Part III. SIGHTS AND SIGHTING IN

Chapter 8. Sights with a Purpose. Telescope Sights and Mounts

When Art Richardson and I angled around those mountains on the prowl for ground squirrel, jack rabbits and other targets of opportunity, our rifles were scope sighted. When I worked the autumn ridges for grey squirrel, my .25/35 sported iron sights. These two type sights, receiver and scope, complement each other in small and large game shooting. A woodsman must become top hole proficient with both or his ability to keep his hunt in hand is drastically lim­ited. There are times during stormy weather when receiver sights are much more efficient than scope sights. There are times, when making long range shots, that nothing will bring out the accuracy potential of a rifle like a good scope sight.

There are many hunting situations in which either scope or receiver sights will serve with equal facility. I not only use my .25/35 and receiver sights on tree squirrel; there are times when I prowl the hardwood ridges with another beautiful squirrel outfit, a Model 39A Marlin .22 lever action, scoped with a Bush-nell Scope Chief 2½X. There are other times when I hunt ground squirrel with a precision 8X scope riding the receiver of a .257 Roberts, my .25/35 or a .218 Bee. On occasion as the big game season approaches, for a final polishing of field shooting, I mount a 3X scope on my Model 71, .348 Winchester.

These calibers and these scopes are not the best possible selections when measured against some certain segment of a day's shooting. Each is a compromise covering a wide spread of field use most efficiently, from short range to long. All of them are excellent selections when measured against the over-all requirements of a day's hunting, more so when measured against the over-all requirements of a season's hunting from big game to small.

Some riflemen contend that a scope of 8 power or greater has no place except on a precision long range sniping outfit, such as a .220 Swift, or some other rifle capable of less than a minute of angle accuracy. They feel that the high potential of the scope is wasted on a rifle of lesser accuracy. Bosh!

I like to loaf through the hills at times, with a beautiful Bushnell 8X scope on my .22 model 39-A lever action Marlin. This rifle, of course, is capable of a minute and three quarters accuracy at one hundred yards, but it is not a long range rifle. Scoped with an 8 power Bushnell it had a lot of qualifications not usually associated with .22 rim fire rifles. This 8 power scope is a beautiful glass, with a resolution capable of sepa­rating a grey squirrel's whiskers at fifty yards. With it you can bring out the full accuracy potential of my Marlin Lever action. A good scope ups the accuracy potential of any hunter.

If you are doing a bit of precision shooting with a rifle capable of two minutes angle of accuracy at one hundred yards, an 8 or 10 power scope is essential because you haven't any accuracy to spare. A loss of an additional half minute of accu­racy here may be more manifest in field results than in a rifle capable of less than a minute of angle accuracy.

Just recently I used my 8X Bushnell Scope Chief on my Model 64 Winchester lever action for shooting ground squirrel. This scope, and carefully handloaded ammunition made my rifle equally accurate with the .257 Roberts, ranging out beautifully for several long range kills. Longest shot was a measured 205 yards for the .25/35, and 220 yards for the .257 Roberts. This later rifle using a K4 Weaver scope.

Hunters of any extended experience have preferences in scopes. What does the average rifleman select when he buys a scope for his small or large game hunting? One manufacturer's sales of quality scopes are as follows: 70 per cent selected 4 power, 15 per cent selected 2½ power, another 15 per cent selected 6 power. In the out and out sniping scopes, 8 and 10 power, 80 per cent selected 10 power.

Power in scopes is probably the least understood of the many factors a hunter must consider in selecting a scope. Many hunters go to extremes. They mount 15 or even 20 power scopes on their varmint rifle under the mistaken idea that power alone gives them a clear and more accurate sight picture. As you up the power in a scope sight, it becomes a more specialized instru­ment. It is doubtful if a scope of more than 10 power is of any advantage for any kind of field shooting.

Studies were made in the Bureau of Standards, by Dr. Fran­cis E. Washer to determine the effect of magnification on accu­racy of telescope pointing. His formula for calculating indoor error is as follows:

That will give you a probable error of aim between a 6X and a 20X scope of .508 seconds.

Studies also show that, while outdoor pointing has a greater error due to air turbulence, they add up to very little in relation to power. But they do show that power alone is a very small segment of the answer to accuracy. Power, to be right for field shooting, where a hunter wants to use the small game fields to develop shooting skills which are of some use hunting larger game, is a decided compromise.

Relative brightness, field of view, magnification, each ele­ment affects the whole. Primarily, a bright flat field with sharp definition and resolution is the hallmark of all good hunting scopes. Increased power using the same size objective lens means decreased relative brightness, in the field of view, other factors being equal.

Let's set up a standard of measurement for average field use, then find how many different scopes fit into the pattern. Obviously, a hunter wants a large bright field designed for the touch and go of snapshooting running jacks, cottontails, squirrel and woodchuck shooting. That adds up to many of the require­ments of a big game hunting scope, but so much the better.

Relative brightness in a hunting scope shouldn't be below 45. This one requirement simplifies selection of small game hunting scopes by getting rid of a lot of borderline scopes the main vir­tue of which is their cheapness. A relative brightness of 60 not only gives plenty of light for late evening shooting, but a much larger field as well. As you increase power, without a corre­sponding increase in the clear opening of the objective lens, relative brightness is reduced.

The only exception to a large relative brightness require­ment in hunting scopes is the out and out precision sniping scope of 8 or 10 power. Here, a bit of horse trading can be done because you will more than likely be using such scopes during midday at stationary targets.

Resolution and definition must be tops in hunting scopes. At best there is a limited amount of light used by the eye. During midday, under bright light, the eye pupil adjusts to about 2 or 3 millimeters. At dusk it enlarges to about 5 milli­meters, or a relative brightness of 25. This indicates a scope exit pupil of at least 5.25 millimeters. But actually, one of 8 millimeters is much better because it is less critical as to eye placement in sighting. While eye accommodation is served by a relative brightness of 25, other factors of sighting are important for good all-around field performance.

As you up the power of a hunting scope, you not only cut down the relative brightness, if there is no corresponding in­crease in the size of objective lens, but the field of view as well. For the razzle-dazzle of fast moving small game shooting, it is very important to have a wide clear field of view, the larger the better.

Under uncertain light of early morning and late afternoon in dense woods, 32 feet field of view is none too much, 40 feet is still better. Those requirements of squirrel shooting, as well as rabbit and big game under poor light conditions, up the rela­tive brightness of hunting scopes to 64 or better, depending on the power of the scope, other factors being equal. On occasion, when I take to the squirrel woods with a scope having less field of view than this, my shooting is, of a necessity, confined to stationary targets, an interesting way of squirrel shooting in its own right, but limited.

Sniping woodchuck or ground squirrel at long range, the field of view is less important. Another horse trade can be made here. The 3X scope, with its 40 feet field of view, while one of the best for all around shooting, is not as desirable for sniping as a more powerful scope. A 6X, 8X or a 10X, having a 30, 17 and 12 foot field of view is a much better choice.

Eye relief in hunting scopes cannot be divorced from either relative brightness, or field of view. Again, as you up the power of your scope by changing the objective, eye relief becomes shorter, more critical. Take the excellent line of Bushnell hunting scopes as an example. Eye relief in the 2& power is 3 to 5 inches; field of view is 43 feet. Three power, eye relief 3 to 4¾ inches; field of view 40 feet. Four power, eye relief 3 to 4½ inches, field of view 33 feet. Six power, eye relief 3 to 4 inches, field of view 17 feet. Ten power, eye relief 2 5/8to 3½ inches, field of view 13 feet at a hundred yards.

For snapshooting at moving targets, there must be an eye relief spread of at least 3 to 4½ inches. When you snap your rifle to your shoulder, your eye is not always in the same pre­cise place, even with the best custom stocking. Less eye relief than this slows you down.

Then, too, there is the problem of recoil. In rifles having heavy recoil, if one is shooting uphill, a scope with very little eye relief is brought dangerously close to the shooter's eye. Of course, in long range sniping, which is mostly a prone shooting show, this is not nearly as much of a problem. One has time to get into position, adjust a sling strap, hold steady and care­fully, and recoil will not thrust the scop0 back at it would in fast snapshooting at moving game.

The most common reticle selected for hunting, according to the sales of one manufacturer, is the crosshairs. About 90 per cent select them for their hunting rifles. These are excellent for all types of field shooting under a wide spread of lighting. How­ever, with very fine crosshairs, such as most long range sniping scopes of 8 power or more have, it is very hard to properly center them on game in very late evening or early morning. Fine crosshairs blend with the gloomy background to an extent which makes them impracticable for late evening shooting. A medium crosshair, like a medium powered scope, is much the better choice for such uncertain light.

A dot and crosshair is also very good for all small and large game shooting. Here one has the problem of matching the dot to the power of the scope. A 4X, due to its greater magnifica­tion, requires a smaller dot than a 2½power scope. A dot sub­tending 3 minutes of angle is excellent for snapshooting at run­ning targets, such as jack rabbit, cottontail or squirrel.

Another very good reticle is the flat topped tapered post and crosshair. This is perhaps the best of the lot for extremely poor light conditions, showing up against the gloom of late evening or early morning. It is very good for jump-shooting rabbits, taking snapshots at squirrels, and in big game shooting as well. But it is not a good choice for long range sniping because it covers too much target at extended ranges.

One virtue of post and cross hair, or post alone, shouldn't be overlooked by small game hunters. A post and crosshair has very much the appearance of a receiver sight with a square gold bead front sight. This build-up gives a hunter a feeling of famil­iarity, and a consequent transference of shooting skills from the one type sight to the other. To that extent it is conducive to acquiring a wide spread of field shooting ability, which is all to the good.

My two choices of reticles in scopes for small and large game shooting are crosshairs, and post and crosshair. I find these two types fitting in a large percentage of field shooting situations.

If a hunter avoids extremes, any reticle presently available as standard equipment on scopes will serve admirably in the small game field.

Windage and elevation adjustment in all good hunting scopes are precise, easily read in minutes of angle. Each click, or division of movement should give not more than a minute of angle change of impact.

Quality in scope sights comes relatively high. The best scopes of domestic manufacture cost from $40 to $100 dollars. They are exemplified by such brand names as Lyman Wolverine, Lyman Alaskan, Norman-Ford Texan, Fecker Commando, Weaver, Series 60, Unertl Hawk and Leopold Pioneer. Cheap scopes are not bargains at any price!

A beautiful series of rifle scopes, designed in Pasadena, Cali­fornia are being made in Japan and imported under stringent specifications of the Bushnell Optical Corporation. These scopes will compare favorably with the best of our domestic brand scopes in quality, and they are sold at modest prices. Of six different brands of scopes tested during the small and big game seasons, fair weather and foul, Leopold Pioneer, Norman-Ford Texan, and Bushnell's line of hunting scopes came through with­out fault.

Telescope Sight Mounts

A scope sight is only as good as its mount. Unless you have a mount with all the refinements the best crafts­men bring to the problem of wedding scope and rifle, you will not realize the high accuracy potential of which both you and your rifle are capable. Generally speaking, both scopes and mounts are poor compromises if they are specifically designed for target shooting, then perforce, are used for all small game shooting. Not only are they wrong mechanically for field use, they also are wrong aesthetically as well. A hunter's rifle should have machine beauty complementing its utilitarian purpose.

As you approach the problem of hunting scopes and mounts from the standpoint of small game shooting, without trying to adapt target scopes and mounts, both aesthetic and utilitarian purposes are nicely met. Consider the beauty of a Texan 6X scope and Redfield mount or a Bushnell 8X Scopechief and a Mykrom or Williams mount. These scopes and mounts appear as an integral part of the rifle. They are beautifully crafted and aesthetically pleasing. And that is important, even from the practical standpoint of accuracy. They look like they would shoot accurately.

In contrast, some of the out and out target scopes and mounts often seen afield when woodchuck, coyote or ground squirrel is the quarry, look like an afterthought—something put on a rifle without design or reason. Windage and elevations adjustments are as homely by accident as they could possibly be made by design.

Most out and out target mounts have external adjustments for their scopes. But the problem of external adjustment for hunting scopes is much better solved in such splendid mounts as the Leopold, or the Jaeger side mounts with these features.

Small game hunters must be, above all, efficient, all-around field shots, if their skill is to be used later in big game hunting. Over specialization of sighting equipment is scarcely a practical approach to shooting a limit of fox squirrel, or rolling a few cottontails.

There are two types of scope mounts, generally speaking: bridge type mounts and side mounts.

Side mounts deserve especial consideration by small game hunters using their off-season rifles to develop skill for those autumn forays in the north woods. A scope using side mounts can be taken off, or put on a rifle within seconds, complement­ing the iron sights, to get as great a spread of shooting accuracy as iron and scope sights give a woods rifleman.

At times during a severe snow or rainstorm, scope sights are practically useless for hunting. This must be taken into consid­eration. Side mounts are excellent for this exigency of field shooting, especially in the Echo, Mykrom, Williams, Jaeger, Griffin and Howe, and Pachmayr.

The Echo side mount is simplicity itself. It is very easily removed or attached to the rifle, and returns to positive zero, invariably. When the Echo mount is removed for the use of iron sights, very little base remains on the rifle—just a small flat piece of steel about three inches long. There is nothing on the bridge of the rifle to interfere with the use of iron sights, an especial recommendation for side mounts. The Echo mount is also made off-set for top ejecting rifles, such as the Winchester Model 64, 65 and 71, the Remington 81.

In using an off-set mount for such rifles, there is the problem of having a stock which takes this off-set position into consider­ation. In mounting an off-set scope on my Model 71, Winches­ter 348, a beautiful squirrel and blue grouse rifle, when loaded with midrange, charges and gas check lead bullets, I had a stock built special.

This stock was designed both for offset telescope and con­ventional iron sights. The cheekpiece was flattened just enough to give firm face support when using the off-set scope sight. To achieve this, the lower part of the cheekpiece was brought out full, while the top was cut away enough so that when the head is tilted slightly, iron sights are instantly available.

This rifle has been field tested during the past two seasons, both on small game and in hunting elk. The specialized stock­ing has worked out wonderfully well, too. It would be pointless to give the dimension of this stock, designed for use of an off­set scope sight. The dimensions, other than the cheekpiece are conventional. The cheekpiece is the result of a great deal of "cut and try." The stock was beautifully crafted of "fiddleback" myrtle by Art Richardson of Coquille, Oregon.

Another method of adapting off-set scope mounts to conven­tional stocks is to mount them on the side of the rifle a hunter normally shoots from—on the right side for a right handed shooter—the left side for a southpaw. Using an Echo mount and base supplied special for right side mounting, the scope is so positioned that the right handed hunter leans across the comb of his rifle for a tight, firm holding.

The Mykrom side mount can also be adapted to this by reversing the side bracket. On some rifles, with loading ports on the side of the receiver, mounting on the right side is a bit too high to be ideal.

The Echo mount is not presently adapted to all scope sights available for some rifles. The Bushnell line of scopes cannot be used with this mount on Winchester top ejecting lever actions, due to a lack of eye relief. The Norman-Ford Texan is especially good on Winchester lever actions, using an Echo off-set mount.

Off-set mounts, with iron sights instantly available are be­coming increasingly popular with hunters. One manufacturer of both off-set and bridge type mounts told me that 50 per cent of their sales, regardless of the type of rifle, was for off-set scope mounts.

Mykrom side mounts have some very practical, interesting features for the small game shooter. This mount is quickly detachable, being removed from the rifle by loosing only one lock nut. Yet it returns to a very positive zero when replaced. In addition, this company supplies a receiver sight which is interchangable with the scope. This receiver sight, it seems to me, has two very distinct purposes. First and foremost is the fact that if an accident should occur to your scope, you have a sight with which it can be replaced in the field without the use of tools. The second place where this iron sight comes in very handy, even at the expense of reiteration, is for field conditions where scope sights are less than practical, such as stormy, extremely wet and foggy weather.

This mount also comes in off-set for such rifles as the Win­chester lever actions. The Mykrom leaves very little base on a rifle when removed, a pertinent consideration where it is off-set, and conventional irons sights are ready mounted.

Jaeger side mounts are excellent choices for all rifles. They are especially attractive, in that like the Echo and Mykron mounts, they leave very little on the receiver of the rifle when the scope is removed. The attachment feature of the Jaeger is very much like that of the Griffin and Howe side mounts. The Jaeger mounts also come in off-set for all top ejecting Winches­ter rifles. But, like the Echo is not adapted to all hunting scopes on these rifles. The Bushnell scopes cannot be mounted due to the lack of eye relief.

Pachmayr low swing mount is very popular among experi­enced hunters. This scope swings aside for instant use of iron sights. In addition, it has a very easy detachable feature, enab­ling a hunter to remove it entirely when the exigency of field shooting calls for the use of iron sights. Pachmayr low swing mount also comes in off-set for top ejecting rifles. It is also adapted to all scopes, including the Bushnell.

Williams off-set mount is an excellent choice for all calibers. Probably more thought went into designing this mount than in most presently available. It is designed, not only for top ejecting rifles, such as the Winchester lever action, Krag, and Model 8-81 Remingtons, but also for the Winchester Model 70 bolt action, Remington Model 721 and other side ejecting rifles, including the Marlin lever actions and Savage Model 99. A hunter desiring instant availability of iron sights, as well as a scope, may have it with the Williams off-set mount, regardless of the type of rifle he uses. It is easily detachable, leaving nothing to clutter the bridge of a rifle. But a trifle more base is left on the receiver than with the other side mounts under consideration.

Williams off-set mount is a splendid combination in connec­tion with Williams Foolproof Receiver Sight, giving instant choice of iron or scope sights. It is adapted to all scopes pres­ently available.

In addition to their off-set mounts, Williams also make a quick detachable, bridge type mount. A scope equipped with Williams rings is interchangeable between their two types of mounts. Williams bridge type mounts can be obtained with their Ace-In-the-Hole Peep sight, which fits the base of the mount when the scope is removed, very good field insurance, if you happen to be on an extended hunting trip with just one rifle available.

Another very good bridge type mount is the Redfield Junior. It is available for practically all small game rifles. My Marlin lever action .22, Model 39A, is equipped with this mount, com­plementing a Bushnell 2/2 power Scopechief, for one of the best tree squirrel outfits I have ever had in my hands. The Redfield mounts give low, clean mounting without cluttering up the re­ceiver; "Looking," as my old hunting friend Al Wyman once said, "like she growed there."

Maynard P. Buehler makes another good bridge type mount which has been field tested over several small and big game seasons without finding any fault with it, on the bridge of a Model 70 Winchester .270. It has an iron peep sight which can be used on the mount when the scope is removed.

There are other scope mounts available, some of them very good. But the mounts which have been under consideration here are those which I have personally taken afield, fair weather and foul. All of them came through excellently.