Scope on a 4" GP100?

[TYY]

Anyone out there scope a 4" GP100? I am thinking about putting on a red dot for longer range target stuff and maybe a deer hunt. I know it will need to be drilled, but any advice on specific scopes that work well with the GP100? I am considering one of the cheap red dots; it seems they do fine with the modest recoil of 357. For 25-50+yd shots, what would be more useful a red dot or a 2x scope?

Thanks!

 

[Waywatcher]

If I were to put an optic on my 4" revolver it would have magnification. I, personally, can shoot just fine off-hand with irons at 25 yards (groups less than 2"). I dont imagine either optic would increase my accuracy much, but at least with the 2X I would get a better view.

 

[HSMITH]

I had a scope on a 4" GP at one time. I used a 2X Leupold and a 10X Burris. The 10X was REALLY hard to use, it showed every teeny tiny wobble and if you started to chase it you could forget shooting. 2X is a lot easier to work with, but still quite difficult to shoot from anything but a good rest. If you aren't used to shooting a scoped handgun 2X really is the practical limit. The more money you spend the better off you will be, good glass isn't cheap.

Red dots are good too, getting a dot small enough for real accuracy and shooting over about 50 yards is tough though. 50 yards and in the red dot is the way to go, and the more you spend the better off you will be.

 

[TYY]

Thanks for the replies so far.

HSMITH- what did it cost to get your GP scoped? i.e. what did the drilling/tapping cost, and what type of base/rings did you go with?

I assume with a red dot, all I need is the base, but no rings. I would like to be able to maybe take shots as far as 75 yd; I guess you're saying a red dot won't be able to get me there and I'd need a 2x scope? I am thinking about getting into handgun hunting, and I'm not sure what the typical ranges on deer will be. My guess is stalking a deer to within 50yds is pretty tough...

 

[HSMITH]

Scoping it didn't cost much, I did it myself.

IIRC the mount I used was a Weigand weaver type rail with Weaver rings, but that was over ten years ago...... I sold the 10X scope and the mount, put the 2x Leupold on a Contender, then sold the GP so I don't have anything to go from other than memory.

For deer sized game a red dot will work out to 75 yards fine, just get a smaller dot. 4 moa is about as big as I would go and I would want a 2 minute dot. On a deer you have about a 6" circle you need to land the bullet in, you can do that with a dot pretty easily. Cheap dot scopes have a pretty big dot, and the dot isn't crisp like it is on a good scope. They also eat batteries. I would pony up for an Aimpoint, Gilmore, C-more, OKO or the like if I was going to need it for a hunt.