wanderinwalker
Member
I hesitate to post this after reading through the "Scout Rifle" thread below, but I'll go ahead and dive in anyway. Nobody ever said self-preservation was one of my strongest points... 
This is a JM-stamped Marlin 336BL I purchased not long before the Remington takeover and factory move. It caught my eye at the store due to it's short length, big loop lever and the contrasting colors of the laminate stock. I put a Williams receiver sight on it almost immediately. Almost any plain old 150 grain .30-30 ammo will shoot into about 2-MOA, in spite of the slightly rough bore.
I've never been a big fan of a traditionally mounted scope on a lever-action. I'm aware of the advantages of that mounting position and have plenty of other rifles so set-up, with various grades of glass. I've also been intrigued by the Scout-rifle concept since reading Cooper's columns in Guns & Ammo in the '90s. While I still think the Steyr Scout is a neat looking rifle, the common .30-30 lever action is almost tailor made for the game animals, woods and mountains of my little corner of New England.
For years I thought about installing an XS mount and a suitable scope on the Marlin, but it always got put on the back-burner in favor of other pursuits. However, when I stumbled on a used Leupold FX-II 2.5x IER scope at a great price, the deal was done, and I put this together:
No, I won't claim it to be a proper "Scout rifle". It lacks the range and power, is slightly portly in weight and misses other marks of a true "Scout". I also won't claim the forward mounted optic solves all of the issues of fast use of a telescopic sight. There's no mistaking that as good as the little IER Leupold is, you can never quite forget you're looking through a piece of glass. (The view through my 2.5x FX-2 or 3-9x33mm EFR VX-2 are vastly superior.)
But what I will say, after ringing some steel and shooting a variety of targets, ranges and positions, is that this should prove to be a very useful rifle for pursuing whitetails in the spruce and hemlock come November. I like getting the scope out away from my face. I like that the forward mounted scope puts the balance of the rifle right between my hands when shooting offhand. It seems to give me some of the advantages of the Aimpoint on my AR carbine, with a slight boost to help pick out low-contrast targets.
For those wondering what the full parts list is: XS Lever Scout rail, Warne Maxima QD low rings, Leupold FX-II 2.5x IER scope and a Williams FP-336 rear sight with a gold bead front.
This is a JM-stamped Marlin 336BL I purchased not long before the Remington takeover and factory move. It caught my eye at the store due to it's short length, big loop lever and the contrasting colors of the laminate stock. I put a Williams receiver sight on it almost immediately. Almost any plain old 150 grain .30-30 ammo will shoot into about 2-MOA, in spite of the slightly rough bore.
I've never been a big fan of a traditionally mounted scope on a lever-action. I'm aware of the advantages of that mounting position and have plenty of other rifles so set-up, with various grades of glass. I've also been intrigued by the Scout-rifle concept since reading Cooper's columns in Guns & Ammo in the '90s. While I still think the Steyr Scout is a neat looking rifle, the common .30-30 lever action is almost tailor made for the game animals, woods and mountains of my little corner of New England.
For years I thought about installing an XS mount and a suitable scope on the Marlin, but it always got put on the back-burner in favor of other pursuits. However, when I stumbled on a used Leupold FX-II 2.5x IER scope at a great price, the deal was done, and I put this together:
No, I won't claim it to be a proper "Scout rifle". It lacks the range and power, is slightly portly in weight and misses other marks of a true "Scout". I also won't claim the forward mounted optic solves all of the issues of fast use of a telescopic sight. There's no mistaking that as good as the little IER Leupold is, you can never quite forget you're looking through a piece of glass. (The view through my 2.5x FX-2 or 3-9x33mm EFR VX-2 are vastly superior.)
But what I will say, after ringing some steel and shooting a variety of targets, ranges and positions, is that this should prove to be a very useful rifle for pursuing whitetails in the spruce and hemlock come November. I like getting the scope out away from my face. I like that the forward mounted scope puts the balance of the rifle right between my hands when shooting offhand. It seems to give me some of the advantages of the Aimpoint on my AR carbine, with a slight boost to help pick out low-contrast targets.
For those wondering what the full parts list is: XS Lever Scout rail, Warne Maxima QD low rings, Leupold FX-II 2.5x IER scope and a Williams FP-336 rear sight with a gold bead front.
