Scoping a Levergun and I am back.

[Beaker]

Hello everyone.
I have not been on the forum since last August. First I caught covid and it very nearly killed me. The doctors did not expect me to make it as I developed many embolisms in my lungs. They told me that if I had waited another couple of hours to get to the hospital that I would have perished. While in the hospital, I later saw the chart notes the doctors wrote," ... We are doing everything we can but we do not expect him to survive". I spent a full day in the ER, three full days in ICU and four full days in solitary confinement (isolation they called it) in a special private room. Initially, for the first few days, they were pumping 40 liters per minute of oxygen into me, so much pressure that it was actually difficult to exhale against the positive pressure.

Then my old WIndows XP finally gave up the ghost so I had to get a new laptop and desk top. Then I finally got my eyes checked and new lenses. But now with the new lenses (progressive trifocal equivalent) and with my age, I will now need to bite the bullet and scope my leverguns.

I am looking at a 2-7 x32 Vortex scopes for my .22lr and my .357mag. Also, a 4-12 x 40 on my 30-30. I live in a transitional area in central Kansas so everything from precision target shooting to hunting short range in brushy areas to wide open prairie is possible here so I want the 30-30 to be possible to shoot out to the extreme range of 300 yards with the leveroution type polymer tipped bullets, from dim to bright lighting conditions. I am also looking a a Vortex among others for the 4-12 power scope. Open irons, aperture, red dots are not an option for me beyond 100 yards. Does anyone have any final words of wisdom to offer before I add scopes?

[gamekeeper]

I know very little about scopes BUT I'm sure glad you made it through the Corvid are back in the saddle....

[Beaker]

Thankyou Gamekeeper. God has blessed me and for some reason still wants me alive here on Earth.

[rossim92]

vortex is the bomb! i have a vortex reddot on my ar. accurate as hell. you can't go wrong with them

[AJMD429]

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I realized several years ago that if you can't see it you can't hit it, and I've never had a target or a deer voice any criticism of me for putting optics on my leverguns.

Personally I tend to favor higher magnification scopes than most of my friends but that's maybe because my eyesight isn't as good. I don't know. But if I can get a scope up to 16 or 20 x I will do it if the field of view is clear and the scope seems to be of decent quality.

The problem is the price goes up even faster than the magnification so if you're only scoping one or two guns with high-powered scopes it's not too bad, but otherwise sometimes I've had to make trade-offs and get brands like Weaver and Tasco and Bushnell. On the other hand, I have never really had trouble with those cheap scopes, although I don't use my scoped firearms under super adverse conditions. I broke the crosshairs on a name brand (forget which) scope many years ago because I made the mistake of putting on a Mini-14 rather than a Ranch Rifle, and there is definitely a difference in the recoil to the optics between those two similar guns. I also had a BSA 36x scope that had one of the adjustment knobs break, so I just mount it on new guns to shoot off the bench for groups-only, to get me an idea of the accuracy potential of the gun in question.

I've had several Redfield 2-7x Scopes I've liked on guns used at shorter ranges, and I do like a couple Bushnell ('sportview' or 'wideview' or something like that) 3-9x's I've had.

As a kid I learned to shoot with a fairly high-mounted scope on a 22, so I learned to shoot with a chin wild rather than a cheek weld. That, coupled with the rainbow trajectory of the 22 much out past 100 yards where I like to shoot for challenge, led me to realize that within practical limitations, a scope that is mounted slightly higher can have a longer "point blank" window or range, all else being equal. In other words if you want to set your gun up so that your bullet will always strike within 3 inches above or below the point of aim, a slightly higher mounted scope will extend that range somewhat. It may not be enough to be meaningful but it is something to consider if you're new to scopes.

Glad you survived CoVid.

If you seem to have any residual symptoms, there are some treatment protocols that seem to work, using combinations of various medications. The flccc.net website lists some of the protocols and references for the so-called 'long haul' version of covid. I've had fairly good success with them, although progress tends to be slow, requiring patience on the part of the physician and patient.

[piller]

Glad you are back. I like Vortex brand scopes, too. Reasonably priced, clear, and reliable. Most of my long guns wear a scope. Eyesight can easily get worse as we age.

[44shooter]

4-12x on a 30-30? It’s your choice but I use 2.5-8x on 30-06 and 308, 2.5-10 on 270, 3.5-10 on 25-06 etc. I never found any of them lacking and prefer the 2.5-8 for general hunting use as it’s light and compact while being clear and good usable range of magnification. I like 2-7 also and truthfully would probably be satisfied with a fixed 4x most the time. Most of my scopes are Leupold, and I have been pleased with them. I also have a Burris (older US made) and some Weavers, Nikon/Primos, and a Bausch and Lomb (Bushnell now). I’d probably only put a 4-12 on a varmint rifle or maybe a long range magnum. And yes we can see and shoot 300 yards in many places in the Southeast. And it’s very doable at 7 or 8x

[Rimfire McNutjob]

I had a surgery go bad once and woke up from an induced coma about 3 weeks later. They had written "CTD" on my chart. Later I learned that stood for "Circling the Drain". Good to have you back.

[Beaker]

Thanks everyone for the wishes and for the feedback.