Before he passed away, my dad gave me his old Marlin 81 .22 rifle. Having sat on a rack for decades, it needed some maintenance and repair. The rifle was easy, some adjustments to the feeding mechanism, replacing of the rotted 1907 style sling, etc. The scope was a bit more of a challenge. An ancient Weaver B5 style. I found a service who replaced basically the entire insides and made it work like a charm. I got it zeroed better and more stable than any other rifle I own. Almost qualified Appleseed Marksman w/ it my first time through.
Over the last few years, however, my eyesight has gotten considerably worse. The tiny reticule makes it incredibly difficult to use and I love using this rifle. So w/ some reluctance, I decided to upgrade. Searching around for inexpensive .22 scopes, I chose a Barska .22 Plinker 3-9x32. The reviews were generally favorable, the price was what I was looking at, and the larger reticule would be easier on my eyes. It arrived a few days ago and today I did the swap.
This:
Has now become this:
Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to get out to zero it.
6 comments:
My first firearm was a 781. Nice .22.
Sweet. And I totally get the need to update the scope to accommodate aging eyes. I had surgery on both of mine a couple of years ago to remove cataracts, but my once-strong eye is so damaged by glaucoma I can't use iron sights with it at all and seem too old to learn to shoot left-handed well. With a decent scope, though, I can still shoot.
On a .22, though, I question the utility of spending money on a 9-power variable. The better the optics, the easier the picture is to acquire.
Love the leather wrapped butstock!
Who did your 'scope work? The scope on my Dad's old .22 needs the same treatment.
Time for another Appleseed to check it out!
I 'think' it was these guys. It's been 10 yrs. since I had it done. http://ironsightinc.com/index.php?route=common/weaver
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