Scoping a Marlin 1894C?

[seanie!]

Hey all, I picked up a Marlin 1894C a few weeks ago that's already set up for a scope, and I'm thinking about scoping it. Before I pick up anything, or even really start looking, I'm curious about what kind of accuracy the rifle's capable of. I'll mostly just be target shooting with it, and probably not out past 50-75 yards. It may go on the occasional hunting trip out of state also.

I've been considering something in 1-4x magnification, maybe with an illuminated reticle. The Trijicon AccuPoint sounds just plain awesome to me, but is completely out of my price range. Is there anything similar to that? Am I completely off base with considering something like that? I have no idea what the kind of ballistics for factory .357 rounds coming out of an 18.5" barrel are, so please bear with me.

My budget will probably be around $300, but I'm flexible on it. Any advice or ideas folks? Thanks in advance.

 

[smurf hunter]

I really want that rifle and recently met a gentleman at my range shooting one with a red dot. (think it was a cheaper Burris model). It looked odd at first, but was a really practical setup given the usage of the rifle.

I hand load .357 for my 6" GP100 and it's very flat shooting to 50 yards. In theory a 158gr bullet should only shop 4" or so out to 100 yards, based on a 4" BBL. I can't see that far without optics and haven't tried from a revolver

The casual rule of thumb is 50FPS for each added inch of BBL length. I'd estimate you can easily get 2000FPS from the faster .357 loads out of your 18.5" barrel - which would only be less drop than a revolver has.

In other words, your effective range is somewhere less than 200 yards, so you're on track thinking about a fixed 4x or less zoom.

 

[Naybor]

I had a 1 - 3 or 4 Shotgun Scope that I used on one of my rifles and it was awesome for hunting and built like a tank. I traded it off with the rifle and now wish I'd kept it. One or two power was excellent for deer. You can usually find them reasonably priced.

Your Marlin will probably have more built-in accuracy than you have built in you. Accuracy is their most redeeming feature ~ Excellent!!

Also, if it's .357, you can carry a .357 handgun using the same ammo.

Since then, I've went with 3-9 or 4-12 scopes with good success, but still miss that old shotgun scope. Don't buy the cheapest cause cheap can also mean cheap components. Walmart had a nice looking scope for $69 plus change that also had A/O on it.

 

[smokinfeathers]

I have 2, the one that gets used all the time is scoped with a 2-7x32 bushnell elite 3200. It keeps it light and handy while having the advantage of optics. I had a red dot on one for my 5 yo to hunt with , but switched it out pretty quick, dot covers up to much past 50yds, unless you use like a eotech with a 1 moa dot with circle around it. Mine with 158gr soft points and Lil Gun powder gets 1950 fps and will put 5 rounds into 1-1 1/4" groups all day long at 100yds and has killed a train car full of hogs and a bunch of deer out to 125yds. I have gotten 2300 fps out of 125gr HP bullets, but wouldnt shoot anything of any size with them because they wont hold together.