open, peep, foxed or variable

noharleyyet said:

Stunning trio Brent....

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No shit. The stock works on those are stunning.

I have no problem with fixed scopes for hunting. 6X for general and I can even like a 10X for more open country. But the majority of scopes I use are variables as they are what I have. They might as well be fixed as I cannot remember using the power ring while in the field.

BrentD said:

pgidley, I have a '95 too. It was a total basket case with a .33 barrel on it. It is now a .45-70. Someday, I'll hunt it, but it is a heck of a big rifle.

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This thought has crossed my mind, as I always wanted an old 45-70. Did you have it rebored, or did you have the barrel replaced? The bore on my .33 is quite good, so I'm hesitant to alter it, as I understand they have some collector value. On the other hand, I only paid $300 for it.

$300 for a 95? This is a square bolt? You stole a blind person! Seriously, that's an incredible deal. Do you know the year it was made?

I rebarreled it. The .33 barrel was as bad a cluster as the rest of the gun. It was not original to the gun either. all I could salvage was the receiver and the buttplate. And that was just barely salvageable.

BrentD said:

$300 for a 95? This is a square bolt? You stole a blind person! Seriously, that's an incredible deal. Do you know the year it was made?

I rebarreled it. The .33 barrel was as bad a cluster as the rest of the gun. It was not original to the gun either. all I could salvage was the receiver and the buttplate. And that was just barely salvageable.

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BrentD said:

$300 for a 95? This is a square bolt? You stole a blind person! Seriously, that's an incredible deal. Do you know the year it was made?

I rebarreled it. The .33 barrel was as bad a cluster as the rest of the gun. It was not original to the gun either. all I could salvage was the receiver and the buttplate. And that was just barely salvageable.

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Yes, I definitely stole it. Its a long story, but basically the guy had 3 guns for sale, a sporterized lee enfield, a beat up 94 and the 1895. It was really sketchy. He thought it was a 45-70, and I had a feeling the guy had inherited them and wanted to make a quick sale. The photos were poor, but I spied the square bolt and jumped on it. Other than a coat of shellac and a broken butt plate, the gun is fairly pristine. It dates to 1913. Heaviest gun in my safe! I carefully stripped the shellac back to the linseed oil and applied a few fresh coats.

My compliments to you. What a deal.

Mine was buggered twice at least. In addition to the buggering it got before it became mine, Classic Guns recased it and overcooked it.

From this


to this


It has been repaired, but I would not shoot heavy loads in it now.

Nice.

I like open sight's but not my choice for a hunting rifle. Beside's that my old eye's just don't work as well as they did in my prime. Using fixed sights you have three focus point's, rear sight, front sight and target, no one's eyes can focus on three point's at the dame time. The cross wires in a scope I focus looking into the sky and looking through a scope, everything is on the same focal plane. But get into power and I'm pretty much a low power scope guy. I have a fixed 2 3/4x on my elk rifle. If that doesn't let me see and animal the size of an elk well enough, I'm way to far off. It also really gives me a wide field of view, no problem at all getting on target and it really gather's light. If you can't see well enough to shoot well with this scope, you shouldn't be shooting in the first place. I also have a straight 4x on a 22 mag. Works well enough for anything I'd hunt at any reasonable range. I have 2- 2-7x scope's and think they might be the answer to the best power range for a variable hunting scope. I seldom use them above 2x except for sighting in. I also have two 3-9x scopes. Got them because at the time I couldn't find 2-7x scopes. One is on my 25-06 and one on a 243. If I were to shoot long range, 300+ yds, at a small critter, for sure I'd go to a higher power. All I have killed with the 25-06 is deer and one antelope, have never had the scope over 3x to do it! The 243 is a play toy for me, I don't hunt with it but if I did I would still likely only use it on 3x! a deer even at 300yds, I've only shot big game one time out there, still make's a big target even at 3x! The other 243 has a 4 3/4x14x scope on it. Again it's just a toy. The scope came off my 6.5x06 and just swapped the scopes out. Were I to be shooting at sage rat's at long range, the target is very small and higher power would be very good to have to see the target with. My longest shor ever attempted was a good hit on a gopher at 330 paces on flat ground with a 223 using a 3-9x scope. Even at 9x the target was very small but not so small that more than one shot was needed!

I doubt that most young people today have ever tried hunting with a low fixed power scope, 4x or below. As a result they have no idea what it is like to shoot through one. They go to the range, jack the power all the way up at 100 yds on a 4" or bigger bullseye thinking the can shoot better because they see the aiming point better. The thing they actually see better is their breathing! The aiming point's on my sight target's are max 2" for the low power's. For the larger power's 1" and at 6x I have no trouble seeing a 1' aiming point and my breathing is not that noticeable. But the truth is, if it works for you, it works. I shot small bore match in the service and a guy on the team way Olympic class shooter. His match rifle weighted close to 15# and wore a fixed 20x scope to shoot at 50' target's, if it works, it works. I never out shot him!

For killing an animal I greatly prefer a fixed 6X, however mule deer at 300yds can be difficult to judge at 6X, especially if they’re moving about with other deer. It can be difficult to tell which one is the big one after they move about, and you can wonder what you’re actually going to get until you see it on the ground. I took my first mule deer with a 4X, and kept having to switch back to the binos everytime the deer moved because at 4X I couldn’t even tell which one was the buck(dense fog and a light snow didn’t help that 4X) Some of my hunting is in flat, open wheat fields or plowed cotton fields, so getting closer is not always a low risk procedure. In an attempt to leave a spotter at home, and still get a good look at things I went with a 4x-20x last season, and did like the end results in general. It was nice being able to get a really good look at the animal and not to be concerned with the animals changing position within the group between looking at them through binos and then getting on them in the scope. The two extra lenses(one for variable power and one for side focus) did cause a noticeable effect on usability in low light.

I have no trouble hitting what I want to hit at 4X and 6X, and greatly prefer their versatility and simplicity, but being able to make better judgements on the animal beyond 150-200yds was nice. About half of my game animals have been taken under 200yds, and most of the other half remains under 310yds. Two over that were taken with a fixed 4X and fixed 6X. The power was enough to make the shot with no problem, but on both occasions being sure of exactly what I had just taken was difficult.