scoping the .30-30

i have a simmons 2-7x44mm on my marlin 336cs, and i love it. wouldn't trade it for anything as it makes in my opinion the perfect rifle/scope combo for whitetail. here's why:

the .30-30 is a death ray on whitetail in the cottonwoods, river bottoms, brush, and alfalfa fields where whitetails are found. the 2-7 magnification is ideal for the ranges at which whitetails are found, i.e., out to 200 yards, which is perfectly inside the range of the .30-30. finally, the 44mm objective allows for clear, crisp and bright vision at dawn and dusk, which is the time that i see the greatest majority of whitetails in the habitat described above.

i have heard good and bad about simmons, but when speaking of this scope (the simmons 44mag) three things cannot be denied. the first is that this scope has FULLY MULTICOATED lenses, not just coated lenses, not just multicoated lenses, and not just the ocular and objective lenses. this is a sign of good quality, for they would hardly take the time to fully multicoat their low-end line of scopes. the second is that simmons has a lifetime warranty, which makes it a reasonable buy and a good investment. the final thing is that this scope is made in the phillipines, not in china. i cannot overstate the fact that a chinese scope is junk. japan, usa and germany probably make the best, followed by the phillipines and korea. any of these are more than adequate for hunting. all-in-all, the simmons 44mag is an affordable option when looking for quality optics. sure, we would all love to put leupolds and swarovskis (did i spell that right?) on our rifles, but this is not always economically feasable.

the relative "weight" of this scope is not much compared to the benefits, especially on a gun that is already light and can afford a couple of extra ounces. i found this scope and rifle combination to be lightweight and with a little practice and a 200-yard zero, you will be good out to 230 yards within an 8-inch kill-zone using 150-grain remington core-lokts. you will be able to take any shot that you might encounter with confidence that comes from being able to see it clearly, which will improve your chances for a good shot and a clean kill.

Now that my eyes are starting to age..... I find that I need to scope my rifles. How is that eye reief on your Simmons? The reason I ask is I have a 3X9 Simmons and the eye relief was too short for my Sav. 99. It now resides on my 10/22. Damn scope is as big as that little rifle, but jeez it works good! I was told that Simmons makes Cabelas "Pine Ridge" line of scopes. Know anything about that? I had been planning on puting a fixed 4X on the 30/30, but that variable you have looks good. Not too big. Also, do you have any problems with a wandering zero? Thanks, Jeff.  

Maybe eventually, i will buy another marlin and put a scope on it. For some reason, lever actions seem to handle better with iron sights than with a scope. It is easier to carry because you dont have the scope in the way so you can hold it on the action.

NH_Hunter

A 4-12x40 on a Winchester 94?????????? I like the dot, but i dont think they have them in the lower powered scopes. The 4-12 i think is a little much for a Win 94 and the .307 Win, which i think i have read is a rimmed -08?

NH_Hunter

Hey korey, there is some bulk winchester .307 brass on gunbroker. 100 cases for 32 bucks. the url is this... http://www.gunbroker.com/auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=9812828. Just thought you might be interested.

Does Leupold make the 2-7x33 VX-2 with a Luepy dot? That would be awesome for all my hunting needs. It is probably easier to place a dot than the intersection of two line segments.

NH_Hunter

krey, that winchester looks GREAT! scope on it looks great too.

i may never take my scope above 4x, but it's good to know that the extra mag is there when i need it. i imagine your thoughts run about the same~

Hey korey, i think you should get the .450 Marlin. The .444 loses energy soo fast. One good thing with the .444 is that you get a lot of power up close with babyish recoil. My dad bought a Marlin 444S with the 22" barrel and it handles pretty nicely. Action is wonderfully smooth.

NH_Hunter