What is the difference between picatinny and weaver rails

A Picatinny rail has specific dimensions of grooves and notches and is built into a handgun or long gun to mount different attachments. After the initial design work was done, testing of the product occurred at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. Once the testing was finished, a military standard was assigned to the design, and given the MIL-STD designation. This standard was adopted by the U. Military on February 3, The design originated to facilitate the mounting of a scope on high-powered hunting rifles.

With the military standardization in , the popular M16A2 and M4 carbine version of military rifles were modified to begin including the Picatinny rail as standard equipment. Rails can be designed for the front handguard on these rifles in multiple positions top, bottom, right or left side. An entire industry has sprouted up designing accessories for the many variations of products which can be added to AR style rifles.

These products include scopes, tactical lights, night vision sights, reflex sights, laser sights, foregrips, bipods, and bayonets. In addition to rifle and shotgun applications, the Picatinny rail can also be found on some handguns. Many handguns, particularly rimfires, feature a Picatinny rail along the top of the slide. This allows for the mounting of a red dot optic. Most medium to full-size handgun manufacturers include a Picatinny rail built into the bottom front portion of the frame.

This is widely known as an accessory rail. With a picatinny rail, you can simply move to a different slot. Another possible advantage is the ability to use a 20MOA base for long range shooting, which is an option Warne offers for all tactical rails. Picatinny rails tend to be thicker than a 2 piece base set due to the ejection port relief cut in the bottom of the base which allows ejecting brass to clear.

Since the rail covers the ejection port, it can make loading the firearm from the top difficult. For guns using a detachable magazine, a picatinny rail can be a great addition. Any weaver style mount will work on both weaver style and picatinny rails, however, some manufacturers make picatinny specific mounts, and these mounts can only mount to a picatinny rail for a few reasons. Either the recoil lug that is being used is too wide for the weaver style slot, or there are multiple lugs that are spaced for the picatinny slot spacing, and they will not align with the weaver style slot placement.

Warne Maxima and Tactical rings are a weaver style ring that will work on both weaver and picatinny style bases. In short, the answer is yes, there is more forward and back play in a picatinny slot. The main thing to consider is that there is still a bit of play in a weaver slot, and typically picatinny specific rings also have a bit of play in a picatinny slot.

Since we recommend pushing both rings forward toward the muzzle, the amount of play in the slot is a moot point. The purpose of the recoil key is to keep the scope from moving. It would be similar to putting your car in reverse and giving it some throttle, your body will go forward. The same principal applies to the rings. When you push the rings forward, you seat the recoil key against the front of the slot, stopping any potential for movement. Warne bases are CNC machined from cold rolled steel to exacting tolerances, and backed by an industry leading warranty for the life of the product.

MIL-STD specifies the dimensions required for consideration, including length, width, height, and angles and the tolerances allowed for each measurement.

The profile of the two systems is virtually identical. Depending on the quality of the machining done by the manufacturer, the two systems should be indistinguishable from the profile.

The key difference lies in the placement of the recoil grooves and with width of the grooves. Weaver systems have a. In many instances, a Weaver system has a specific application that it is machined for, so interchangeability is not necessarily an issue.