Not your daddy’s scope mount
This week we are reviewing the Warne R.A.M.P. scope mount for the AR-15 platform. This robust offering from Warne is seen here featured on a custom Seekins Precision AR.
Earlier this year in August, I had the privilege of attending Crimson Trace’s Midnight 3-Gun Invitational (M3GI) as a competitor and media representative. If you haven’t heard of this event, then it may come as a surprise to you that the shooting happens after dark, which for all intensive purposes makes for a very interesting competition to say the least. Daytime hours allow the attendees to visit event sponsors to learn about their products as well as demo them in live fire. Enter Warne Scope Mounts.
The Warne Company has a rich history in the firearms industry. It’s original founder, John (Jack) Warne, putting in some 50-years with Sporting Arms Limited since 1947 started Warne Manufacturing in 1991. To say they know what they are doing is an understatement, they wrote the book. Warne has a great reputation for high quality, superb functionality and great designs.
I wasn’t surprised to see Warne at the Oregon M3GI event, as they themselves are a Pacific Northwest company much like the majority of the other sponsors. What surprised me was the conversation I overheard the Warne rep telling another shooter that their mount would hold zero even after removing it and putting it back on. What’s that you say? I gotta see this.
It was a hot day with a slight breeze and the occasional blast of sand in your face with each gust when I sat down on the firing line bench to check out the mount Warne was demoing. The rep called it the RAMP or Rapid Acquisition Multi-Sight Platform if you want to get technical. I really didn’t care what it was called; I wanted to see this for myself. It is a cantilever style scope-mounting platform that also contains an offset 45-degree mounting rail for your favorite sight, be it a flip-up BUIS or a red-dot. CQB sights are great for close quarters and entry scenarios but not for distance shots or target ID. Why not have both?
I fired 5-shots of 5.56 at a target 100-yards down range on the supplied AR-15, removed the scope mounted RAMP and re-installed it. My next 5-shots were spot on. I was thoroughly impressed the mount held zero and was equally impressed the mount was designed to allow for rapid transition to your backups without removing anything.
Innovation and quality are just a couple of things that come to mind with this mount. It appears Warne has put a lot of thought into the design of the RAMP and they have included some unique key features that surprised me. For one, the 45-degree mounts are removable and the kit includes an additional 45-degree mount for your front BUIS. The modular mounting system positions the front ring forward of the upper receiver by 1 3/4” allowing the optics to be mounted farther forward. This allows the shooter to position their head properly, whether upright or prone, and not sacrifice their shooting position due to improper optic placement.
The RAMP is available in an assortment of colors and ring sizes to accommodate scopes of various tube diameters and is made using 6000 series aluminum.
Since time was limited at the M3GI event, I asked Warne to send me a RAMP mount so we could put it through its paces. One of the first things I noticed when it arrived was how unique and well packaged the product was. Most products these days come in a cardboard box, however, WARNE wanted their innovative product to stand out when displayed on store shelves. It came nicely package in a clear tube and was protected with foam on the ends and clearly showcased the mount. I didn’t even want to open the packaging it looked so good!
From the time I opened it to the time I had it installed was about 10-minutes. Installation was effortless and easy with the supplied Torx wrench. I quickly used my sight-in tools to align and center everything and off to the range I went. My only complaint is the two thumb screws used to tighten the RAMP onto the rail do not have slots cut in them. This can be problematic if in the off chance you forgot your wrench, you wouldn’t be able to get them loose with say a quarter or screwdriver. Maybe version 2 will incorporate this feature. So far the mount has held up quite nice in a few trips to the range. On more than one occasion I have been asked what it was. Oh, and if your curious about weight on your AR, this thing weighs in at a mere 9.4 ounces. Not bad considering all of the mass to it.
MSRP is around $200 but a quick searched turned up a street price in the $160’s. I think this mount is a great investment for the money and would recommend it to my friends.
You can get more information about the RAMP mount at http://warnescopemounts.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WarneScopeMounts
Also shown is a custom built AR-15 utilizing parts from Seekins Precision, for more information about Seekins, visit http://www.seekinsprecision.com/
The scope used for testing is a Vortex 6-24 ViperPST, learn more about Vortex at http://www.vortexoptics.com/
