[Wade505]

Ok, I'm well past "My Prime". I'm old and set in my ways. My eyes are going due to age and Daibetes. I have a scope on my Guide Gun. But everytime I look at it, the more I think about it, it just looks "off" somehow. Then it dawned on me what it was.....

My dear old dad never scoped a rifle in his life. He hit elk at 300 plus with an iron sighted Mod 70 in 30'06. Grandpa, with his Win '86 in .45-70, shot game and badguys as a sheriff in Montanna round the turn of the last century (1900's). My son put a scope the size of a baseball bat on a vintage Savage M99 and it looks rediculous.....It was showing a pattern here as I looked at my gun as well....

The more I think about it......PUTTING A SCOPE ON A LEVERGUN IS LIKE DRAWING A MUSTACHE ON THE MONA LISA!!! Like a buddy of mine always used to say "That ain't right!" whenever he saw something that was grossly out of place.....

So, I'm putting the Millet rear sight back on (issue sight is not as adjustable) and the blade front sight. I'm gonna get me a nice tang sight and use it for the longer range stuff.

I gotta get that mustache off the Mona Lisa!! That ain't right!

Wade

 

[rhendrix]

I know what you mean Wade. I have the same problem with the looks of a scope on a lever gun. I also have a problem with the looks of a scope on any gun that has the iron sights left on it. One or the other is what looks best but still the scope looks out of place on a lever gun but I guess I have made myself get use to it because I too have a problem seeing as well as I did when I was younger. I have glaucoma and I have already lost about half my sight in my right eye, my dominate eye, and if I close my left eye when I aim, I feel like I am looking through a peep sight.

When I mounted my first Scout Scope I thought it looked funny but it was the true solution to my seeing problem so I have grown to love it because it does allow me to shoot and still pretty good. When I was younger I could shoot goundhogs at 200 yards with my unscoped Ruger .243 and pop them in the head and I could shoot squirrels through the eyes with my unscoped 39A. Now I have to compensate with the scope so I have made myself get use to it. Better to be able to shoot with a gun that doesn't look quite right than to have to give up a sport I love because of my eyes. I guess that is what life is all about. We learn to compromise and compensate because we are not what we use to be. In some ways we are better but in others we grow weaker so we just find ways of living with what nature hands us and change what we find pretty. Heck, I have gotten to the point in life that I don't really care if the Mona Lisa has a mustache. At least the scope allows me to keep on shooting and hitting what I aim at. Let's face it, we ain't 20 anymore and we want be again. There are a lot of things I can't do now that I could do then but I try to find ways to keep on doing. I hope I run out of time before I run out of things to do.

 

[Redbear]

I know this battle all to much. I want to use peeps, I like peeps, and I can shoot dang good with them when I can see what I'm trying to hit in my opinion. But thing is I can see so much better with the scope. I'm not old but my eyes just ain't the same. I probably need glasses soon and I hate that. I wonder what shooting will be like then? The scope increases the useful range of any rifle to me. My 1895 has a Skinner because I hated the scope on it. My model 60 has a old yellowing scope and I want to just put a peep on it like a .22 should have but since I use it for very small vermin and often in very low light the scope just makes more sense. Even the bad one on it shows more then my bare eye can see. I go round and round with the scope or iron thing with all my rifles till it makes me dizzy.

 

[STP078]

I don't like scopes of any kind, least of all on a lever action. I don't have vision issues, though. And I do own a scope on a revolver of all things. Why? Because my SRH .454 will rattle my bones when I shoot it without one. :-[ If I don't want to use the scope I use my SRH .480 which has less range anyway. So my point is if you don't like the looks of your scoped lever then take it off, but still have a scoped rifle, lever or otherwise for when you need it.

 

[BEACON]

A lot of things used to be different... Used to be, when it was deer season and you saw a buck, you could shoot it.

Not anymore.

Now, on Wildlife Management Areas they have all kinds of wild requirements, i.e., at least one antler has to be X number of inches long, and/or it has to have X number of points on at least one antler. Apart from being helpful when it gets difficult seeing the sights, a scope can be beneficial for looking a buck over closely, especially at distance or at dawn or dusk, to make sure it meets all of these new requirements so you don't shoot one that doesn't and wind up crosswise with the Rabbit Sheriffs.

I've got XS ghost rings and ramps on my 1894 .44 and my Guide Gun, but I put scopes on my .30-30 and 444P. Practicality has to come in to play. It does little good to be sitting there with a classic looking scopeless rifle but you can't use it because you can't tell it that buck has 2 tines or 3 or if that antler is 4" or 5" long. And getting older doesn't help things either. :-\

 

[BR549]

Well said Beacon, I wholeheartedly agree with every word.

 

[1895Gunner]

amen! I hunted with my 444P and 45/70 guide guns this year at a WMA and you can bet I had to have the 4X to tell if they were legal at both dusk and dawn.

 

[Wade505]

Woah boy, this'll start a fight :

Don't ya'll have binoculars, or are bino's illegal? ;D ;D

Yabba dabba doooo!

Wade

(in case you haven't noticed, I don't take things so seriously anymore )

 

[STP078]

:rotflol: ;D

 

[lever addict]

Binos! I wish these NE PA whitetail would stand long enough for you to pick up the binos... make sure there's 3 points on one side... put em down pick up the gun get on target and get a shot off! ;D These deer are gone in the blink of an eye! If you see them then they have been watching you! Unless your in a stand waiting for one to blunder into ya! If I didn't have to worry about making sure game was legal first then I agree irons it would be! Even with my bad eyes I can shoot up tp 75 yards with irons, but thats pushing it!

I get a kick out of some hunting shows. A hunter, guide and camera man all disgussing if the giant buck (staring at them : ) is big enough to shoot! When they decide it's a shooter the hunter has to set up his bi-pod get in position and they have to ask the camera man two or three times are ya on him? Ready? Can I shoot? ...Shoot em. Huh? Shoot him! Ok...here goes! The whole time the deer is watching all of this! Then BANG! I get a kick out of that! Where do these people hunt?


I would love for nothing more than to hunt with irons, but it just aint happening!

 

[zerbe]

Binoculars? Who uses those for hunting when you've got mere seconds to make the shoot, no shoot decision in the woods? ;D ???
That's what the scope on the gun is for. You verify antlers while placing the cross hairs for the shot!

btw, Leveraddict, its the same in Western PA as it is in the north east.

 

[lever addict]

Wade you mentioned your vision. Just an example but, I just hope if you go for that heart shot and your way off and wound the deer and never find it you will do whats right and try to make a more humane shot with a scope or severely limit the range at which you shoot! 20 years ago it was nothing to see 20-30 deer a day around here! : Now if you see a deer...well your doing pretty good. I want that venison to drop right in his tracks and that scopes going to help me. I may not see another deer! 20 years ago I would just pass on that longer shot and wait for another! Today I thread the needle! ;D

 

[lever addict]

Binoculars? Who uses those for hunting when you've got mere seconds to make the shoot, no shoot decision in the woods? ;D ???
That's what the scope on the gun is for. You verify antlers while placing the cross hairs for the shot!

btw, Leveraddict, its the same in Western PA as it is in the north east.

They give you seconds in western Pa? ;D All kiddin aside I know what you mean zerbe.

 

[trapper-xx]

Wade505

I'm with you! no scopes on my eight lever actions, they're just not right. I do use binos.

I have scopes on my bolt guns because they are used for longer range western shooting.

My 74 year old eyes still see pretty good at distances. It is up close that gives me trouble.

 

[Dr G]

I get a kick out of some hunting shows. A hunter, guide and camera man all disgussing if the giant buck (staring at them : ) is big enough to shoot! When they decide it's a shooter the hunter has to set up his bi-pod get in position and they have to ask the camera man two or three times are ya on him? Ready? Can I shoot? ...Shoot em. Huh? Shoot him! Ok...here goes! The whole time the deer is watching all of this! Then BANG! I get a kick out of that! Where do these people hunt?

On a farm behind a wire and lining up buck that has been hand fed for the last six years :

If it was that easy you would get bored

Dr G

 

[MOUNTAIN WILLIAM]

I put optics of one kind or another on most every weapon platform I have, save one. When it comes to levers I'm old school, it has to be iron sights, saddle rings, full octagon barrels (16" preferred) and depending on the specific rifle in question possibly a pistol grip with a big loop lever.

 

[skwirl]

Rifles wearin iron sights and a scope is like the old fella wearin a belt and suspenders ;D

 

[1895Gunner]

Rifles wearin iron sights and a scope is like the old fella wearin a belt and suspenders ;D

This look familiar? ;D ;D ;D

 

[Gaterskiner]

I like scopes. I have always liked scopes. I'll take any advantage I can take.
I think scopes look fine on lever guns. Just me!

 

[BEACON]

And I'm sure all you gents who are purists and opposed to putting scopes on leverguns are all using bullets you cast yourself seated over blackpowder, too, aren't you!!! (Sorry, guys...the Devil made me ask!! Hee Hee!! )

Would I prefer not to have to scope my leverguns?? Sure. But reality is a harsh master. Those that don't wanna put a scope on, or don't need one, don't have to. Those that do wanna, or do need to, will. The tent is big enough for all of us.