Scope fo 44mg Carbine?

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Drm50

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I was shooting my Marlin 94, 44mg today and decided I am going
to scope it for deer season. For the last hour I have been looking
at scopes till my eyes crossed. I will be shooting in 100yd range.
I want a good scope in the $150-$300 range, also don't want a
scope long as the gun. Only need 4x at most. Anyone have any
experiance scoping 44s. I have a cabinet full of good scopes for
deer rifles and varment guns but nothing that suits me for the
44. I have shot a lot of 44 but with open sights, they are still good but my eyes are not up to it. Shooting in the woods is a lot
different than shooting paper with good definition.
 
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once I started wearing glasses I had to scope some rifles. what I ended up with on my marlin 336 in 30-30 was a weaver K 1.5. great clarity and highly visible cross hairs. with a low power scope you get better light transmission early and late in the day. I have seen them on ebay before so you might check there. lee
 
I have a 4 power older Redfield on mine sighted in at 100 yards with a 240 grain Winchester Silvertip. I do reload but I like this combo in the rifle. If you know your rifle you can hold over on a longer shot.
 

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Last time I checked, my eyes still worked with the Marlin sights out to 100 yards or so. However I had a Ruger No.1 I needed small amount of magnification to be able to get usable groups at 250 yards. I put a 1.5x scope with the old post with cross hair retical on it and zeroed it for 200. Lyman used to call this retical "German #1" as it is similar to the low power sniper scope retical they used in WWII. (The aim point is the top of the post, the fine cross hair is to help keep you level)

On a Savage 24 C I have a 1.5x scope that is a 6 MOA circle (that helps on ranging small game) with cross hairs outside the circle and a dot in the center. I can shoot this scope with both eyes open and ignore it when shooting the shotgun barrel. Simmons intended this as a Muzzle Loader Scope, and the parallax is set at 50 yards instead of 100 like most deer hunting scopes. TC made a Illuminated retical scope similar to this but, it was quite expensive at the time and they went out of production.

These scopes were not expensive when new and can be found used at really good prices at gun shows and "Classic" gun shops. Ivan
 
Scoped my Ruger77/357.......... couple of scopes I've liked for shooting inside 100-150yds in Pennsylvania's woods and smaller fields..... with .357, .22mag and .223...............................

Weaver Classic V.......1-3x20 $180-200

Leupold makes some nice short light scopes in the 1-4x20 and 1-5 x20 range ...IIRC the 1-4x20s are in the $250 range.

Cross hairs...... duplex, Hog/somthing and a Turkey all look like good short(er) range fast scopes........


Also check out Skinner Sights...... they make a Peep sight that replaces the rear sight on the barrel...... really helps this 61 year olds eyes........ I have them on my Winchester Trapper in .357.
 
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Hunting Whitetails in Indiana from tree stands and ground blinds has
convinced me that fixed 4X is too much power. Some shots could be
better measured in feet than yards. I missed a shot at a deer once
that had been spooked by other hunters and was sprinting directly at
the tree I was in. I couldn't find and get on the deer in the Weaver
2.5X scope on my 870 Remington. For the money I don't think you can
beat the Leupold 1-4X variable. The VX-1 with heavy duplex can be
bought online for just over $200 and the VX-2 for a bit under $300.
Power on low end is about 1.3X with up to 4X if needed. They weigh
about 8.2 oz and are rugged and waterproof. Since all are built to
the same standards of durability the VX-1 is a best buy for woods
hunting. I currently have five of their 1-4Xs and think they're great.
 
I would use a 2-7 or 2-8 power scope . A 44 mag carbine is capable of 200 yard plus shots so you might as well have enough if needed to pick a bullet placement in thinker creek bottom. or make a better shot at its longer range. I used a redfield 2 3/4 power back in the 70's in a ruger 44 mag carbine but sold the rifle . I use a 2.5-10 on a 308 since that's killed more deer under 40 years than over thru its 40 years of hunting and picking a shot thru branchs more times than not .
 
I have my Marlin 1894 SS scoped with a Weaver V3. The V3 is a 1x to 3x variable. The scope is durable, and I've shot many full house loads with no problems whatsoever. The scope is quite small and "looks" right on a short .44 mag carbine. Larger power scopes "look" overly large on the Marlin 1894s. I believe that 3x is more than enough magnification for the .44 mag, and feel that it is the perfect scope for this rifle.
 
For the application I like my Leupold 3X. Some time before the mid-1980s they were replaced with shorter 2 1/2X scopes that have the same advertised field of view. Neither have belled front ends so very few people would notice the difference in the rifle’s appearance. With a fixed power you will never be fiddling with a magnification ring when you ought the be squeezing the trigger nor will you swing your .44 onto a bounding deer only to discover you left the magnification turned up.


I mainly posted to write for members other than the original poster don’t be tempted to buy the least expensive scope for a .44 lever gun because you expect to only shoot it at short range. The little .44 carbines will jar the reticules loose lose in cheap scopes. I’ve seen it happen at the range a half dozen times. .44 lever gun recoil is harder on scopes than a standard weight .30-06.
 
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h
4barrel said:
I have a 4 power older Redfield on mine sighted in at 100 yards with a 240 grain Winchester Silvertip. I do reload but I like this combo in the rifle. If you know your rifle you can hold over on a longer shot.
Click to expand...

I also have an old Redfield, the Widefield 1 3/4 x 5 variable. IMO the best short range, heavy woods scope ever made. This was when Redfield was a high end optic. The widefield has an oblong eyepiece and gives a sight picture that is probably 30% wider than a regular scope. If you could find one of those I'd jump on it.

I like the low power variable for close range or heavy woods because you can dial back to the lowest setting. Almost like open sights but better. I also have a low power variable Leupold on my TC Encore rifle setup.

This is my .30 06 Remington 700 which was my go to Maine deer gun for many years. Plenty of scope for those conditions. Though only having the 1" tube, the picture when looking through the scope has the oblong shape of the eye piece lens, giving a very wide field of view.



 
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My go to scope is an M8 4x Leupold. You can pick them up on ebay for a fair price with a bit of patience. They have a lifetime warranty.

I have a bunch of them, and still pick up an extra from time to time.
 
I put a Weaver V?, the smallest one they made back in the 60s
on a 870/12 gauge. 3 shots later I had a maraca. Took it back
and dealer replaced it, before I got it sighted in the scope was
rattling. Took it back and got a K-3, sighted in no problem. That
was 66, scope still on gun, a couple of tune up shots and it's
good to go for another season. To this day I don't like variables.
A lot of the scopes on the market are junk. You have to put a little cash down to get a good glass. When you are use to shooting low velocity rifles with sights, you have to go through
a whole new learning period to judge drop through scope. I have
shot more than my share of deer with rifles and would say 200yds is stretch for 44 mag.
 
2-7x32 either Nikon or Leupold. Consider the light gathering ability of the scope. Deer like to come out near dark
 
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I first started using scopes on CF rifles back in the mid 60s and back
then I doubt if I would have used a variable if someone wanted to
give me one. I still have a Redfield 2.5X that I bought back in 1966
and it is sharp and clear. But it has been on a 22 for many years.
Scopes are much better today and Leupold claims their variables have
no more issues than their fixed powers. Even so I prefer the smaller
variables. The small light scopes just don't seem as vulnerable to the
effects of inertia as the larger heavier scopes. In the woods they are
best left on the lowest setting and only turned up if and when needed.
And 200 yds with a .44 mag lever action is about 75 yds too far for a
responsible shot at a deer. You will get more shots under 50 yds than
over 50 yds hunting Whitetail Deer in this part of the country.
 
Being able to see the target and reticule clearly is much more important than magnification.

For your .44, stick with under 3x in fixed power, or a low power variable like a Leupold 1.5-5x, or compact 2-7x. Personally I have a 2x Leupold that works fine for me.

Keep a variable at the lowest setting when hunting. If a target is close, you won't have much time to zoom it down. If it's farther away you will have time to zoom it up.
 
My "walk in Penn's Woods" guns..be it my . .22lr,.22mag,.223 or .357... all have low power variables ........the .22lr has the Weaver V 1-3x20 the rest Leupold 1-4x20s.

All leave the cabin set on 1X as most shots on groundhogs or if really lucky a Coyote will be a less than 50yds in the woods...... if it's a longer shot; or I'm in a stand/ just sitting by a tree...... I'll almost always have time to crank up the......" X-factor".

Never understood,in Pa. deer hunters with big to huge 6-12 power scopes..... dedicated groundhog guns OK .......

Good glass, good light transmission, and to me "weight" are much more important than being able to count a varmint's nose hairs.........
 
The only .44 that I ever scoped wore a 3X. Today, Leupold makes an excellent 2 1/2X that would be my choice. A close second would be the small 1-4 variables offered by several makers or the 1-3 offered by Weaver. There are lots of choices at or under $300.

Good luck,

Jack
 
I just set up my Marlin .357 mag with a Leupold EER Scout Mount 2 power fixed. It is a great 100yd, and under set up.

My eyes are getting older, and I needed some help. This really did the job that I needed done. The scout mounted scope is really fast acquisition, as a plus. This has become my favorite lever gun for the "fun" factor of this set up too.
 
Drm50 said:
I put a Weaver V?, the smallest one they made back in the 60s
on a 870/12 gauge. 3 shots later I had a maraca. Took it back
and dealer replaced it, before I got it sighted in the scope was
rattling. Took it back and got a K-3, sighted in no problem. That
was 66, scope still on gun, a couple of tune up shots and it's
good to go for another season. To this day I don't like variables.
A lot of the scopes on the market are junk. You have to put a little cash down to get a good glass. When you are use to shooting low velocity rifles with sights, you have to go through
a whole new learning period to judge drop through scope. I have
shot more than my share of deer with rifles and would say 200yds is stretch for 44 mag.
Click to expand...
Variable scopes have come a log way in the last 50 years.:)
 
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