Thursday, March 22, 2012

Scout Rifle

I admit that I've been hankering to try a scout rifle, but I don't need any other bolt action rifles at the moment. Still, I'd like to try the scout system and I've got a couple of Winchester 94s in my gun locker. I'm thinking about mounting a pistol scope on a Model 94 to see how I like the whole Scout Rifle thing. According to some folks, Jeff Cooper liked the .30-30 cartridge and said that the Winchester 94 was one of his original sources of inspiration, although he later came to favor the bolt action rifle shooting the .308.

Still, there is a lot to like in the old .30-30 and I have several examples in the locker. I'm thinking of taking the lesser valued Winchester and buying a scout mount, mounting a low-powered pistol scope on it, and seeing what benefits might accrue from such a design.

I'm also a fan of Swift Optics and their scopes. It seems that they make a little fixed power pistol scope that might be just the bees knees for such a project. A little Googling around and I see that Optics Planet has it as well, and it qualifies for free shipping.

It looks like XS Sight Systems makes a rail for the Winchester 94. I might ask my gunsmith if he's got a better idea for mounting the rail. It sounds like a fun project, doesn't it?

4 comments:

Peter said...

I had a low powered pistol scope mounted on a Marlin 1894 in .357 for a while, it worked well. A two power scope worked fine within the range limitations of the cartridge.

Later I put the scope on a little bolt action for a real scout rifle and a pal liked it so much I actually made a profit.

There is no reason a lever scout would not work. The rifles themselves are short and handy. The only drawback to the scout scope system is that a tang peep sight is lighter, about as accurate and doesn't change the balance of the rifle.

If you don't mind a suggestion, try putting the scout scope on one and a Marble's tang sight on the other. Then carry and shoot each for awhile and see which one you like best. Col Cooper said it well when he said the scope doesn't really help the shooting but only in the seeing. Of course he was talking about the big African critters then, which are shot up close. The .30-30 is also a fairly close range ca'tridgeI within it's range limits the speed of the lighter rig might well outweigh the better vision of the scope.

I still own the Marlin, it wears a peep sight today. Your mileage may vary.

Gerry N. said...

Back in the 60's Redfield, if memory serves made a scope mount that clamped into the rear sight dovetail of a Win. M94. The mount accepted two or three different pistol scopes. It was not expensive and worked well. I tried it and preferred as I still do a Williams 5D or Foolproof reciever sight. The Williams was at least as accurate and much handier. My $0.02 worth.

Gerry N.ctermare ithowe

Pawpaw said...

Thanks, Peter, for the input. I've got a couple of Win 94s and they both wear peeps. I've also got an old Revelation lever, built on the Marlin pattern and a Marlin 336. Lots of 30-30s to play with. Your recommendation for a rear-mounted peep sight is one that I appreciate and understand.

Still, I want to play with a lever scout.

Anonymous said...

I have a .45/70 Marlin Guide Gun with the XS scout mount on it.
Have a Leupold 2x Scout Scope to go on it, but haven't added it yet.

Also has an XS "Ghost Ring" peep and I haven't finished wringing that out
yet.