How swivel mounts using a ball and plunger fail over time

Why swivel ball camera / scope mounts fail and should be avoided

Many camera / scope swivel mounts fail over time because the act of tightening the knob actually damages the mount. As you can see in the below picture the knob has a point and jams up against the plunger that holds the ball mount. Over time dents form as pictured below on the plunger and the ball mount eventually fails to function correctly. There are different kinds of ball swivel mount designs and some are better than others but they will all dent over time due to pressure needed to lock the ball joint.

Unlike the above, the Freeland Swivel Mount uses a set screw inside the adjustment knobs that allows you to lock the desired friction setting you want. There is no internal damage happening when you make adjustments like other swivels. The only maintenance with the Freeland Friction Mount method is simply adding some grease or oil to the friction points allowing the whole scope/mount to rotate as one piece which is a lot less expensive then replacing parts or entire pieces.