I ask because I'm in the market for a red dot sight, and they are offered in two varieties.

If I were to guess, I would say a Weaver style rail is a very shallow double groove, like a Winchester model 94, and a "standard" rail is more like a competition pistol rail (like a Beretta Neos .22). Is that right? I just want to make sure I've got things straight before I lay down a few hundred dollars.

And incidently, in terms of accuracy and target aquisition, what's the difference between:

- Bushnell Holosight
- Tube-type red-dot sight
- Tubeless red-dot sight (similar to Holosight, but no "hood")

UberPhLuBB: Boy! that's a tuff one to type. Well, no one has jumped to help you out so I'm gonna give ya my .02$. The Weaver system has been modified into commenly called "Pickatinny System", named after an arsenal I believe. The main difference is that the Pik'y has many more position slots available in each base. That referred to as standard I can only guess. Probably it parallels the rimfire scope rifle grooves in the top of a RF receiver. This is much narrower, 1/2" to 5/8"? Most of what I see is in the Pickatinny config. I would have thought that it would have been called the "Standard". Go figure. How does the Win. 94 tie in to this discussion? I don't feel competant to address the sight subj. Good luck. Maybe this will "prime the pump" and get you some responses. Pepe Ray

Here is an example of the two mounting systems I'm talking about.

My Winchester 9422:
http://home.earthlink.net/~uberphlubb/netpix/rails/rails1.jpg

And my Beretta U22 Neos:
http://home.earthlink.net/~uberphlubb/netpix/rails/rails2.jpg

I don't have a micrometer or any instrument to read the angles and exact widths of each rail type, so I can't verify it that way. That's why I was hoping somone with experiance could verify the difference (if any) by visual inspection. The one on my 9422 does seem to be significantly thinner.

The top rail cuts in the Win 94/22 receiver will take the Weaver type .22 scope rings. They are made to mate with the receiver rails.

The bottom scope mount is the "Pickatinny" mount mentioned by Pepe. A standard Weaver type base mount will have just 2, 3 or 4 slots for the crossbolts of the scope rings to fit in. The Pickatinny type have numerous slots for a wider range of rings placement.

So the two types are Pickatinny and Weaver?

The 94/22 has the common ".22 scope groove" to accept any .22 clamp-on scope ring. A .22 clamp-on has a smaller base portion of the ring than a standard Weaver type ring. That's probably as clear as mud, but I can't explain it any better.

The two types of mounts that that the "Weaver type" rings are the Weaver type base and the Pickatinny. Notice, I keep saying "Weaver type". Lots of manufacturers make this type of mount, or base.

There are a multitude of other mounting systems consisting of a mounting base and rings.

U------BB: Well, I'm back in it. The grooves in your 9422 are industry "standard" for scope mounting on .22rf arms.Say "low recoil". I doubt if whoever was giving you your initial intro to the subject, was refering to this type as being standard for accessory attachment to C.F. handguns or tac type rifles. Outside of customized equip't I know of only one standard and that is the Pickatinny which is a modified Weaver. Weaver scope rings( of the original, old, Weaver configuration will fit). Leupold, Redfield, Burris and others have diversified and also market rings that will fit the Weaver base. Must be a pretty good design Huh? If there is another type of accessory base, it's news to me. By the way. The second picture would be more illustrative of what you want to know if it were angled back to a shooters perspective. Hope this is helpful. Pepe Ray
P.S. Took another look at the pic. not bad . Had to study it further. It appears to be a Pic'ty/Weaver all rite. Pep

The grooved reciever on the rimfire rifles are known as "tip-off" mounts. The scopes designed to fit these grooves will be designated as such. They will, in most cases, be 3/4" diameter. Weaver used to make rings to fit tip-off grooves so one could mount 1" scopes. Probably still do.