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1.) DParker - 11/26/2017
Subtitle: I'd rather be lucky than good.

So I went back out to the same area my son and I hunted Thanksgiving morning, though I went solo this time. I was surrounded by noisy squirrels for the first 1.5 hours, but just shortly after 8am a little spike wandered in from my 3 o'clock. Being right-handed I had to turn around in my seat to put the rifle (my Mosin-Nagant 91/30) on him. But I wasn't as stealthy this time as I was Thursday, and he caught my movement and bolted. But after sprinting to a spot just 60 yds or so away he decided to stop and look back to see what had spooked him. I'd been tracking him as he ran, so when he stopped I was able to quickly put the crosshairs on his lung area as he stood broadside to me. Although I was severely twisted at the waist and straining I was able to steady the gun against the tree I was sitting next to, so I decided to take the shot. Unfortunately, just as I was pulling the trigger a muscle in my right arm tensed up and I pulled the shot high and to the right.

Here's where the luck comes in. Note the completely unintentional entry wound on the neck:



Because he was staring directly at me, the bullet entered near the front of the neck but then blew right through his spinal cord, dropping hin like a sack of wet cement.

Obligatory HC tongue shot:

2.) crookedeye - 11/26/2017
nice gun... he's a brute...its always fun shooting a deer..
3.) crookedeye - 11/26/2017
looks like youre putting the pressure on bluecats biggest buck of the contest this year..it looks like its going down to the wire.. its up for grabs this year..
4.) crookedeye - 11/26/2017
billys going to be hard pressed to match these kills for the win...
5.) DParker - 11/26/2017
LOL! He went 80 lbs dressed weight. I think everyone's pretty safe.

After 2 seasons of nothing I was just thrilled to see and get a shot at something again. Well, that and finally getting a kill with my commie gun after doing all that work on it. I also wanted to thank Lady Luck for saving me from myself. That blown shot could have turned out a lot worse.
6.) crookedeye - 11/26/2017
it makes hunting fun again..good job..its fun just getting out there..
7.) Swamp Fox - 11/27/2017
Ha! Great name for the rifle. :grin:

Remind me what you did about the scope and mounts. Is that the cheek pad you showed in the old thread?

Congrats on the venison. :beer:
8.) bluecat - 11/27/2017
Good job buddy!
9.) DParker - 11/27/2017
[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;53352]Ha! Great name for the rifle. :grin:[/quote]

Da, being long and lean, unlike short, fat Boris.



[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;53352]Remind me what you did about the scope and mounts.[/quote]

Vortex Crossfire II 2-7x32 on a Brass Stacker MN9130SSM Scout Scope Mount.

[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;53352]Is that the cheek pad you showed in the old thread?[/quote]

Yep. It works quite well, too. The velcro-attached ammo pouch holds 8 rounds and the cheek piece puts me at just the right position for that elevated scope.

[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;53352]Congrats on the venison. :beer:[/QUOTE]

Thanks. I'm looking forward to deer liver pate again...and am just relieved that I didn't end up with a wounded animal.
10.) Triton Rich - 11/27/2017
[B]Congrats Man! That young buck ought to be nice and tender :-) [/B]
11.) DParker - 11/27/2017
[QUOTE=Triton Rich;53355][B]Congrats Man! That young buck ought to be nice and tender :-) [/B][/QUOTE]

Thanks. The backstraps and tenderloins will be delicious, I'm sure. The "Hunter Sticks" (little dry cured half-inch diameter snack sausages) I'm having the processor turn the rest of him into are going to cost me a pretty penny ($5.25/lb, including the added pork fat)..but they're the best tasting expression of venison I've ever had.
12.) Swamp Fox - 11/27/2017
[QUOTE=DParker;53354]



Vortex Crossfire II 2-7x32 on a Brass Stacker MN9130SSM Scout Scope Mount.



[/QUOTE]


So enough eye-relief? Plenty? Just enough? Only works if you hold your mouth right?

Did you have any issues with the mount? Rear sight pins removed easy enough? Or did you have to goose them somehow?
13.) billy b - 11/27/2017
Meat on the table.........Congrats DP.
14.) DParker - 11/27/2017
[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;53357]So enough eye-relief? Plenty? Just enough? Only works if you hold your mouth right?[/quote]

The Crossfire II is a scout rifle scope, and the eye relief is just right for that mount.

[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;53357]Did you have any issues with the mount? Rear sight pins removed easy enough? Or did you have to goose them somehow?[/QUOTE]

I broke one punch trying to drift the pins out, but some heating allowed me to finally get them out. After that the mount was a breeze ro install.

[QUOTE=billy b;53358]Meat on the table.........Congrats DP.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. My arteries are hardening just thinking about the pâtê.
15.) Swamp Fox - 11/27/2017
[QUOTE=DParker;53360]The Crossfire II is a scout rifle scope, and the eye relief is just right for that mount.



I broke one punch trying to drift the pins out, but some heating allowed me to finally get them out. After that the mount was a breeze ro install.



Thanks. My arteries are hardening just thinking about the pâtê.[/QUOTE]


If the arteries don't get you, the gout will ... LOL

I was wondering if you had to use much of the range of the mount with that scope. I know it's a scout scope but somehow I'm skeptical that things will work as advertised, especially if a project has a whiff of the unusual about it, LOL. I realie that putting scopes on M-Ns isn't exactly like building a deer cannon, but you know what I mean ...


[url]http://www.buckstix.com/HowitzerHunt.htm[/url]
16.) DParker - 11/27/2017
[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;53361]I was wondering if you had to use much of the range of the mount with that scope[/QUOTE]

Not at all. As you can see in the first pic the scope is set up just a little rearward of being centered on the mount. My only real complaint is that scout scopes generlly aren't available with larger objective lenses, so their light-gathering ability is limited.
17.) Swamp Fox - 11/27/2017



These are no longer on Loopy's site that I could see, so I suppose they discontinued them. They made them starting at 3.5 X and in 50 or 56 mm objective lenses with one-inch or 30 mm tubes. I always thought if they made them in a lower magnification and a long ER, that would make a great do-anything scout scope.

I guess when they didn't hear from me they gave up on them, though ... LOL
18.) DParker - 11/27/2017
I always liked the idea of those. But the lack of LER means that they aren't scout scopes anyway (forward mounting of the optic being a defining feature).
19.) Swamp Fox - 11/27/2017
[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;53363]


... I always thought if they made them in a lower magnification and a long ER, that would make a great do-anything scout scope.

... [/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=DParker;53364]I always liked the idea of those. But the lack of LER means that they aren't scout scopes anyway (forward mounting of the optic being a defining feature).[/QUOTE]


I think we're on the same page here. :-)
20.) DParker - 11/27/2017
OK. I was wiped out last night and thought you were citing that as a scout scope that is no longer made. But after a night's sleep I see my error now.

Just imagine the possibilities once I've had some coffee.
21.) bluecat - 11/27/2017
Your rifle is pretty.
22.) DParker - 11/27/2017
[QUOTE=bluecat;53367]Your rifle is pretty.[/QUOTE]

I'll bet you say that to all the hunters.
23.) Swamp Fox - 11/27/2017
I'm really surprised no one has tried to solve the light transmission problem of scout scopes. I went looking last night and saw a Leapers scope in 2-7 w. a 44 mm objective and a 30 mm tube which appears to be the strongest stab at it, but it had some other issues, so I moved on to explore this dead end further.



[url]https://www.leapers.com/index.php?act=prod_detail&midx=913&allids=898_913&itemno=SCP3-274LAOIEW[/url]

(If anyone's interested, I'll try to find the review and post a link. It was a fairly recent head-to-head with a few others including the Vortex. The issue might have been image clarity at 7X or thereabouts, which seems to be an issue on several of these scopes anyway. Also, it's a bit of a fatty, whereas scout scopes are supposed to be light and unobtrusive.)

So then I got to thinking: I wonder what would be involved in converting a conventional scope, like the big honkin' Loopy with the cut-out that I posted above, to long eye relief? I suppose it involves gutting the scope and putting in all new innards .... Or would it? If it were relatively simple, like changing a reticle, that would be a pretty cool project, right?

I have more free time later in the week than I have right now, so maybe I'll call Leupold's custom shop and see what they have to say, LOL. I could kill at least one other bird on that call anyway. Been putting it off for a long time, so maybe now I have the good excuse.

And while we're theoretically inside the scope to change eye relief, we might as well swap out the reticle to a more snap-shoot/moving target-friendly style. Booyah! I'm not seeing some configurations on Leupold's site that I'm pretty sure I've seen in the past, including a thick post- and-crosshair and/or one that used a tapered post. There are some that are close, but not exactly what I think they've offered in the past.

For reference, some generic styles (not necessarily similar to Loopy's):




There's another style that I've always been interested in, as well: I think Leupold offered something like this in the past, with thicker tapering crosshairs, and I'm not sure I recall a dot---The current Leupold Dot style:





This is a new reticle for 2017, with crosshairs somewhat similar to what I remember (leaving off the ranging mess), but I don't see it on the reticle pages, so maybe their website isn't as comprehensive as it should be. Maybe not everything that doesn't appear is impossible to obtain.





[url]https://www.leupold.com/reticles?page=4[/url]

So I know Leupold isn't expecting a kind of Spanish Inquisition, but I figure this is fair warning...
24.) bluecat - 11/27/2017
Do you want the buck to replace the fly you shot in the "Any Legal Weapon" category?
25.) DParker - 11/27/2017
[QUOTE=bluecat;53370]Do you want the buck to replace the fly you shot in the "Any Legal Weapon" category?[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure. Let me go back and measure that fly's antennae again. They were pretty long.
26.) Swamp Fox - 11/27/2017
Be sure to add in the Crookedeye Feistiness Factor, or it'll screw up the rankings ...
27.) bluecat - 11/27/2017
Good point Swampy.

If at any point you had your naked body covered with mud and you were laying in a shallow pit waiting for the right moment to deliver the death blow, you will get extra credit.


28.) bluecat - 11/27/2017


Or if there were sharpened limbs under high tension and you screamed "Kill Me Now" just before releasing the 4:1 mechanical advantage lever-a-pult-iron-maiden thingy, you should be awarded extra credit.
29.) Swamp Fox - 11/27/2017
Hey, you need to put the info about knife and pistol fighting back up, too. Strange men lying in ponds distributing death blows is no basis for a system of competition.
30.) bluecat - 11/27/2017
LOL Swampy,

If at any point you had to pull your pistol/knife and life and death hung in the balance (Hell on the right, St. Peter on the left) you might qualify for extra credit.
31.) bluecat - 11/27/2017
If at any point you could smell your grandmother's fresh baked bread, you might qualify for extra credit.
32.) bluecat - 11/27/2017
If at any point you had a 5 o' clock shadow and a tumbleweed blew across the field just as you and foe stared at each other, eyes twitching, fingers drumming across holsters, you might qualify for extra credit.
33.) bluecat - 11/27/2017
If at any point you saw Hugh Hefner, then you were probably just drinking a little too much of your top shelf Scotch.
34.) Swamp Fox - 11/27/2017
:-) ...
35.) Swamp Fox - 11/27/2017
Since I kinda knew the change of eye-relief thing was prolly a pipe dream, I dug around a little and found some stuff which I'll throw out here. In a rimfire forum thread discussing the idea of lessening ER rather than lengthening it, someone who seemed to know what he was talking about mentioned changing the eyepiece (rather than internals) and then proceeded to do some optical math that I didn't follow, all leading to the conclusion that such a conversion would not be possible, or even affordable in comparison to a new scope set up the way you want from the beginning.

This seems to be confirmed by this item which I found in Leupold's FAQs without too much effort. I'm kinda glad to know I'm not the only one who comes up with these hare-brained ideas, whether they pan out or not ... LOL:


[QUOTE]XXXX
· 8 months ago
I am looking at purchasing the VX3i 1.75x6. Can the eye relief be changed to a greater distance?
1
answer


Leupold Tech Service 5443
· 8 months ago
Hello XXXX,

[B]Unfortunately the eye relief cannot be changed on an existing scope design[/B], but we do have some longer eye-relief options for you in similar magnification ranges. I don't know how long you want it to be, but we have a VX-2 1.5-4x28mm Intermediate Eye Relief (IER) Scout #119621 which has an eye-relief of about 6", or a VX-3 2.5-8x32mm Handgun #67825 with an eye-relief of 15".

Hope this helps!

[url]https://www.leupold.com/service-support/custom-shop[/url]

[/QUOTE]


Kinda too bad the 1.5 has such a short ER. I'd much rather have the 1.5-4x range in a scout rifle scope, I think. (Leupold also has an illuminated reticle version in 1.5-5 X 33, but that's a 6-7 inch ER as well, and pricier.) I guess you could mount the higher-power, longer ER scope in such a way as to use iron sights in close. Less than ideal, though ...
36.) DParker - 11/28/2017
[QUOTE=Swamp Fox;53381]Kinda too bad the 1.5 has such a short ER. I'd much rather have the 1.5-4x range in a scout rifle scope, I think. (Leupold also has an illuminated reticle version in 1.5-5 X 33, but that's a 6-7 inch ER as well, and pricier.) I guess you could mount the higher-power, longer ER scope in such a way as to use iron sights in close. Less than ideal, though ...[/QUOTE]

And the VX-3, being handgun scope, only has a 32mm objective. Oh...and it's street price seems to run anywhere from $540 - $600 (using Amazon and OpticsPlanet as my sources).
37.) Swamp Fox - 11/28/2017
It's a mess, I tell ya.

You'd think of all companies that would have a viable scout rifle scope, it would be Leupold. They've got so many niche scopes these days, it's actually hard to find anything on their site. Didn't used to be like that. They need someone to overhaul the search function/display. But that's a separate issue.


How hard is it to see that a mid-priced long eye-relief, low magnification, extra-bright rifle scope would sell at least as well as some of their top end stuff or some of the low end?
38.) Swamp Fox - 11/28/2017
Attention, campers! Colonel Cooper would like to see the owner of this rifle in the office immediately. Don't be late!






I got all excited when "Trijicon" and "scout rifle" came up together in a search, but this is as far as I got ...LOL
39.) Swamp Fox - 11/28/2017
[QUOTE=DParker;53382]And the VX-3, being handgun scope, only has a 32mm objective. Oh...and it's street price seems to run anywhere from $540 - $600 (using Amazon and OpticsPlanet as my sources).[/QUOTE]


Yes, not to be confused with the VX-3 R which I was writing about above, but did not identify by model name specifically. Kinda goes to my point about Leupold needing to clean up its catalog. The VX-3 R is a rifle scope with an illuminated dot-and-crosshair reticle. You would presume it has a rifle-appropriate parallax setting, unlike the VX- 3 handgun scope, which DP has noted, which is listed in the Handgun section of Loopy's website.

Don't buy a handgun scope and put it on a rifle, boys and girls!

Speaking of which, you sometimes see the Nikon Force scopes come up in listicles discussing scout scopes. I can pull up one right now, probably. Abbracadabra. Leaving aside that these pieces are often written by bots or 24 year-olds in India or Macedonia getting paid by the click to string a bunch of words together for search engines to find, don't fall for it. These are also handgun scopes with short parallax settings, and don't belong in a discussion of scout scopes. The only thing they have in common with "scout scopes" is longer eye relief.