Maybe a scope, not a big one

 

This sounds about right from my point of view.
Ideally no glass, but reality doesn't always make this a viable option. Once someone gets past 45yo it starts to make more sense to scope or red dot a rifle.

 

What do you want? Don't worry about what we want/do...

 

I'm not worrying about what you do. But I thought this was a site to discuss things. So I'm discussing.

 

Dissing what other folks do is a lousy way to start a discussion...I'm serious what do you want to do? Folks will gladly help with ways to get where you want to go if you tell them where that is.

 

Dissing what other folks do is a lousy way to start a discussion...I'm serious what do you want to do? Folks will gladly help ways to get where you want to go if you tell them where that is.

Look, I'm not going to give you an argument about some inferred grievance you felt, which is what you seem to be looking for, and we can discuss the topic I mentioned, or we can just go our separate ways. Your choice.

 

I grew up on lever guns, centerfire and rimfire.

It’s a free country, everyone can do as they wish and so can I. I like traditional lever guns. With that said, here are my personal “no-no’s” for a lever gun:

1) no synthetic stocks
2) No suppressors
3) No Hubble-like scopes with any lenses bigger than 40mm, but preferably a straight 20mm tube or 32mm at most.
4) no paint jobs; blue, matte, or stainless steel only.
5) no red-dot or other battery powered sights.
6) no “mares-leg” type stocks even though some might argue they are traditional. I want full size only!

These are my preferences, but others ideas may vary.

 

I grew up on lever guns, centerfire and rimfire.

It’s a free country, everyone can do as they wish and so can I. I like traditional lever guns. With that said, here are my personal “no-no’s” for a lever gun:

1) no synthetic stocks
2) No suppressors
3) No Hubble-like scopes with any lenses bigger than 40mm, but preferably a straight 20mm tube or 32mm at most.
4) no paint jobs; blue, matte, or stainless steel only.
5) no red-dot or other battery powered sights.
6) no “mares-leg” type stocks. Full size only!

These are my preferences, but others ideas may vary.

I agree, also no leather wraps, fiber optic sights, threaded barrels or spiral cut bolts….come on ruger! This 39A is customized enough. But this is my opinion only, to each his own

 

I've got a little Rossi gold receiver wood stock .22 lever for my wife. I have scopes on everything else but nothing looks right on this gold color so until I can find a vintage or repop brass scope it goes bare. Until then our eyesight limits this to a plinker and in that roll it's great!!! It wears a simple leather sling to fit the theme and I'm looking for steel pieces to trade out for the plastic bits.

Not every rifle is strictly a tool for the owner, for me whatever I do to the rifle has to be aesthetically pleasing to my style and taste.

If you want to make it an old west style, steam punk style or a tacticool thing go for it. Your money, your happiness and people that don't agree with your style can eat dirt!

 

Maybe try Montana Vintage Arms if you are looking for that vintage look.

 

This new marlin 1895 45-70 ( made in 2019) will get a simple leather sling. But I do have a nice baby browning 4x waiting to be put on the 39A , a excellent el paso weaver 4X for the 1895. My eyesight is going so it won’t be long.

 

Been blind for years, got a scope on everything I can. Got a Rossi 92 in 357 no scope, cause its a top eject. Not big ones , usually , 4x or 2x7,

 

In case you would like to mount a scope on your Rossi 92, you can. Sun Optics makes a base and it worked fine on my Rossi 92.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1491782-REG/sun_optics_sm4411_1_piece_scope_mount_for.html

 

I can see irons, but it's a chore. Put fiber optics on golden boy. Got a burris fastfire on my Frontier. I have to use my bifocals to put a percussion cap on my muzzleloader, but I'm still gonna kill a deer come November. Distance vision is great, close up is terrible. Where there's a will there's a way, I'm not done shooting by far

 

After you get to where your cataracts need removing you will not have to worry about seeing iron sights and then you can have a classic lever gun. Remember it is a tool so use it correctly

 

I had cataract surgery, ocular implants for distance, wear bifocals and still have scopes on all my rifles. As a matter of fact my range buddy nudges me that I don't need a spotting scope with the Athlon Argos BTR GEN2 10-40x56's on my 2 CZ Varmint MTR's......
If I had a lever gun you can bet it would have glass on it and I wouldn't give a hoot in a whirlwind what anyone thought but I'm crazy that way......

 

I'm going to do it like this. You fellas do it however you want.

 

I just skimmed all this, because the OP didn't first offer what HE thinks, but just asked what strangers on the internet think. That usually feels like trying to get some comments to debate against, or some young person that can't make their own decisions. Usually the former.

I'm a traditionalist though, so will answer. Tradition means what the gun had on it when it was new, in common use. So my few lever actions are around WWII or before. Not many bothered with scopes back then. I also shot Cowboy Action 25 years ago, another "traditional" endeavor. I didn't like ANY gun that wasn't original or an exact copy. I didn't like all the frufraw leather people put on them. Because it wasn't done in the cowboy days. So "traditional" means vintage Winchester, Marlin or a few other designs, shooting vintage calibers, and no glass optics.

 

I'm 74, had cataract surgery 20 years ago, had a badly detached retina in my shooting eye and went completely blind for a few days, and then after surgery gradually regained sight in that eye over a period of years.
That said, I do have scopes on a few of my rifles, but my Henry H001, Winchester 94, and Marlin 336 Texan are just the way they came from the factory.
My little Henry is one of my farm guns, and stays leaning up against my nightstand fully loaded with Winchester Super X round nose just in case i need it in a hurry. I have others that could fill the farm gun role but my Henry gets the nod.

 

Had/have scopes on all my lever guns.

 

No picatinny rails.

 

How else would I have mounted the red dot on my Frontier? Keep it up, and I'll put a tactical light and a vertical grip on it.😄

 

Unless you have an original Winchester or Marlin, don’t really matter what you hang on it. Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys…!

 

I'd get two one to shoot and one to admire.

 

Only had my Henry in 22 mag out to range 4 times so far (only had it about a month)

Twice I went with iron sights only and had fun but got annoyed having to use the binoculars after each string to see where I was hitting.

My last two trips I mounted up a cheap Simmons 4x32 22 mag scope on it.

I will concede it looked nicer before the scope. But much prefer shooting it with the scope. So for me I prefer to shoot more than look at em. So mine will keep the small cheep scope.

 

For me anything less than taking the lever off is ok. . None of mine are scoped just peeps and traditional sights. Safeties have been deleted except on my current Winchester production rifle. I think all levers are good.

 

Unfortunately, my eyesight won't allow me to shoot iron sights. I also shoot suppressed only on my property in the interest of being a good neighbor. When I found this Henry at one of my local stores, I jumped on it. I tried to shoot it with the factory sights and it just didn't work for me. I had this Redfield 2-7 x 32 in the safe and mounted it. I'm having a blast, hitting what I aim at and grinning from ear to ear. An accurate gun, not ammo picky and just fun.

 

Beautiful, what model Henry?

 

Possibly a tang peep sight with a globe front is an option compared to scoping?

 

I have that set up on a Uberti 94 with a 26" barrel and do not have any problem shooting one inch groups at fifty yards so I am thinking of putting the same set up on my Fontier.

 

Define the role of the firearm and then do what YOU need to to fill that role. I have Lyman receiver sights on a couple of my lever guns and scopes on some, Cataract surgery is just around the corner and if all goes well should be finished by Nov. 1st. If you don't know the role it's hard to know how to fill it.

 

Define the role of the firearm and then do what YOU need to to fill that role.

218Bee got be.

 

And what about those chunks of metal known as silencers folks seem all hell bent to hang out on the front of their rifles?

Honestly, I've never seen a lever rifle with a suppressor on it. I'm sure they're out there -- I've just never seen one. No judgement, just an observation.

 

Honestly, I've never seen a lever rifle with a suppressor on it. I'm sure they're out there

It seems all the new Ruger Marlin Lever Guns are factory threaded for that.

 

When it comes to lever guns I am a bit of a traditionalist. I also didn’t like lever guns until I was in my early thirties when I realized there just isn’t a better tool for deer hunting in wooded and hilly terrain. A good lever gun is well balanced, easy to carry, fast handling and capable 1.5 to 2 MOA accuracy with a tang sight.

A tang sight or receiver sight will let you realize a lever guns accuracy potential - without ruining the lines, the balance or the handling. The same isn’t true of a scope.

I’ve been a tang sight advocate for over 25 years and at 57 as someone who blew right through bifocals into progressive readers, I’m still a tang sight advocate. A small aperture close to your eye functions just like a small aperture in a camera and increases the depth of field - which is the range at which your eye can focus on something. In simple terms it means that even with middle accommodation issues that require reading lenses you can still get sharp focus on the tang sight without corrective lenses.

I have three pre 64 Model 94 carbines and all of them have vintage Marbles or Lyman tang sights:

I also have a pre war Model 94 26” rifle that also sports a Lyman 1A tang sight, that has a flip up small aperture. In my experience it’s one of the best and most practical lever gun sights ever made.

All of the above carbines are capable of 5 shot 1.5 MOA accuracy at 100 yards.

I also have a couple Winchester Legendary Frontiersman 24” rifles in .38-55 (which is an awesome deer and black bear round) as well as a BB94 in .375 Win, and all of them sport the newer Marbles standard tang sights. It lacks the grace of the older sights, but the .5(ish) MOA click adjustments in windage and elevation are nice.

I do have a Winchester Classic 26” Model 94 rifle set up with a Williams receiver sight, and it also works fine. (They also make a slimmer model with screw adjustments rather than knobs).

The Classic, the pre war 26” Model Model 94 and .38-55s and my .375 Win all shoot 2 MOA 5 shot groups at 100 yards. My 1926 Model 94 rifle probably shot better whe it was young but the as the bore is a bit pitted. But it still shoots as well as the post 1963 Winchester rifles noted above.

I have a Rossi 92 20” short rifle and a 24” rifle, both in .357 Mag and both with new Marbles tang sights and Lyman 17AHB globe front sights. They are both 2 MOA 5 shot group accurate at 100 yards.

I do have two lever guns a that are scoped. One is a Model 9422 Legacy that works well with a scope, and the other is Browning BL22 that doesn’t have a steel tang.

If I ever get the point I can’t see the front sights with a tang sight, I’ll go this direction, a barrel mount for a Burris Fast Fire 3. It won’t screw up the lines and the balance:

 

I do have a scope on one of my 39A rifles.
All my other 22 lr lever action rifles are the way they came from the factory.
I’m not against upgraded lever action rifles and when my rich uncle gets out of the poor house I’m going to buy a Marlin 45-70 stainless steel guide gun with the full length magazine tube, large lever, picatinny rail with sight and laminated stock.

 

I have a Marlin 1897 that has threads for a Maxim Silencer. 1/2-20. I haven't seen a "legal" with Stamp and transferable Maxim for it. If I ever found one I'd be very tempted to buy it. It's my understanding that Maxim would thread the barrel for the manufacturer.
The good old days!

Bill