Marlin lever action scout rifle

[eagle rider]

Anyone ever hunt with a 30/30 or a 35 set up as a scout rifle?

[spltlim]

Granted Ive never handled one set up with a scout scope,  Looking at them , I'm not sure how the gun would shoulder.  I think having the scope forward of the reciever would upset the balance of the sweet handling of the 336 rifles there so famous for.  

 

I have a low powered scope on my 336 1.75-4 power, and at 1.75 power no problem shouldering the gun and shooting with both eyes open,  cant see target aquision being  any faster with the scope mounted forward of the reciever 

[eagle rider]

Yeah I'm not sold on the idea it either, but it seem interesting.

[Redneckoflatham]

I have shot both but only with iron sights great brush gun

[GreeneHunter]

I have a 30/30 model 94 , top eject so the scope would have to be mounted forward and I've never bothered to scope it . And as already mentioned its a great brush gun !

[hunter]

I think scopes get mounted by a side plate base on Winchester 94s which holds the scope a little off center but basicaly in the traditional location. This is one of the advantages of the Marlin which side ejects and allows top mounting of scopes if one wants a scope.

[Bballhunter11]

Marlin 1895 in 45-70  with fiber optic open sights. Can take any big game animal inside 200 yards no problem

[magnumhunt]

I have 30/30 Win with the side scope mount, excelent bush gun. I also have 35Rem Marlin. with top scope mount side eject. I prefer the 30/30.

[gmil6184]

I love Jeff Cooper but I think the idea of a scout rifle is one of those "solutions in search of a problem." A marlin takes a traditional scope mount just fine so I don't see the point of using a scout configuration, but that's just my opinion. Personally I think lever guns look a little awkward with a scope and my .35 Remington has a Williams peep sight, which is pretty fast and plenty accurate at close to medium range where the 336 excels

[Pygmy]

 

I love Jeff Cooper but I think the idea of a scout rifle is one of those "solutions in search of a problem." A marlin takes a traditional scope mount just fine so I don't see the point of using a scout configuration, but that's just my opinion. Personally I think lever guns look a little awkward with a scope and my .35 Remington has a Williams peep sight, which is pretty fast and plenty accurate at close to medium range where the 336 excels

I agree with everything you said...The only time I would consider a "scout" configuration would be on a military rifle that I did not want to alter, like a K98K Mauser. You can remove the rear sight, install a scout type mount on the rear sight base, and then if you want to return the rifle to ORIGINAL condition, just remove the scope mount and reinstall the issue rear sight.

I am also a fan of peep sights..I use the issue peep when hunting with my Garand M1, and I have peep sights on my TC Hawken .50 cal, one of my 10/22 rugers, and a Yugo M48 8MM Mauser.

[Early]

Agree: Old Jeff had a lot of good ideas...The scout rifle was not one of them.

[pawle76]

I think the idea of a scout scope is useless. The whole idea with a scout scope is for fast target acquisition while keeping both eyes open, I would rather use a red dot or reflex type sight for that. I've seen some Marlin 336's with holographic sights on them and for a handy brush gun shooting 100 yds and less I would think that's a good set up.

[skeets716]

My son's first deer with a Marlin 30/30.  Great firearm for deer hunting in NY's woods. 

 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

My Brother in Law has an Remington 870 with a very old Hastings bull barrels (12 ga). it has a forward mounted scope base just like the scout guns. it looks odd as hell but it shoots great. I tried it a couple times and it really opens up your peripheral vision. (Many here should turn away from the screen for just a minute) It is a fantastic set up for deer drives and shots on moving deer.

[RangerClay]

Years ago Marlin made the Marauder.  About the closest you will get to a scout rifle.  It was a great rifle and highly sought after by collectors (and me).

[Borngeechee]

I know this is late but...  I have a 44 mag lever action thats set up "scout" style using a bushnell trs-25 red dot. It doesnt add any noticeable weight and it shoulders and gets on target faster than you can imagine. I first tried it with a long eye relief scope and it was just ok but with a parallax free red dot its a different gun. The second it reaches your shoulder, you're on target.

[eagle rider]

post a pic of that rifle Borngeechee, please......

[moog5050]

I have heard that the problem with scout scopes mounted forward of the receiver is that they have a very narrow field of view even at low magnification.  It relates to the extended eye relief.  Red dot, while not traditional, seems the way to go if you have to mount a scope forward of the receiver.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

My brother in Law has a forwarded mounted scope on his old Hastings bull barrel for his 12 ga 870. It is narrow but you don't lose anything because it is so far from you face you actually have better peripheral view than with a normal scope.

[NeverSeenNorHeard]

I know this topic has been relatively dead, but since I saw activity, I figured I would try and contribute a physical science component for those who stumble upon this in the future and are thinking about the same thing. 

 

I've hunted and been successful with both a 30-30 with side mount scope & .35 with top Mounted scope. Anytime you have a scope mounted of to the side of a barrel, you have two things that come into play. First you have bullet drop, something we are all used to, and another thing most of us are not used to accounting for. This additional thing is the bullet's path of travel in relation to your eye's path of travel through the scope.

 

When you sight-in your side mounted scope, you have essentially gotten the two different paths (path of eye through scope and path of bullet travel out of the barrel) to meet at the desired location, the bulls-eye. Those paths are the direction of your scope (after you set windage and elevation) and the direction of travel for your bullet. If you imagine a visible laser beam projected from you scope (keep in mind that it's after you sighted in), and another simulating the path of bullet travel from your barrel. If you did this, you will see the paths cross both in elevation (up and down) and also in windage (left & right). This is fine if your deer, bear or whatever is always going to pop up at the yardage you sighted in at. We all know that's never the case. 

 

In this case, What I have done for a side mounted 30-30 in the past, is sight in at a distance of 150 yards (the maximum I would take a whitetail with a 30-30) and then take a few shots at 100 and 75 yards, where I then come up with a general hold compensation for these shots. For shots between 1&50 yards, I used the iron sights, which where still usable due to the side mounted scope.  

 

As for the .35, the scope was mounted above and plumb to the barrel so no big deal there. 

 

If it was my rifle that needed a side mount, I would skip the project and put the $ into another rifle in the quiver that may be better suited for an upgrade of some type. If its the only rifle I have for this role, I would go for an inexpensive but decent scope. 

 

I hope this helps you. If this wasn't what you were looking for, then sorry for the hot air. 

 

-NSNH

[Culvercreek hunt club]

 

NSNH,

 

You talking about this type of mount? This is how mine is mounted. If you zeroed @ 100 and the offset of the scope is 1.5" then you would only be off 1.5" the other direction at 200 yards. Right? (rifle inaccuracies aside). Note the turn of the scope from normal. Windage adjusts elevation and visa versa. This stops the spent casing from hitting the adjustment knobs.

 

I think these guys are actually talking about a forwards scope mount that is actually on the barrel.

[eagle rider]

The issue isn't side mounted, its forward mounted.  Scout scope magnification ranges tom fix powers as low as 2.75x to 4x.  Burris and Leatherwood make variables that are 2-6x 32mm.  The field of view on the Leatherwoods are 19' at 100 yds (at 2x) down to 6.5' at 100 yds (6x).  So not terrible, and intact better than many rifle scopes.  The beauty of the scout style is that allows you to keep both eyes on the target when acquiring it in the scope, They are also very fast handling, and permit instinctive style shooting on moving game (lead and follow through like wing shooting which is difficult on a traditional mounted scope).  Years back before extended eye relief scopes were available commercially people used pistol scopes as scout scopes.  So fields of view were very limited.  I know a lot of experienced hunters who hunt the thick pines of Southern Maine, Central New Hampshire and Vermont.  They swear by set ups like this because of the tight cover conditions getting to and from stands.    A few do use red dots on 44 cal carbines with similar logic.  They have great success.  

[moog5050]

My brother in Law has a forwarded mounted scope on his old Hastings bull barrel for his 12 ga 870. It is narrow but you don't lose anything because it is so far from you face you actually have better peripheral view than with a normal scope.

 

 

Never thought of that.  Like I said, I have never tried one, but read about the narrow field of view.

[NeverSeenNorHeard]

94.jpg

 

NSNH,

 

You talking about this type of mount? This is how mine is mounted. If you zeroed @ 100 and the offset of the scope is 1.5" then you would only be off 1.5" the other direction at 200 yards. Right? (rifle inaccuracies aside). Note the turn of the scope from normal. Windage adjusts elevation and visa versa. This stops the spent casing from hitting the adjustment knobs.

 

I think these guys are actually talking about a forwards scope mount that is actually on the barrel.

 

The scope mount looks familiar, however, I think mine was off to the left more dramatically. All be it it's been a LONG time since I saw that rifle. The distance that you would be off is not static (changes at every distance - albeit, the direction it would be off is the same).

 

Being a stickler for accuracy, I want my projectile to go exactly where I intended it to go (like most people I would think). Even if its 1.5" off, throw in other variables such as wind, brush, old eyes and if the shooter suffers from buck fever you are looking at a shot a large distance away from where you intended to make contact. In my mind, if you spend money on something (in this case a scope - a convenience) and need to compensate for something, you just spent money to still be inconvenienced. 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

The scope mount looks familiar, however, I think mine was off to the left more dramatically. All be it it's been a LONG time since I saw that rifle. The distance that you would be off is not static (changes at every distance - albeit, the direction it would be off is the same).

 

Being a stickler for accuracy, I want my projectile to go exactly where I intended it to go (like most people I would think). Even if its 1.5" off, throw in other variables such as wind, brush, old eyes and if the shooter suffers from buck fever you are looking at a shot a large distance away from where you intended to make contact. In my mind, if you spend money on something (in this case a scope - a convenience) and need to compensate for something, you just spent money to still be inconvenienced. 

The other option which I tried and didn't like with a mount like mine is to set it up to shoot 1.5" right at 100 and it will always be 1.5" right from point of aim. Parallel lines.