Barry,

In your shoes I wouldn't give up just yet, especially seeing as: 1) There's not much else on the market to do what you want, and 2) Apart from this problem, you otherwise seem to like them.

I think the problem is likely to be that the mounts will have been machined to 30mm diameter, then painted/finished, so actually they will be in effect 29.8mm diameter (roughly speaking), and the 'scope tube will be made of 30mm diameter tube and then painted/finished so it will be something like 30.2mm diameter.

Thus you have an 'interference' fit, as you are finding out!

In your shoes, I'd use the abrasive-paper-wrapped-round-the-scope-tube method (see my earlier post) to remove the finish from the inside of the mounts and get yourself a good fit. If they're adjustable two-piece mounts you can do them one at a time.