OG, everything you say is correct ... but it didn't matter. The scopes were focused before they were mounted, which is the way many or even most users have always done it. They were small scopes, with low inertia, so recoil didn't move them. O'Neil's customers, like Don Hopkins and Elmer Keith, were among the most sophisticated hunters of their time, and the system evidently worked for them. As for "elegance", the less metal in a mount, IMO, the better the looks.