[TankerHC]

Will a Weaver style base fit on a picatinny rail?

 

[Rw]

Mine do, im using a el cheapo weaver ring to hold a flashlight on a piece of rail.

 

[TankerHC]

Another question. Will a dovetail mount fit a picatinny rail?

 

[grnsouth]

Weaver will fit picatinny but not necessarily the other way around. Not sure about dove tails though.

 

[Rw]

Dove tail wont fit, way too narrow.

 

[NRA_guy]

Correct. Rimfire and BB guns are basically 3/8-inch dovetail (which is really 9.525 mm, but some imported guns come labeled as 11-mm dovetail and are pretty much interchangeable with the 3/8-inch dovetail) but neither are interchangeable with Picatinny or Weaver.

I found this but cannot attest to the accuracy:

What are the differences between the ‘Picatinny’ and the ‘Weaver’ systems? 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. MIL-STD-1913 (Picatinny) grooves are .206″ wide and have a center-to-center width of .394”. The placement of these grooves has to be consistent in order for it to be a true ‘Picatinny’MIL-STD system. Weaver systems have a .180” width of recoil groove and are not necessarily consistent in a center-to-center measurement from one groove to the next.

Boiled down, it means that accessories designed for a Weaver system will, in most cases, fit on a ‘Picatinny’ system. The reverse, however, is probably not the case. Due to the larger recoil groove, ‘Picatinny’ accessories will not fit a Weaver system. There are, of course, exceptions to every rule, but for a good rule-of-thumb, [full-width] ‘Picatinny’ won’t fit Weaver, but Weaver will fit ‘Picatinny’.”

SOURCE

Just to make life difficult for Americans, Russia apparently has made some 8.5-mm rimfire dovetails, but I've never seen one.

 

[swede62]

Good Information!