Lever Actions and scopes

[7br]

What really made a believer out of me in scopes on hunting rifles was one time in the early years of this century I was home on leave during deer season. I had a Remington 700 in 7mm Remington Magnum that I hadn't put a scope on yet. This was okay for the place I was hunting, until dusk.

I saw a doe just inside the tree line, and I could not get the sights aligned to my satisfaction. I could see the deer fine, but not the sights. So I did a bit of testing.

Robert

My father's "Big Rifle" was a 1891 Argentine Mauser. Back in the day, Kansas deer tags were a draw only proposition. After umpteen years of dutifully sending in his $10 check and having it returned, he drew a tag. He sat in a brush pile next to a hedge row for most of a week. When a deer finally came out at dusk, he lifted the rifle and he could not make out the sights. He passed on the shot and we bought him a scoped rifle the next year. He never got another chance to harvest another deer. A few years back, I put a scout mount on the Mauser and took a small buck with it.

Sorry for the off topic ramble

[FergusonTO35]

Here's my thing about scopes: I strongly prefer to shoot and hunt without them, but unfortunately I get exactly 16 days to hunt deer with a rifle every year, and an extra 11 for muzzleloader. There is no way to ensure that a deer is going to come within the range where I feel comfortable using sights, especially if we have an early rut and the deer are being extra cautious or they go nocturnal early. Even a small scope is going to be alot brighter than sights early in the morning or late in the evening, which is when you have the best chance of success. I took the biggest deer of my life one evening when the night was falling fast and the little 3x scope gave me a sight picture that was just clear enough to put the slug where it needed to go. So, until the day comes when the time I can deer hunt with a rifle is measured in months and not days, I'll be using a scope most of the time.

[FergusonTO35]

I too was going going to suggest the Burris Fullfield 2-8x35, I have a couple Burris Fullield ii 2-7x35 on rifles, acouple of the Burris Fullfield 3-9x40 on others and use the Burris Fullfield 4.5-14x42 on rifles for load development and off season practice. Burris was founded by a Redfield optics engineer long ago when Redfield existed in Denver, always have been a fan though I believe the Fullfields are made in the Phillipines. I have had good results with the Simmons scopes, I just put a Swarovski 3-9x36 on a Savge 99 in .300 Savage, pricey but a really nice scope to look through. Some of the Leupolds in the 2-7, 2.5-8, range are small and light enough for most lever guns. Checking auction sites might find a Leopold 4x or even their 1.75-6x32(kind of rare), I would recommend a fixed 4x or a variable with a 32-38mm objective. Size and weight make a big difference in handling. I have used 1.5-4x or 1.5-5x but found little use for powers under 3x for hunting. There used to be some 3-9x32 scopes available but small light scopes just are not TACTICOOL. Many of the 1-4, 1-6, 1-10 scopes are 30mm and weigh quite a bit, not being a range ninja, I have not found much use for them. Compared to modern manufacture, the old Weaver's may look COOL in the gun rack but are pretty dim in the woods, I have a couple in a box somewhere. There is an outfit that will put modern coated lens in your old scope, but it is pricey. I have had scopes on my lever guns since about 1966, a Marlin .35 with a 2.5 Bushnell, but I have never tried to scope a 94AE. Again for my money the Burris Fullfield's are the best bargains, with your wallet dictating from there.

Burris is my choice all the way, except they no longer make any really compact straight objective rifle scopes so Leupold gets the nod there. I'm not a scope snob, and both Bushnell and Simmons have actually sold a number of really good scopes over the years. The old Simmons Pro Hunter and Whitetail Classic and the Japan or Korea made Bushnell Banners come to mind. The problem is, the low end marques are constantly changing their product lines and they sell alot of junk as well. When and if my trusty little Bushnell Banner 1.5-4x32 needs service, in all likelihood the only remedy they will offer is a Chicom replacement. Or, whoever owns Bushnell when that happens will just declare that they don't warranty anything from previous versions of the company. Whereas Leupold and Burris will actually fix my existing scope, and if they can't then I know they will replace it with one of equal quality.

[pietro]

I hunt close to sunrise and sunset and I have trouble seeing the front sight

Why I mounted fiber optic bead front sights to all my hunting rifles.......

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