Optics for NEF SB2?

[geargnasher]

My eyes are really starting to give me fits these days (chronic inflammation from Pars Planitis with lots of cells, floaters, and epiretinal membranes), and open sights are getting to be more and more of a challenge on rifles beyond 50 yards. I love my little NEF .45 Colt "Sporter Classic", but it needs some optics.

Has anyone tried mounting an "Open style" red dot sight on one? I think it would be perfect for the caliber, effective range, and handling speed of the gun, plus it wouldn't be in the way of the hammer or action if mounted on a Weaver rail over the chamber. So let's hear it, any tips or recommendations for an open red-dot? I've shopped all over and can't decide if the $50 versions are that much worse than the $200 ones or if the $500 ones are that much better than either.

Gear

[NickSS]

I put a RD sight on one of my handy rifles and they work fine. I put an eotech sight on my 45-70 and it made it a really fast pointing carbine for woods hunting.

[onondaga]

I have an NEF ultra in .500 S&W and tried a Simmons 30MM Red Dot Model 800879 on it when I first got the .500 barrel. It worked fine at the range and sighted in quickly. I did decide it was a rather high brush catcher and I didn't like the fact that I had to turn it on to shoot. I took it off and changed to a 1.5 to 4.5X before hunting season. If you go with a scope the Dednutz one piece mount is superb on NEF rifles

If you go with the open dot, look for which model is easiest to turn on.

There are dot scopes that are a lot lower profile and smaller than the Simmons I tried but it was $29 on sale at MidwayUSA so I gave it a try. Midway no longer carries this model but the Truglo is very similar.

Gary

[geargnasher]

Thanks fellas, that's the info I was after. I don't want anything that hangs over the back of the barrel when open, and I want to retain my open sights. I already bought a Weaver base, I'll need to trim the front off so it won't interfere with the rear sight adjuster.

How do you like the .500? I thought it would be neat to lob hammers with one using RX7 and 600-grain boolits, kind of like a modern 50/70, but not sure how practical it would be.

Gear

[onondaga]

I like the .500 but have not tried bullets heavier than 440 gr. My favorite load is Lee R.E.A.L. 250 grain sized to .501 over BPI filler and 35.2 gr WC820. Velocity clocked at 1885 fps. This load groups < 1 in. at 50 yd. for my grandson or myself. Recoil is tame with lead in the butt stock and this is a nice flat shooting deer load with plenty of punch. Last year I had a short steep uphill shot and the buck went up before he went down. He dressed out at 194 lbs. The load still has just under 1000 ft. lbs at 120 yards so it is a pretty good deer cartridge with that bullet.

The 440 gr bullet recoil was too much for my grandson even loaded to 1000 fps, so I didn't play with it much. I tried 250 gr. 45 cal cast pistol bullets in 50 cal ML sabots but couldn't find a combination that shoots as well as the sized R.E.A.L. I worked the sabot loads up with H-Lil Gun all the way up to 2300 fps., accuracy peaked at 2200 with 3 inch groups at 100 yds. but recoil was severe.

I use Starline Brass and it has lasted forever. One of my batches of 100 pieces have been loaded 16 times. They polish up and look new every time with no sign of stress or wear..I did anneal the case mouths after 10 loadings because I crimp heavily. That bullet has a sharp edge like a wadcutter when sized and punches perfect holes in paper too. I center a roll crimp on the middle band after seating in a separate step.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c338/rhymeswithwhat/TLsized.jpg

Gary

[geargnasher]

Thanks for sharing that, Gary, now you got me thinking about what a great Minie launcher that would be. That's some really impressive accuracy you've found there, I too sometimes use BPI Original and slow powders incompression to get a good launch on non-checked boolits. Sure beats the alternative, duplexing powders.

Gear