Need Marlin 1894 ring advice.....

[Savage30L]

I'm going to mount a Nikon scope on my 1894. It's a 25mm scope with a 40mm objective lens. I have a standard picatinny mount for the top of the receiver. Do I need high-profile rings, or will low-profile rings work? Which ones would you recommend?

 

[Captains1911]

That sounds like an awfully big scope to mount on a lever gun. One big challenge with scopes on lever actions is keeping it as low as possible, which is needed due to the stock drop height, otherwise what would should be a cheekweld turns into more of a “chinweld”. . A 40mm objective is going to make that even more difficult.

I’d recommend reconsidering your scope choice, and then finding a mount and rings setup that gets the scope as low as possible.

 

[Hookeye]

IIRC I ran Burris Med regular Zee rings on this .44 mag.
Was not ideal cheekweld, and may have had a hammer spur.
Don't remember, was about 15 yrs ago.
Shot it well but sold it after one season.
Scope was a Bushnell 1.5-4x w 32mm obj.

 

[WVGunman]

IIRC I ran Burris Med regular Zee rings on this .44 mag.
Was not ideal cheekweld, and may have had a hammer spur.
Don't remember, was about 15 yrs ago.
Shot it well but sold it after one season.
Scope was a Bushnell 1.5-4x w 32mm obj.



View attachment 1182006

Wife: "Give me the lever-action Marlin or I'm leaving."
Me: "Darling, I will miss you."

 

[Savage30L]

That sounds like an awfully big scope to mount on a lever gun. One big challenge with scopes on lever actions is keeping it as low as possible, which is needed due to the stock drop height, otherwise what would should be a cheekweld turns into more of a “chinweld”. . A 40mm objective is going to make that even more difficult.

I’d recommend reconsidering your scope choice, and then finding a mount and rings setup that gets the scope as low as possible.

I need a lot of drop to begin with (any currently made lever guns don't have enough for me), and a lot of length of pull, too (I have to add spacers and a recoil pad to any factory gun)....I'm way ahead of you here. I've ordered a strap-on leather comb and a slip-on recoil pad. Even then, I'll have to crane my neck to get a cheek weld. I've already ordered high profile rings. I think it will work out. And if not, the rings were only $34 from Amazon, I'll just order lower-profile rings.

Edited to add: The reason I'm using that scope (a Nikon), was because I had it on a gun I very rarely shoot, so I took it off. I can't afford the $1900 Leupolds nowadays, and I don't like most of the less expensive offerings.

 

[Hookeye]

$1900 for a Leupold?
VX3HD 3.5-10x 40mm is $499, on sale some places now for 399.

Yeah, the new turret/logo is not as nice aesthetically compared to the old gloss Vari X stuff.
Not a fan of the dial vertical turret they put on everything now either.

Previous to the VX3HD was the VX3i, and it had normal turrets. Still new turret body style though, harder lines, but tolerable.

Of course Leupold isn't perfect, but on the five Freedom VX and one VX3i they all dialed right in (no turret tapping required) and have held zero.
HOWEVER they haven't been shot much of banged around.

Time will tell.

I'll proly get a new 6.5-20X for the .22-250 and a Freedom 4-12x 30mm if I get a .257 mag.
Not top end but still not cheap.

I simply find it easy to get behind a Leupold, have shot em for almost 50 yrs. Am used to em.

If wanting something different, or same, I'd give Doug an email or call.

 

[Laphroaig]

Low rings have always worked for me with 40mm objectives. That's where I would start and am fairly confident that they will work for you too.

 

[Hookeye]

My bud got one of the VX6 I think, $1500, and it sure is nice.
But its on a long range mid level rifle so kinda fits.

 

[3Crows]

This is a Leopold with a 33mm objective, a nice fit for a .30-30 336 rifle. I have Warne QR low rings on it with a hammer spur.



The buckhorn has to be folded down.

 

[Savage30L]

The buckhorn has to be folded down.

Mine is an older model, and the buckhorn does not fold down. I'm pretty sure that I'll need the high rings.

 

[greyling22]

Mine is an older model, and the buckhorn does not fold down. I'm pretty sure that I'll need the high rings.

knock the buckhorn out and put in a blank. or leave it empty. you're not using the sights with a scope anyway.

 

[3Crows]

Or get the folding buckhorn. I like to be able to pull the scope and revert to open sights and most of my scoped lever guns are so configured to use either a scope or the sights.

 

[Savage30L]

Well, I have everything put together: Slip-on recoil pad, strap-on leather comb, Nikon Pro-Staff scope, and Weaver high-profile rings. I used the high rings because I wasn't sure the scope would clear the buckhorn rear sight. Now that it's mounted, I can see that it probably would have cleared it with the low rings, but I can certainly shoot it this way. Now I need to take it to the range and test it, first with Cowboy loads. I haven't put Loc-Tite on any of the screws yet; If I don't like the setup, I can always acquire low rings.

 

[WVGunman]

This is a Leopold with a 33mm objective, a nice fit for a .30-30 336 rifle. I have Warne QR low rings on it with a hammer spur.



The buckhorn has to be folded down.

Love that large lever loop. Wish I could find one for less than 100 beans, but alas ....

 

[Bill460]

My Marlin 1894, .44 Magnum, (purchased new in the 80's), 2-7X Leupold Vari-X II set in Leupold rings and base. Good, solid combination over the years.