I was at a local pawn shop a few months ago and noticed a Savage 340 in 30-30 (turned out to be an 840). Left and went on my way. Was back in the area this weekend and it was still there and it ended up coming home with me.
Someone didn't have a clue how to attach a scope! It has a Weaver base where the ring hooks on one side and screws down on the other. Previous owner missed the part of hooking the back side. I guess they couldn't get the scope to tighten up so they stuffed about 1/8" of folded paper under the ring and tightened it down. Scope was a Barska pretty recent model from China.
I guess they figured this would work, took the gun out and shot it. I suspect it shot very poorly. I doubt this rifle has much more than a box of bullets through it. Accuracy had to be horrible so I suspect they took to the pawn shop and traded for something newer with a scope already attached. Seriously! I feel sorry for the guy that thought this would work. I hope it wasn't a family heirloom.
Oh, well.. The rifle has a new home and will get more than a few boxes of rounds put through it. It will never see anything but light to moderate cast loads. Scope is now a Weaver K4 with Post reticle and properly attached.
Only issue I see with the rifle is the missing front sight. If I can only find one of those newer sights with the single mounting hole, the scope will probably go away and it will be an iron sights and cast bullets only proposition. Perfect for pigs that like to destroy my pond in the dark. I'll only need to be able to hit a gallon jug sized target at 25 or so yards.