Musical Scopes

[Sir Henry]

Not that they make music. Think musical chairs. I have six new scopes to try out but needed rings. A few weeks ago I ordered some 1” Weaver mounts but also needed some rimfire mounts. They came on Friday.

This Henry Classic is my first Henry and it was made in Brooklyn, NY in 1999. Over the last 20 years it has had numerous sights and scopes. It was wearing a Nikon P-Rimfire with medium mounts and now wears a Nikon P-22 with Leupold high rings.

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With the higher rings I was able to push the scope forward.

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Now the corner of my mouth comes into contact with the third stitch down. I can close my eyes, shoulder the rifle and position my cheek in the same spot and when I open my eyes I am exactly centered in the scope.

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This is my next range day rifle which according to the weather might be Wednesday or Thursday.

[JEBar]

I can close my eyes, shoulder the rifle and position my cheek in the same spot and when I open my eyes I am exactly centered in the scope.

nice .... very nice indeed .... sounds like this scope may have stepped away from the musical chairs .... looking forward to your range report

[Rifletom]

Gene, that whole set-up looks clean. Nicely done.

[North Country Gal]

Those Nikon P series scopes are nice. I should probably try to find a couple if anyone still has them.

[BigAl52]

Dont know about the scopes but that Sir Henry butt cuff is pretty cool

[Sir Henry]

Those Nikon P series scopes are nice. I should probably try to find a couple if anyone still has them.

Natchez was out of them the last time I ordered. They are a great scope for the money. I’m updating some of my old 3/4 and 7/8” tube scopes I have.

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[North Country Gal]

I love those vintage scopes, too, but it is really hard to give up the optical superiority of modern scopes for the sake of looks and tradition when to comes time to shoot, especially now with ammo prices being what they are.

[BigAl52]

Im bettin Sir Henry has more ammo for his guns at his house than all the sporting goods stores in the state of Washington do.

[Sir Henry]

I love those vintage scopes, too, but it is really hard to give up the optical superiority of modern scopes for the sake of looks and tradition when to comes time to shoot, especially now with ammo prices being what they are.

I agree with you and then look at this and think?

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[Sir Henry]

Im bettin Sir Henry has more ammo for his guns at his house than all the sporting goods stores in the state of Washington do.

Fake news!

[Hatchdog]

I know you just acquired a number of new scopes but perhaps going forward you could choose scopes without the target turrets. More of a classic look but with modern glass and a 1” tube. Regardless, even with the target turrets that scope looks great on your rifle.

[Sir Henry]

I guess it is time to update some of these old scopes. Never could hit stuff with them.

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This Higgins is most likely post-WWII.

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But I’m not all old school. This C6 Weaver is from the 60’s.

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Another 3/4” tube Weaver. When Weaver came out with the 7/8” line I bought a few of those too like the V-22. Those will be updated also.

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I need to order some medium Leupold rings.

[Yornoc3]

I just played a short game of musical scopes yesterday. I noticed a good buy ($119.99) on the Burris Droptine .22 RF 3-9 x 40 scope in a Natchez Shooters Supply flier. I was aware these scopes had been discontinued; thought they were gone. Since Natchez still had 'em, I ordered one. It wound up going on my Tikka T1x, and the Sightron 3-9x32 it was wearing went on a Ruger American .22, replacing an older 4X shotgun scope. While the Burris scope is bigger than what I'd want to put on a Henry lever action, it fit fine on the Tikka (no sights to interfere with its low scope rings). So now I have to wait out this cold snap (-30f tonight forecast) to sight 'em in .

[Sir Henry]

I just played a short game of musical scopes yesterday. I noticed a good buy ($119.99) on the Burris Droptine .22 RF 3-9 x 40 scope in a Natchez Shooters Supply flier. I was aware these scopes had been discontinued; thought they were gone. Since Natchez still had 'em, I ordered one. It wound up going on my Tikka T1x, and the Sightron 3-9x32 it was wearing went on a Ruger American .22, replacing an older 4X shotgun scope. While the Burris scope is bigger than what I'd want to put on a Henry lever action, it fit fine on the Tikka (no sights to interfere with its low scope rings). So now I have to wait out this cold snap (-30f tonight forecast) to sight 'em in .

Welcome to the waiting out the weather club.

[Yornoc3]

Another game of Musical scopes pending: While waiting out the weather (when it warms up it snows), it occurred to me I really should switch out the 3-9X Burris compact I have on my CZ 452 .17 HMR for a Burris 4-12X AO compact I have sitting around, rifleless . The 3-9X is back on a Swedish Mauser I sporterized (with the heavy lifting done by a good gunsmith); its scope rings and mounts limit what I can fit to it and keep the scope low as possible. I thought the 4-12X ocular assembly would be the same, both Burris scopes being compacts, but no, its slightly bigger, so the medium Burris rimfire rings are too low (.40 saddle height). The good news is, I found gloss Weaver "extra high" Grand Slam rimfire rings, new, in their packaging, on E-Bay for under $20 . They should be just enough higher than the Burris rings ( about 0.12 inch) to clear the bolt, without being any higher than necessary. These rings might also be good for use on Henry rimfires, to clear the hammer, but still not be too high. Maybe I shoulda ordered a second set .

[Stump]

I know the musical scopes game well and just when I think I have it all ironed out, it starts all over again. I have too many scopes and too many rimfire rifles to ever put an end to this game, it's painful but also fun at the same time and I think I actually enjoy it.

[Yornoc3]

An update on the height of the Weaver Grand Slam Extra-High rimfire rings: I found them to be about perfect for height with the Burris Compact A/O 4-12X, I fit to a CZ 452 American .17 HMR. Clearance for the bolt was the issue there. Having fit a Burris Compact Mini 4X to a Henry Frontier, I found that I could barely clear the hammer with the rings I used, and a scope with a "standard" ocular assembly wouldn't have worked. So I can say that for a Henry .22 RF the Weaver grand Slam Extra-High rimfire rings might be just the thing . They may have been been discontinued; these (Gloss) were made in China; now Weaver Grand Slam rings are made in the USA, but I'm not sure if the rimfire version is in production here. They're pretty well made, not quite as robust a dovetail clamp as Burris or Leupold steel rings, but plenty strong enough, and a bit more compact, too. It's always good to have lots of options when we mount scopes .

[Sir Henry]

An update on the height of the Weaver Grand Slam Extra-High rimfire rings: I found them to be about perfect for height with the Burris Compact A/O 4-12X, I fit to a CZ 452 American .17 HMR. Clearance for the bolt was the issue there. Having fit a Burris Compact Mini 4X to a Henry Frontier, I found that I could barely clear the hammer with the rings I used, and a scope with a "standard" ocular assembly wouldn't have worked. So I can say that for a Henry .22 RF the Weaver grand Slam Extra-High rimfire rings might be just the thing . They may have been been discontinued; these (Gloss) were made in China; now Weaver Grand Slam rings are made in the USA, but I'm not sure if the rimfire version is in production here. They're pretty well made, not quite as robust a dovetail clamp as Burris or Leupold steel rings, but plenty strong enough, and a bit more compact, too. It's always good to have lots of options when we mount scopes .

For the last decade or so Weaver rings have been made in the USA and China and they both use the same part number.

I have seen 49041 also made in China.

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[Yornoc3]

That's good to know. Previously, the Weaver Grand Slam rings I've used on Henry single shot rifles have been the center fire type for Weaver (or other similar) bases, which were all made in the USA. This rimfire Grand Slam model was the first I got that was made in China. I did read some internet chatter about the earlier offshore sourced rings having some quality control issues, but that went away when they returned to USA production. No issues at all with this set of rimfire rings, though, and gloss finish to match the scopes is getting hard to find.

[bandit1250]

Well I did a scope swap today on one rifle. Don't know if I would call it "musical scopes" but this looks like a thread to add to. I got ready for the range with the Browning Buckmark and the Ruger MK.III Hunter and at the last minute decided to take the Remington 540X since I had shot the 540XR last trip out to the range. Then I remembered I never had tried the fixed 16X Leupold so off came the fixed 12X Leupold and on went the 16X. Was easy to bore sight and only a couple shots and was where I wanted it to be at 50 yds. Didn't want it in the bulls eye because of shooting my aiming point away. So now I have two 12X Leupolds and a Vari-X 2 6-18 that needs to play "musical scopes" with something else.