[Dr G]

G'Day fellas

Nice site btw

I will be taking delivery of my first 45-70, a Marlin 1895, in a few weeks and I am curious as to which brands and models of scopes make the grade for the recoil of this load and rifle. Or if people think its a waste of time and I am better off with open sights

I have plenty of experience with bolt actioned rifles but none at all with lever guns. It will be used mainly for pigs, donkeys and water buffalo while visiting mates up in the NT. Because of its size it might end up as my goto mallee goat gun as well, we will see how it shoots.

Around home it may see use on everything from dogs to camels so a scope may come in handy there as it is a lot more open country.

I appreciate this may have been asked before but first and formost I wanted to say g'day and learn a bit as well

Anyway I hope you can help

Dr G

 

[rooterpig]

I have a Burris fullfield 2 on my 444. Also have warne qd rings, with a xs peep under.

 

[Bossloper]

I have an 1895 and have a Bushnell Banner 1.5-4.5 x 32mm a top of it. It's seen some hot loads and stiff recoil, but hasn't moved a hair since mounting it. I read lots of good reviews on it and found it a little more affordable than some of the others out there. It has a steady 4 inches of eye relief. Good luck.

 

[rhendrix]

Do you have Camels in Australia?

I assume you have the 22" barrel on a standard 1895. There are a lot of scopes you can go with and most modern scopes will hold up to the recoil of the 45-70. It really comes down to scoping to the kind of shooting you will be doing. If you are shooting close range, within 100 yards, you may want to go with a Scout scope, a fixed power scope that has a long eye relief and mounts forward of your receiver. If you are doing longer range shooting, up to 200 yards and beyond, you may want to go with a variable, like a 3-9X40, mounted in the standard scope mount. I hunt in very thick brushy country where most of my shots are under 75 yards and I use the 18.5" SBL with a Burris scout scope. As far as brand of scope goes, you don't have to spend a lot of money to get a good scope because, as I said, most modern scopes, as long as you stay away from the really cheap scopes, will stand up to the recoil. Personally I find the most scopes that are not made in China to be very good. I am still very leary of those made in China that sell for $50. You have to ask yourself if they can build a $50 scope that will be as good as a $200 + scope. I think a good piece of glass should be as important as the gun you put it on and if you are not going to skimp on the gun, why skimp on the glass if you want good clear optics that will last you a long time.

 

[Wade505]

For the man downunder....

1. Look for a long eye relief scope. 4" to 5" will keep you from having cuts on your eyebow and nose.
2. Keep you power down to 4X or so. The higher the mag. the more you wiggle and frankly the .45-70 in reality is still a short range weapon unless you are REAL good at range estimation. Too high a power will cause you to try shots that are not easy to make.
3. Scopes that sit way out on the barrel may prove to be harder to get quick alignment. Keep 'em closer in.
4. Keep it short in scope length. Longer scopes add weight, and though often brighter, will add bulk that can prove to be difficult in the field while packing your rifle around the bush! Short and handy is the ticket.
5. Look at a bunch of scopes before you go and buy one without really looking through it. Don't go sight unseen!
6. Have some fun with your rifle!

Wade

 

[rhendrix]

For the man downunder....


3. Scopes that sit way out on the barrel may prove to be harder to get quick alignment. Keep 'em closer in.


Wade

I guess it is what you get use to because the purpose of a scout scope that sits "way out" on the barrel is so you CAN get quick alignment and I find this to be very true. All you do is throw the gun up, keep both eyes open and there it is right on target, even on a moving target, faster than a traditional scope mount where you close one eye and try to find the target in the scope. Like I said, I guess it is what you get use to.

 

[fhmusa]

Have a Leupold VXIII 1.75-6X33 on my 22" 1895 45-70. Very happy with this setup. Good luck and let us know how you make out. Also, welcome to MOs. You're gonna like it here.

 

[mainecat]

I'm very pleased with my burris scout 2.75x,
very rugged, made in USA, and it seems to fit all my needs out to 150 yards!!!

 

[68Glenfield]

I have been Running a old Bushnell 4x Post&crosshair on both my 30/30 and 45/70. I love the Post&crosshair for woods hunting the only thing is it does not have long eye relief so I have gotten Magnum eye with the 45/70 once.
I bought a used scope at a yard sale it is a older 2.5 Bushnell paid $20.00 for it and it has been sitting on my 45/70 for a few years now and No Magnum Eye.
I really like Burris scopes too and Swavorski hope I spelled that right? the two leo's I own seem dark at dawn and dust the most important time of day.
You do get what you pay for though and the older Bushnells made in Japan are good too. But I am a bit turned off by the older leo's for what they cost me.

 

[Waldo]

Hi Dr G, I run an XLR as a Sambar rifle and have a Bushnell Elite 3200 2x7x32 which I find a fairly good unit, nice and clear late in the arvo/early morning or in heavily wooded areas, nice and compact and can crank it up to 7x for sighting in.
Enjoy the 45/70 they seem to slowly gathering a following here in Aus.
Cheers,
Waldo

 

[Dr G]

Thanks for the replys and the information

rhendrix,
On the camel question yes we do have them here in Australia. They were introduced in about 1860 for hauling supplies and wool about the bush along with an entire population of "Afghans" (mixture of Indian, Pakistani and other central asian nationalitys) to drive them. With the advent of the motorcar most were let wild rather than destroyed.

The Afghans have played a major role in shaping the face of the modern outback especially out my way. You meet many Khan's, Dahdleh's etc and the oldest mosque in Australia was actually built at Marree (500miles from the nearest city).

As for the camels they have been very successful in Australia and there are now an estimated 1.5 million camels running wild in South Australaia, Northern Territory and Western Australia. They are a significant ecological threat as well as damaging for remote communities and properties.

They make for some good shooting and it can be fast and furious when you get into a mob. The biggest run I have had was back in 2007 when myself and two mates droped 118 camels in two days from the ground. My 30-06 melted the vinal on the transmission tunnel of the 'Cruiser and one of my offsiders had a 20mm blister in the web of his thumb from picking up his 300wsm by the barrel.

Waldo,
Nice to see some other aussies here, good looking sambar in your avatar too. I have been invited a few times to go hike the hills of the east coast now I have the 1895 I might just have to get it together and give it a go.

The Marlin will be a short range option as for longer range use I have a selection of good bolt actions including a custom built cat rifle based on a stiller action and a customised winchester model 70 in 280AI that is replacing my Tikka 30-06 as my main hunting/shooting rifle. The other role is as a buffalo gun as one of my mates has a station in the topend which has all the usual suspects (Buff, donkeys, scrub bulls, pigs and barra).

It is good to hear that most mid priced scopes are durable enough, I had heard a few horror stories regarding the life span of scopes on these guns

Thanks again for the warm welcome to the site

Dr G

 

[gman82001]

Yeat another reason I really wanna got to australia .....Camel Blastin ;D

 

[John E Davies]

They make for some good shooting and it can be fast and furious when you get into a mob. The biggest run I have had was back in 2007 when myself and two mates droped 118 camels in two days from the ground. My 30-06 melted the vinal on the transmission tunnel of the 'Cruiser and one of my offsiders had a 20mm blister in the web of his thumb from picking up his 300wsm by the barrel.

I have to ask - how did you process all that meat? And where did it go? Or did you just leave it for the scavengers?

The idea of shooting camels in the same manner as we shoot ground squirrels boggles the mind. Please tell us more.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

 

[Dr G]

I have to ask - how did you process all that meat? And where did it go? Or did you just leave it for the scavengers?

The idea of shooting camels in the same manner as we shoot ground squirrels boggles the mind. Please tell us more.

John Davies
Spokane WA USA

G'Day John

Its not quite like popping ground squirrels but its definitely not hunting in the traditional sense either

Some camel meat is taken, typically I just cut the hump off and remove the backstraps off of a few beasts and that is enough to fill my engel (car fridge/freezer). Most is left for the wedgie's (eagles) and dingo's.

If you are shooting low numbers then often a fair amount of meat is harvested but when you have big numbers to deal with most of it is left. The properties where camels are a problem measure their size in the thousands of square kilometres with 4000sqkm individual paddocks being normal. So a couple of thousand carcasses are not going to make much difference.

Its a shame really as its good meat but in the absence of refrigeration there is only so much you can carry.

They can and are mustered for commercial harvest but there are logistical problems here too. Each beast occupies about 1.5 times
the foot print of a steer and when transporting them in road trains they are so tall that they can only be single decked rather than double decked as you can with cattle. Also they only have about ¾ of the meat of a steer and it sells for about a quarter of the price. You need purpose built yards or you rope and dog them like the old timers did in the bronc yards (see the photo below). You also have the issue that you need a purpose built abattoir to handle the animal because it is too big to hang from a conveyor built for cattle. Given that the majority of the animals are located in the remotest part of Australia the dollars just don’t add up.

In low numbers the camel is pretty forgiving on the country but due to a lack of predators they can build up to high numbers that have the same impact on the environment as a locust plague. This is where shooting comes in. Its mostly run by contract cullers but if you have access to the right people and places you can get a few. This access is very limited so not many get the opportunities for this sort of thing.

Dr G

 

[rhendrix]

Dr G thank you for the history of the camel in Australia. I had no idea you were blessed with such an array of large game to hunt. I was in Sydney back in the late 60s, on R&R from Vietnam, and I loved it. I have never been able to get back but I have always wanted to. It is beautiful there and I would love to get there and do some hunting. I also would like to visit your neighbor, New Zealand, and do some fly fishing. Next to hunting, fly fishing is my next big passion. Of course that doesn't include my family. I am really happy to see the Aussies joininig it here. You people are like misplaced Tennesseans and Texans. That is a compliment because we also call the people from Minnesota misplaced Tennesseans too. We Tennesseans seem to always have a lot in common with Aussies, Texans, and Minnesotans. At least the ones I have met.

 

[Dr G]

Thanks for the kind words rhendrix, I have met a few people from that part of the world and they have been straight up blokes, all of them.

My dad also served in vietnam in the late sixties, 68-69 to be precise, but he went surfing SE Asia somewhere for his R&R

If you are seriously into hunting NZ is a great place to visit, a lot less restricted than Australia. But if you want to try fly fishing with a twist get to our top end and flick a fly for some of our fish species. You will need some heavy gear though.

sorry I forgot the pic mentioned in the previous post

This is a mate of mine roping a bull camel, for scale the bloke in the hat is about 6"3"

Dr G

 

[Dr G]

having problems puting in the picture it keeps telling me its forbidden or something ???

anyway imagine a tall fella, big beard and big hat who has lassoed a bull camel that stands almost twice his size

sorry

Dr G

 

[rhendrix]

My dad also served in vietnam in the late sixties, 68-69 to be precise, but he went surfing SE Asia somewhere for his R&R

If you are seriously into hunting NZ is a great place to visit, a lot less restricted than Australia. But if you want to try fly fishing with a twist get to our top end and flick a fly for some of our fish species. You will need some heavy gear though.

Dr G

68-69 is when I was there too. Maybe we crossed paths.

What kind of fish species are you talking about?

 

[janott]

I had never put a scope on my 1895CB until a couple of weeks ago and the only reason I did was to sight it in for a buffalo hunt. I put a Leupold VXII 3X9X40 on it and it seems to shoot very well with it.

 

[Waldo]

I have had was back in 2007 when myself and two mates droped 118 camels in two days from the ground.

Waldo,
Nice to see some other aussies here, good looking sambar in your avatar too. I have been invited a few times to go hike the hills of the east coast now I have the 1895 I might just have to get it together and give it a go.

That sounds like a nice couple of days on the camels DrG.

Yep, the Sambar are worthy game animal for sure, unfortunately that one in my avatar I got with my 30/06. Only time I didn't carry the 45/70 on a Sambar hunt in 2010 and the only opportunity I got!

Amazing how the grass on the other side of the fence while not always greener is alway enticing. Just as you would love to hunt over here on the east I would love to get up to the NT to experience what hunting you guys have.

Cheers,
Waldo