Call it a failed experiment... Model 94 no good for deer(for me)

My 1964 35 REM 336 straight stock has had a Sears (JC Higgins) 2.5X on it since 1966 or so. And I had great eyes way back then! Peer pressure just never seemed to bother me then. I was strong enough to cut my own path!
Point is, age has gotten my right eye so irons are a thing of the past for me. My eyes now fully appreciate that 1966 decision!
Now I’m trying to figure a way to scope my 1887 73 Win 38 WCF without D&Ting so I can really enjoy it!
Scopes certainly have their place and to each his own. Yeah I wish my right eye was still good, but I’m very blessed to be able to even still shoot and hunt.
Note: my left eye is good so I’m still good with pistols- I’m blessed.

I have put this scope on a couple of rifles and it works great without affecting the balance of the rifle.

https://www.amazon.com/Leupold-FX-II-Ultralight-2-5x20mm-Duplex/dp/B000GU67AQ

I really enjoy shooting iron sights at the range. All my favorite plinkers have irons sights or peep sights. But I am nearsighted and I have to have a big contrasting target to shoot in order to get any decent sight picture past about 25 yards. Therefor all my actual hunting rifles all have scopes on them. I keep telling myself I'm going to go to one of our ground blinds that regularly offers 50 yard shots with one of my milsurps to take a deer but to date I haven't done so.

Hokkmike said:

Bought a very nice looking Winchester Model 94 (1953) in .32 WS a while back. Love the cowboy look and nostalgic Americana-feel of it. But, as it turns out for me - it was an impractical idea to use for deer hunting. My 70 year old eyes were not able to adjust to and use the original iron sights. I then added Williams Fire Sights, better - but not close enough. I could have added a peep sight or scope but, A.- I don't want to ruin the gun with drilling, and B.- Such an add-on ruins the appeal of the gun to me. This, and recently I had my rigger pull weighed and it came it a scary one pound - too light, too light.

It is back to a scoped bolt action rifle for me. A while back, my wife with some good advice, from I am not sure who, bought me a Leupold Vari-X III 3.5x10 40mm. It is going back in the field with me next year.

Never too old to screw up - never too old to learn.

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Cataract surgery

I have a model 92 SRC in 44 (1910 mfg) with a 16 inch Numrich barrel. The sights are only 12 inches apart, the rear is pretty far up the barrel so I can still see them both. I use a square notch flat rear with a white front carbine style sight. I can just focus on the front, the rear is a simple black notch (flat across and featureless but for the notch) and though it is VERY fuzzy I am still able to center the front well enough to put all 6 comfortably into a paper plate at 100 yards. I have had both tang and receiver sights on the gun but they did not work for me, nor do sights with white outlines, buckhorn, or anything else I’ve tried. I am using a full case of IMR4198 and a 200 XTP for 1600 FPS. The gun is under 5 lbs, 5 shot button mag and shortened forend. Balances perfectly with 5 in the mag. In my opinion its the ideal eastern deer country “brush rifle”. I have a number of 94 carbines but nothing carries like the little 92.

SwampWolf said:

I'm not sure how long I'll have to wait. I'll be 78 years old in a couple of months; have worn glasses with bifocals all of my life and had surgery for cataracts a couple of years ago. Using a peep sight is not a whole lot different than using a scope without magnification. You center the bead/reticle on the target and squeeze the trigger.

I'm not disputing that some folks have difficulty using iron sights as they get older but I am saying that just because you're older than the states of Alaska and Hawaii and have poor (albeit corrected) eyesight doesn't mean that some older individuals can't master a peep sight, especially when you've used one all of your life.

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This is the truth - and sometimes the truth hurts.
If a shooter cannot shoot without a scope, then he is either not much of a shooter to begin with, or he is lazy and is looking for instant gratification. Of course, if you need to shoot deer at a gazillion yards and are not a Navy Seal Sniper, well, a man's got to know his limitations

My Grandfather got his elk every year - without fail - using an old '94 30-30 worn smooth and white. He used the original irons, and wore coke-bottle glasses since the 1930's. My Dad used the same rifle in the same way, as do I today. My un-corrected vision is about 20-600 with a big load of astigmatism to boot - to much for contacts to do any good. My trusty bifocals have been doing the job for nearly 60 years.

crstrode said:

This is the truth - and sometimes the truth hurts.
If a shooter cannot shoot without a scope, then he is either not much of a shooter to begin with, or he is lazy and is looking for instant gratification. Of course, if you need to shoot deer at a gazillion yards and are not a Navy Seal Sniper, well, a man's got to know his limitations

My Grandfather got his elk every year - without fail - using an old '94 30-30 worn smooth and white. He used the original irons, and wore coke-bottle glasses since the 1930's. My Dad used the same rifle in the same way, as do I today. My un-corrected vision is about 20-600 with a big load of astigmatism to boot - to much for contacts to do any good. My trusty bifocals have been doing the job for nearly 60 years.

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What a crock.

Boattale said:

What a crock.

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I agree.

About fifteen years ago, I stopped using my lever guns for my primary weapon. I would always begin the season with my model 700 in .30-06. After putting one or two in the freezer, I might break out my old prewar 94. I always loved my lever guns. Trouble is, I had to wait for deer to walk within 40 yards before I was comfortable taking them with the iron sights.
I'd like to pass my old Remington down to my son, and the .30-.30 is a lot easier on me (and the deer.) Also, the areas that I hunt are heavily wooded and 90% of the deer I take are well under 100 yards, making the .30-.30 more than adequate. I like the straight stock of the Winchester much better than the pistol grip on the Marlin, but I've never liked the look of a side mount scope. The solution for me was an old Marlin 336 Texan, built in'68. I hung a Bushnell 1.5-4.5 on her, and intend to carry it on opening day this week.

Forget the semi buckhorn with old eyes but you can use a full buckhorn as a ghost ring.

The thing with people's eyes is most folks have different vision capabilities from one person to the next.

At age 56, I still use aperture sights but I have to use larger apertures than I used to need in low light. Which means any focus that a small aperture adds to my vision is unusable unless in bright light. So, low light with an aperture sight usually means I'm at ghost ring diameters which means the front sight is a bit of a blur, or very blurry, depending on barrel length. Due to my progressive trifocals, I'd need a front sight at the end of a 30"+ barrel to get that front sight in my focal range with the way those trifocals line up with my eyes while sighting a gun.

I'm thinking this lack of low light vision is hereditary as my 80 year old mom (with recent cataract surgery) still can't see in low light like my 83 year old step dad. My wife at 50 has excellent low light vision as well, even though she wears readers now. Due to this, my step dad and my wife need sunglasses during the day and don't need to turn on lights in the house to do simple tasks. My mom and I, on the other hand can get away without wearing sunglasses, but we need to turn on lights in the house at times the other two don't need to.

I've used aperture sights for decades, but now I really need at least a red dot in low light conditions if I don't want to use a magnified scope.

I still hunt with lever 30-30's. Most with open sights since I live in the piney woods of Texas and most shots are 70 yards or less.

I did however, put a no-gunsmith scout-mount on one of my post-64 94's. I want to say it's an X-Scout brand. I glassed it and put a 4- power Leupold LER on it. It carries easy and shoots great!

Walkalong said:

Instead of just disagreeing with the meat of the post, and not too politely I might add, why not simply say you disagree and give a reason why? That might be helpful.

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crstrode said:

If a shooter cannot shoot without a scope, then he is either not much of a shooter to begin with, or he is lazy and is looking for instant gratification.

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First of all I don’t believe we are disagreeing with the meat of the post. Second you say we disagree not to politely and I find the statement I quoted not very polite. So I stand by my post, I think it’s a crock.