A REVIEW: KEN LIGHT REVERSE UAS MOUNT

By: Jerry Ray

(Editor's note: Jerry claims failing eyesight and the shakes, but he managed to win the Unlimited Half-Scale and Unlimited Half-Scale Any Sight championships at the 2000 Internationals.  I think he's on to something here!)

It’s one of nature’s nasty curve balls that just about the time we get everything pretty much figured out when it comes to long range shooting, the body decides to go AWOL on us.  The second thing to go is the memory; so, I don’t remember what the first was, but it seems the third thing to go is the eyesight and without a halfway decent sight picture things get pretty nasty.  There is hope for those us who are slipping over the top of the hill: Unlimited Any Sight Class (UAS).

I started playing with UAS a couple of years ago by taking an XP 100 chambered in 300 Whisper and throwing on an old Redfield scope mount and a Burris 7X extended eye relief scope I had in my kit bag.  The rig worked OK on full sized targets, but when it came to the shoot-offs the targets were simply too small for the scope. The obvious answer was to use a higher power scope, and low & behold a Burris 3X9 pistol scope showed up on the club sale table.  I purchased the scope thinking that I had found the solution to my problems (operative word: Dementia). 

XP 100 with Ken Light Reverse UAS Scope Mount

 I dashed home and installed the new scope, voila!  I was ready to lay waste to the competition!  Those of you who have been there already know that no amount of contorting a middle aged body is going to get the scope, at full power, close enough to get any kind of a sight picture.   I wound up cranking the adjustment down to 6X before I could use the scope.

As I came off the line muttering to myself (read sniveling & whining), Ken Light, who happened to be nearby and finding such behavior a poor reflection on the Club, suggested that he might have a solution to my problem.  It seems that I was not the only person who had encountered the problem, and Ken and another club member, Bob Brissette, had come up with a mount designed to bring the scope within a usable distance without inflicting permanent physical damage. 

Ken offered to let me try the mount and see if it could resolve the problem.  Sure enough, after attaching the mount and scope I was able to bring the scope comfortably into position and get a clear sight picture at full power!  A secondary benefit turned out to be that the pistol naturally came into a very stable position on my hip and calf.  After a little practice I was able to bring the gun into position right on the target with almost no effort.

The next match I used the rig on full sized targets and center punched virtually every target.  My spotter, Jamie Mantel, began to harass me about wasting his time and mine with full sized targets.  So, we went to the ½ Scale targets and sure enough I shot 39x40 the first time through.  But, at this point we determined that the group size was not what it should be; so, I talked Ken Light into putting together a mount for my Wichita 6.5X39, which I knew was capable of shooting 1" groups at 200 yards.  Once I placed the mount and scope on the Wichita and determined my sight adjustments, I shot my first 40X40 ½ Scale score followed by a second 40x40 at a match at Inland Fish and Game in Redlands, CA.

Since that time I’ve managed to shoot 3 additional 40's in ½ Scale and 79X80 at the Internationals with Ken’s mount in spite of my habit of consistently screwing up.  Although Ken has just listed the mount for the XP 100, he has been making them on a request basis for the Wichita. I do not know what he is currently charging for the Wichita, but his prices have always been more than fair and considering what most of us sink into this sport, it’s well worth the money.

On second thought, take pity on an old man with failing eyesight and nerves and don’t buy this mount!  Please!

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