Real Avid Scope Mounting Kit

As a company Real Avid has hit the UK in 2012 with its Gun Tool; essentially a small folding pen knife like tool that contained enough functions to get you out of most situations. They have been adding to this steadily with other shooting-related items that includes their Viscera combination knife/ bone saw and pull-through cleaning kits. The latest item is the Toolio Scope Mounting Kit, which appears to have just about everything you might need to mount and adjust optics on the bench or in the field.

BIG BOX

The kit comes in a large plastic box with individual cut-outs for the components, truth is you could remove them all and put them in a small pouch! It consists of a triangular grip with a ¼” hex socket at each point, next is a little caddy with a selection of drivers in all the point/tip configurations you might need: large (#32) and medium (#11) slot-heads, Philips PH1 and PH2 (reversible), ball-ended Allen keys (Bondus-type) 1/8 & 9/64 and 3/32 & 5/32 (reversible), T10 & T15 (reversible) and T20 Torx single-ended.

All these simply plug into the handle where they are held by a sprung detent and offer a handy and practical tool. The only thing I think Real Avid has missed out on here is not making them magnetic, as it lessens the chance of dropping what are in effect mainly very small screws.

2 OUT OF 3

That in essence is the heart of the Toolio Scope Mounting Kit, however also included are a lens cloth (always useful), a spirit level that will allow you to get your scope 100% upright; never an easy job! Finally a small tube of thread locking liquid (LocTite-type), this is one item I am not so sure of. A good idea if you are absolutely certain you are never, ever going to take your mounts and rings off. However, screws used to secure both items are by design small with tiny apertures for the drivers, and if something were too tight then you run the risk of stripping out the head, which then puts you in a world of trouble.

In use the tool holder/hand grip is more than big enough to allow you to get some good leverage on mounting screws going in or coming out. With my experience from their Gun Tool Box I would say the steel they use might not be as rigid as proper tool steel in terms of possible distortion when applying maximum force with the smaller driver heads. This might be most problematic with the Phillips as by design they are tapered so tend to spin out all too easily.

However, the advantages of the ¼” socket drive, is that it’s a very common interface/connection so replacement or different tools are readily available at most DIY shops and similar. Overall a practical and clever little kit that will do the majority of tasks asked of it!