scope suggestion for 1895GBL 45-70?

[syoungs]

my eyes aren't as great as they once were, and I'm noticing I have a harder time shooting my peep setup as accurate as I once did.
Was thinking about putting a scope on the 45-70 before this fall.

redfield has a 2-7x33 that gets decent remarks on other forums that I was considering, but I'm open to other suggestions as well.
Would like to keep it to either a 1-4, 2-7 or fixed somewhere between 2-3 power.

I use this gun as a brush gun when bear hunting, and will keep the shots under 125 yards or so with a peep (due to eyesight), but wouldn't mind being able to push that out to 200 with an optic.

I typically use vortex products, but ive had a few bad experiences with quality on their scopes, and I'm thinking my 350g handloads would probably shake a diamondback apart pretty quick!

[doubletall]

I started with a skinner peep on my 1895 and due to aging eyes went with a Leupold 1-4x20.  I'm pretty happy with it; at 100 yards it's all you need.  I also looked into a 2-7 but liked the smaller size of the 1-4.

[Rat44]

You may want to check out a shotgun scope.
They are usually pretty bright and well suited to the shorter range of the 45/70.
I had a 2 3/4 Burris Fullfield shotgun scope on my 1895 and it worked good enough I moved it to my short barreled 30/06.

[BULLBLASTER]

I had a fixed 6 power on my 45-70. 6x44 I think it was. Had a good mix of magnification and field of view.

[kselkhunter]

I'm going to be in the same position someday soon as my eyes go.  For now I use a Burris Fastfire III red dot on my 356W.  But will likely need to switch to a scope in the near future.  Depends on your price range.  On a higher budget, I like the Leupold VX5HD 1-5x24mm with Fire Dot.   More budget conscious, I like the Leupold FX-II Ultralight 2.5x20mm.   I've spent a bit of time looking through both and am planning to eventually put one on my lever when I have to switch to a scope. 


For me, smaller scopes better suit lever guns from a cosmetic perspective.  But that's just personal preference/opinion. 

[ckr]

Leupold FX-II.  Fixed 2.5 with the extended eye relief.  It’s been awesome in the brush and more than enough for those 150yrd shots in the open.

[syoungs]

Thanks for the advice everyone!
I like the idea of the lower power scopes for sure, not only in function, but aesthetically as well!
Probably keep my eyes out for a FX-II 2.5 or a leupold 1-4.

I was also kicking the idea around of re-installing the factory rear sight, and using some sort of  quick disconnect system, so I could pull the scope if needed. My wallet may not let me do that at this point though, I only use this gun in rare circumstances, so justifying nicer optics and options is tough or me.

[yorketransport]

Check out the XS Sight Systems package for the Marlin lever guns. I had 450 Marlin Guide Gun with their rail/ghost ring sight set up paired with a Leupold M8 4x scope in quick release rings and I loved that package.

[CaNINE]

Perfect timing for this question. I just mounted up this week a Leupold FX-II scout scope in quick detatch rings from Wild West Guns. Sweet setup.

[BigGoonTuna]

There’s still some vx-3i 1.5-5x20s floating around with the German #4 reticle floating around out there, that would be a hard one to beat. Wish Leupold hadn’t lost their minds by discontinuing everything but the  “wide duplex” in the 2.5x ultralight, that one sucks for a close range rifle. Should have kept the heavy duplex or at least the standard one for that...

[tgray]

Perfect timing for this question. I just mounted up this week a Leupold FX-II scout scope in quick detatch rings from Wild West Guns. Sweet setup.

What light do you have on your setup here and how do you like it?

[headshot5]

It'd be pretty hard to pass up a Leupold VX-freedom 1.5-4x.   

[Caseknife]

It'd be pretty hard to pass up a Leupold VX-freedom 1.5-4x.   

I've got the same scope when it was marketed as the Pig Plex, wonderful scope for my Ruger Ranch 450 BM.

[BigGoonTuna]

I like the look of the pig plex reticle a lot, much like a German #4/BDC hybrid. I like it more now that the freedom scopes don’t have it say “PIG PLEX” across the horizontal part of the crosshairs like the original vx-r did, too.

[jdb]

I have a old leupold m8 3x on my 30/30. I like the low power fixed and straight tube it allowed me to mount it very low.