Weaver Dovetail or Picatinny
Common (3) Rail Types
- 3/8" (9.5mm) Dovetail - on small sporting rifles like .22 RF
- MIL-STD 1913 Picatinny
- Weaver Rails- 0.18" across
Dovetail
- 3/8" dovetail rails, sometimes call tip off rails
Found on many small sporting rifles such as the .22 LR. Common on rimfire rifles. Often part of the gun receiver/frame itself.
You can purchase Dovetail to Picatinny/Weaver adapters.
Picatinny
Weaver
Similar in appearance to the Picatinny rail, however, actually have different slot size and spacing.
Weaver rail slots are 0.18" across and there is no standard measurement for the spacing between the slots.
Weaver slots are also smaller than Picatinny slots at .180" (Picatinny rail slots are .206").
The significant difference between the Picatinny rail and the similar Weaver rail are the size and shapes of the slots, where the Picatinny rail has square-bottomed slots while Weaver rails have rounded slots. An accessory designed for a Weaver rail will fit onto a Picatinny rail whereas the opposite might not be possible. Some accessories are designed to fit on both Weaver and Picatinny rails, most Picatinny devices will not fit on Weaver rails.
Scope mounts for a Weaver rail will fit a Picatinny rail but not the other way around. This is to prevent certain scopes that can handle less recoil to be installed on higher recoil Picatinny military firearms. The stronger scopes with the Picatinny compatible mounts can go on the lower recoil rifle with weaver rails.
Hopefully no one will manufacturer an adapter to put a Weaver mount scope on a Picatinny rail. No adapter is necessary to put a Picatinny mount scope on a Weaver rail.
keywords: scope mount rail scopemount base
