Scopes on short barrel revolvers.

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Cal44

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My hands (and wrists, and arms) are fine, and I can shoot everything up to 454 Casull (from a 7.5" FA) without pain.

But my eyes are becoming a problem.

I can focus on the rear sight, the front sight, or the target -- but only one of the three at a time.

I'm considering trying a handgun scope and seeing how that works.

I am in the process of buying a 625JM -- a 4" 45ACP N frame.

My question is:

Does it make sense to put a scope on a short barrel gun like that?

Or should I look for a longer barrel gun like an 8 3/8 629?

Dave
 
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Dave: it will be your gun, so you can do what ever you want.

That said, I don't think anyone can focus on thee things at different distances. Col. Cooper taught that you focus on the front sight (hand gun and rifle - shotguns are different, focus on the bird). That's what I've been taught, and what I've done, for 55 years. I still do.

That doesn't mean you don't have vision issues that would benefit from professional attention. I'd spend the money on an eye exam before a scope.
 
Laser maybe? How far do you want to shoot?
Dunno if a laser dot would be too small for you to see thou.
 
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Rpg said:
That doesn't mean you don't have vision issues that would benefit from professional attention. I'd spend the money on an eye exam before a scope.
Click to expand...

I've had a recent eye exam, and have those progressive bi-focal lens thingies. No serious issues, just age.

But, I still can't see nearly as well as I used to.

I am getting back to shooting after a 25 year hiatus, and now at 63 my vision is not nearly what is used to be.

I have to move my head around to bring things at various distances into focus.

Also my left eye is stronger than the right, so I found myself a couple times using my left eye for the sights -- even though I'm right handed.

Maybe I just need more range time to get shooting dialed back in.

Dave
 
For me, the shorter barrel may be a slight advantage in a couple of ways:
Lighter weight to offset the weight of the optic.
Less barrel time to minimize my wobble.
Offsetting this is muzzle blast coating the front element of the optic.
Had this problem with an Ultradot on my 625.
625match.jpg

Since that image was taken, I've moved the optic back as far as possible.
I'm going to scope one, but that will be a 6-1/2" 29-2.
 
Cal44 said:
I've had a recent eye exam, and have those progressive bi-focal lens thingies. No serious issues, just age.

But, I still can't see nearly as well as I used to.

I am getting back to shooting after a 25 year hiatus, and now at 63 my vision is not nearly what is used to be.

I have to move my head around to bring things at various distances into focus.

Also my left eye is stronger than the right, so I found myself a couple times using my left eye for the sights -- even though I'm right handed.

Maybe I just need more range time to get shooting dialed back in.

Dave
Click to expand...

Dave: sounds like more range time is in order. Get back in the groove, so to speak.

You can do 95% of that in your living room dry firing. Focus on the front sight.

It you're left eye is taking over, you can put a patch on your left glass lense - doesn't have to completely obscure your left eye - a strip of band aide (1 x 1 ' ) will do. You can also try a trick left eye dominant right hand shotgunners use: wink your left eye as you acquire your sight picture.

I had progressive bi-tri focals so I know they can be difficult. Adjusting the frame to position the lense may help.

There is something to look forward to: I had early onset cataracts and had the surgery - implanted lenses. My right eye is 20/20 for distance, the left 20/20 for reading. I have prescription glasses that give me 20/20 binocular distance vision for shooting. I'm your age.
 
If you have good front sight focus, then you should be fine as long as the lighting conditions remain constant. A fuzzier rear sight means some more vertical displacement as lighting conditions change than you may be accustomed to previously. But otherwise, it's no biggie. Think of the rear sight as an open topped aperture/"peep" sight, which work just fine!

As long as the target isn't so small as to disappear in the background it'll be fine. Just shoot at the fuzzy whatever. OR, if you aren't convinced, just shoot at a big piece of blank paper with no aiming area at all. Groups should naturally be centered and reasonably small on the blank paper if you have good front sight focus, trigger control, etc.

Or buy an optic. They have their uses, but they also bring limitations of their own. I shoot irons, reddots, and magnifying optics. But generally I just target shoot with irons (out to 100yds at IHMSA matches) and live with the fuzz.
 
Merit optical device

VIA for AR-15/A2

I've used one of these for 20 years. I can see both sights (front & rear) and the target clearly. The eyepiece doesn't scratch a clean lens, and works with handguns or rifles. I have lineless, progressive lens glasses and a pair of single vision glasses.

The next problem to solve has something to do with fingers and a consistent grip.
 
I put the 2x Leupold on a Freedom Arms M97 3 1/2" round butt .45 Colt to do some load testing. When I was done, I did some offhand shooting with it so configured. Proved to be amazingly well balanced and easy to shoot. Total weight of gun and scope was right at 43 - 44 oz.

P6220006.jpg


FWIW,

Paul
 
I've shot Bullseye with a red dot on a snubby recently. I have a 5" 627 on consignment sale. I was using it for Bullseye and then switched the scope (red dot) to my 627 UDR (2.63" barrel). It looks a little funny to have a scoped snubby but it shot great. Didn't really notice much difference from the 5".
 
Rpg said:
...It you're left eye is taking over, you can put a patch on your left glass lense - doesn't have to completely obscure your left eye - a strip of band aide (1 x 1 ' ) will do. You can also try a trick left eye dominant right hand shotgunners use: wink your left eye as you acquire your sight picture. ...
Click to expand...

I am right-handed but left-eyed, and have been for as long as I can remember. It is a problem for shotgunning, when the tape on the glasses trick works pretty well, but has never been a problem for handgunning. I just lean my head over and do my sighting with my left eye.
I know what you mean about older eyes...I used to be able to focus on the front sight and have both the rear sight and the target remain fairly clear. Now they're just a blur. Although I'm pretty old school, I bought a Crimson Trace laser grip for one of my j-frames and it works real well. Still have just the open sights on the rest of them though.
 
I haven't been able to focus on handgun sights for over 5 years. At first I got into shooting with J Point Reflex sights and they work great out to about 40 yards. However, at distances over 40 yards the dots cover too much of the target and I have problems seeing small details clearly. So, I tried out a Nikon 1.75 power handgun scope and that's good for 50 yard shooting.

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What I found going through this process is that you can become reliant on optical aids. Since I don't carry an optic equipped handgun I've greatly reduced my use of these aids and have increased my practicing with plain old iron sights. One particular sight that works pretty well for me is the gold bead patridge sight that came on my 625 JM. I cannot see the rear sight blade at all at the indoor ranges I shoot at but that gold bead is visible as a fuzzy ball of light. Another useful sight setup is the white dot sights that came on my Ruger SR1911's, those fuzzy white balls are pretty visible until fouling fogs up the front sight.

As for the night sights on my Sig Sauers, totally invisible at an indoor range. Same story with fibre optic sights due to a lack of adequate overhead lighting at the shooting position. For my Sig P239 which is my primary carry choice the solution is to use what I can Weapon Guided Point Shooting. That is I use what I can see of the shape of the gun to assist in point shooting it. Doing this does mean spending a lot of time shooting it but the benefit is that I can hit a 4-5 inch target at 15 yards.

What all this means is that I'm not going to be shooting Bullseye competitions with iron sights. However, since my intrinsic Tremor has also increased with age I'm not going to shoot Bullseye with optics. I need a good solid rest to get close to shooting to what my handguns can produce and I've leaned to accept that. Today my standard for shooting with a handgun is based on the ability to shoot effectively, so my emphasis is on achieving and maintaining an effective rate of fire while shooting group sizes that are good enough to stop an assailant. It means my targets aren't real pretty when I'm done but I'm fine with that.
 
While I certainly love the crystal clear view a scope gives me, shooting offhand with a scoped handgun simply doesn't work for me. The natural movement of any handgun held by humans is magnified for me regardless of the magnification of the optic and for me that applies to red dots. For some reason I "chase the dot" with red dots and my shooting suffers.

My sight picture is much more steady with irons and I'm far more confident of shot placement with irons.

Entirely different issue if you have a handgun that you use off of a bench or rest like the old Rem XP-100 bolt guns or a Thompson Center single shot. There, a scope is needed to exploit the range and accuracy they're capable of.
 
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