensuring precision and repeatability in high recoil magnum calibers. Like all other Ultralite ring models, these feature CNC machined 7075- T6 hard anodized aluminum bodies and titanium beta series crossbolts and jaws. For long range shooting, these are best used when installed on a 20 MOA base.

Best uses: Hunting, Long range tactical, Competition

X-Treme Duty Unimount

Nightforce X-Treme Duty Unimount is a solid mount with both rings interconnected. These unimounts are offered with a 20 MOA cant which makes them well suited for long range shooting, especially when used with standard 0 MOA bases or fixed rails. They can also be combined with a 20 MOA base for additional elevation compensation for extreme long range shooting.

Nightforce X-Treme Duty Unimounts are also available in a cantilever configuration designed for getting the right eye relief when used on an AR platform rifle where forward rail space is not available. Unimounts are offered in extended height configurations for use with rifles with full length top rails found on many chassis rifles, ARs, or bullpups.

Like Nightforce’s Ultralite rings, these feature CNC machined 7075- T6 hard anodized aluminum bodies and titanium beta series crossbolts and jaws

Best uses: Long range tactical, extreme long range, AR platform

X-Treme Duty Mag Mount

The Nightforce X-Treme Duty Mag Mount is a Unimount that is designed for heavy recoiling magnum rifle applications. It is set apart by having 3 sets of titanium cross bolts and locking jaws rather than the standard 2 on a Unimount.

Mag Mounts are only offered without cant (0 MOA).

The Compact Mag Mount is shorter than the standard Mag Mount for limit rail length applications. It is available in 0 MOA and 20 MOA cants.

Best uses: Magnum caliber rifle applications

Which Rings do I need?

Getting the right mounting height for your scope is just as critical as picking the right scope. If your scope is too high, consistent cheek weld can be difficult and height over bore error is increased. Of course, mounting the scope too low will not work as the scope can come into contact with the barrel or other parts of the rifle.

We have 3 recommendation charts prepared for Nightforce scopes, depending on what kind of rifle you are mounting the scope on: AR15 or similar (AR10, SCAR, etc.), Traditional bolt action rifle with a rail over the receiver (Remington 700, Tikka T3x, etc.), and Bolt action rifle with full length handguard (Accuracy International AX, Ruger Precision Rifle, etc.).

AR15 Mount chart

Bolt Action with Short Rail Chart

Bolt Action with Full Rail Chart

Ring Accessories

Bubble Levels

Nightforce bubble levels help insure your rifle and scope are level when shooting so you can use your reticle for holding over properly. Even a few degrees of cant may put your reticle off by a few inches at even a few hundred yards. By checking the bubble level and confirming your rifle is level, you are confirming that the downard subtensions on your reticle or downward adjustments to your zero are matching the downward fall of your bullet.

Nightforce bubble levels replace one of the top halves of a Nightforce Xtreme Duty ring or unimount. They are not compatible with Nightforce Standard Duty rings. The bubble level must be matched to the tube diameter of the ring (30mm or 34mm) and to the screw count of the ring (4 or 6 screws).

Nightforce bubble levels are available with or without a mount for an Angle Degree Indicator (ADI). Just as shooting with your rifle canted to one side or another can make a difference downrange, so can shooting up or down a hill. The ADI displays the degree to which your rifle is pointed up or down, which can also be used for your ballistic calculations.

Accessory Platforms

Like Nightforce bubble levels, Nightforce accessory platforms replace the top half of a ring with a section of picatinny rail for mounting accessories such as red dot sights, rangefinders, lights, lasers, etc. The RAP and Multimount will work with both 4 and 6 screw Xtreme Duty rings in both 30 and 34mm diameters.

The Nightforce Ruggedized Accessory Platform (RAP) provides a large 4 inch section of rail at the 12 o’clock position above your scope, and is designed to maintain a zero even under harsh conditions for lasers, red dots, or other aiming devices.

The Nightforce Multimount provides a flexible mounting point for close range aiming devices like micro red dots. It has two short sections of rail and allows for mounting at 45 degrees left, 45 degrees right, and/or 90 degrees up on the ring half.