This should perhaps go in a different forum, because it sort of contains two topics.
First, I have three lever guns; an 1895 in 45-70 and two 336s, one in 30-30 Win. and one in 35 Rem. The 1895 is a fairly new gun, 2005 model, but the two 336s are older. The 30-30 is a '74 model and the 35 is a '66 model. I've had the 30-30 four or five years, but I just got the 35 about a year ago. I've had a couple different scope setups on the 30-30 and recently had a scout scope on the 35.
A couple weeks ago (while browsing around a pawn shop), I got the idea for putting a period-correct scope on each of the two older guns. I found a Leupold M8 4x fixed 4 power scope in a pawn shop for $85 that went on the 35. This scope was in production from 1965 to 1979 per info I found online. I already had a '78 or '79 "made in Japan" Bushnell Banner 4x32 w/holdover dial in the elevation turret that went on the 30-30. My wife bought the Bushnell scope for me and gave $70 for it at Wal-Mart compared to the 3-9x32 Sportview which was about $35 at the time. $70 for a fixed 4 power in 1979 was a lot of money for broke newlyweds, but the scope shows the extra quality. It's as clear as the Leupold with a slightly larger field of view.
Sight-in for both was this weekend. (Nov. 23 & 24, 2019)
The 35 with the Leupold shot a 1.5 - 2.0" group at 100 yards using my reloads. I didn't have any shells loaded for the 30-30, but I had bought a box of Remington green / yellow box 150 gr. Core Lokts on sale at WalMart for $9.97 just a few weeks ago, prior to deer season. I shot a few of them to verify the red dot I had on the 30-30 was on, but I haven't hunted with the 30-30 at all this season..... yet.
This is where the topic changes; I've never been a fan of the Remington Core-Lokts, but at $9.97 a box for a gun that wasn't my primary or backup for this deer season, they were ok. I had always heard they are very accurate in some guns, but not all. My experience with them hasn't been good in the past. Today, I mounted the scope on the 30-30, did a poor man's boresight (look through the barrel, the adjust he scope to the same place) and headed to shoot. 1st shot at 50 yds was 1" low and 1/2" right. I adjusted and shot a three shot group that were all touching the center dot of the target. I was very happy with that.
I moved the target out to 100 yards and fired the 1st round. It hit 2" low, but on the vertical line. I adjusted up and fired a 3 shot group. I couldn't see for sure where I was hitting, but knew it would be close based on the 1st shot. The attached pic is what I found when I went downrange and looked at my target. I didn't expect the gun to shoot that well, but really didn't expect the Core Lokts to shoot that well even if the gun was perfect. As I said, I wasn't too high on the Rem Core Lokts based on past experience. I guess I have a gun that shoots the Rem Core Lokts well. I have shot this gun quite a bit with a couple different scopes and a red dot, but I shot my reloads or Winchester factory ammo. It has shot ok in the past, but not this good. I went to WalMart and bought a couple more boxes of Core Lokts....
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First, I have three lever guns; an 1895 in 45-70 and two 336s, one in 30-30 Win. and one in 35 Rem. The 1895 is a fairly new gun, 2005 model, but the two 336s are older. The 30-30 is a '74 model and the 35 is a '66 model. I've had the 30-30 four or five years, but I just got the 35 about a year ago. I've had a couple different scope setups on the 30-30 and recently had a scout scope on the 35.
A couple weeks ago (while browsing around a pawn shop), I got the idea for putting a period-correct scope on each of the two older guns. I found a Leupold M8 4x fixed 4 power scope in a pawn shop for $85 that went on the 35. This scope was in production from 1965 to 1979 per info I found online. I already had a '78 or '79 "made in Japan" Bushnell Banner 4x32 w/holdover dial in the elevation turret that went on the 30-30. My wife bought the Bushnell scope for me and gave $70 for it at Wal-Mart compared to the 3-9x32 Sportview which was about $35 at the time. $70 for a fixed 4 power in 1979 was a lot of money for broke newlyweds, but the scope shows the extra quality. It's as clear as the Leupold with a slightly larger field of view.
Sight-in for both was this weekend. (Nov. 23 & 24, 2019)
The 35 with the Leupold shot a 1.5 - 2.0" group at 100 yards using my reloads. I didn't have any shells loaded for the 30-30, but I had bought a box of Remington green / yellow box 150 gr. Core Lokts on sale at WalMart for $9.97 just a few weeks ago, prior to deer season. I shot a few of them to verify the red dot I had on the 30-30 was on, but I haven't hunted with the 30-30 at all this season..... yet.
This is where the topic changes; I've never been a fan of the Remington Core-Lokts, but at $9.97 a box for a gun that wasn't my primary or backup for this deer season, they were ok. I had always heard they are very accurate in some guns, but not all. My experience with them hasn't been good in the past. Today, I mounted the scope on the 30-30, did a poor man's boresight (look through the barrel, the adjust he scope to the same place) and headed to shoot. 1st shot at 50 yds was 1" low and 1/2" right. I adjusted and shot a three shot group that were all touching the center dot of the target. I was very happy with that.
I moved the target out to 100 yards and fired the 1st round. It hit 2" low, but on the vertical line. I adjusted up and fired a 3 shot group. I couldn't see for sure where I was hitting, but knew it would be close based on the 1st shot. The attached pic is what I found when I went downrange and looked at my target. I didn't expect the gun to shoot that well, but really didn't expect the Core Lokts to shoot that well even if the gun was perfect. As I said, I wasn't too high on the Rem Core Lokts based on past experience. I guess I have a gun that shoots the Rem Core Lokts well. I have shot this gun quite a bit with a couple different scopes and a red dot, but I shot my reloads or Winchester factory ammo. It has shot ok in the past, but not this good. I went to WalMart and bought a couple more boxes of Core Lokts....
