Lon,
the Heym Martini has grooves cut into the side of the square bridges. The Alaska Arms rings clamp directly onto the square bridges, no extra base is required.
Look closely here, this is the ring clamping directly onto the square bridge:
On scopes, over the years shooting many 10’s of 1,000’s of rounds of centerfire rifle, scopes that have failed on me include Leupold, Redfield, US Optics, Zeiss, and others I no longer even remember.
My first and oldest scope, a Lyman Alaskan 4x fixed, still works perfectly. Every other brand I tried has broken - except Nightforce.
Nightforce is the only scope I will use anymore for one single reason - it will work when it needs to.
Ultra Mega Triple Diamond coated super duper clarity is of no value if the scope does not function correctly.
Pages of customers crowing about a company fixing scopes is a red flag.
The best customer service is to design it right, build it right, and QC it before it goes out the door so it does not need to go back for repair.
When the animal of a lifetime is standing there, warranties are of zero value, the equipment needs to work.
Standing in your and your wife’s boots, turn that into an enraged animal snorting blood and heading at you with a head of steam and balls on fire, all of the equipment needs to work right then and there.
Reliability is non-negotiable.
You see what works or fails in the field on big bores. Which brands have you seen work well or fail?
Rereading your intended use, would the NX8 F1 2.5-20 work? If 2.5x would work on the low end, it provides a nicer view and the extra magnification can be helpful for precise aiming in some circumstances, but mainly it provides a bigger easier to view image to me compared to the 1-8. For up close in the brush, the illuminated red dot at 1x is perfect.
You’re welcome.
