If there anyone in the room below the age of 18, or anyone who thinks lever action carbines can only have metallic sights, this may be a good time to have them leave the room. We are going to deal with the very adult topic of installing a scope on a Model 94, and I don’t want anyone to get emotional on me. Why would anyone want to put a scope on a saddle carbine? Well, primarily so they can shoot gooder…er. I purchased a Marlin in .45-70, rifle that is, took it to the range with open sights, and concluded I had a rifle that could shoot 5″ groups. I removed my three sets of eye glasses with binocular augmentation, bolted on a scope and discovered the Marlin could shoot 1″~1.5″ groups.
Very long distances are not in the cards for shooting with the .30-30 round, so very high magnification is not required, but 9x is nice to make targets as large as possible, when the option remains to drop back to 3x and a wide field of view when desired. 44mm and 50mm objectives aren’t necessary because quite frankly, they are virtually never necessary, and they would look a little goofy on this small short barreled rifle. A 3x-9x-32mm Burris Compact, as installed on my Model 7 and Compact Model 70, seemed also just right for the Model 94 also. The Compact is less than 10 1/2″ long, has 3 3/4″~5″ of eye relief and weighs just 12 ounces. The model I selected (200387) is matte black, has a plex reticle and does not have parallax adjustment. I wanted a simple solution to a simple application and, I believe, the Compact accomplishes that objective. For about $250, the Compact provides with very clear optics, sharp images, excellent contrast, and easy to find cross hairs. Aesthetically, the size and shape of the scope work with the Model 94 and the finish was free of any scratches or defects as received.
The Model 94 AE (Angle Eject) side ejects empty brass, which permits the use of a common over receiver mount system. In this case, I selected Leupold Mounts, #50035 and medium ring set #49901. The set has a dovetail front ring/base and a windage adjustable rear ring/base combination. The cost is approximately $32 for all pieces. The arrows, right, indicate base fastener locations. Both front and rear bases must be mounted with fasteners facing aft. This orientation is required to ensure the rear base does not interfere with the gun’s locking bolt travel, and the front base clears the ejection port.
I used alignment rods and a ring lap tool as part of the installation routine outlined in an earlier article “Confessions of a Scope Mangler“. The alignment pretty much fell into place, with only 3 adjustment clicks left and up required to square with the bore sight grid. Also consistent with the earlier article, all Torx fasteners were installed with a torque wrench; 22 in/lbs for all base and ring hardware, 40 in/lbs for the rear windage screws. The rifle feels good with a scope, pointing is fast and the eye/scope alignment is comfortable. I’m not quite sure how comfortable I am with eye relief yet, I’ll know more when I’ve had a chance to shoot the gun from a variety of positions. While the Leupold mounts and scope fit together perfectly from the standpoint of matching surfaces and alignment, there is virtually no latitude for fore/aft adjustment of the tube in the rings; the rear ring is up against the scope’s magnification adjustment ring, and the front ring is just about at the objective bell taper. If push comes to shove I will try mount setups from other suppliers.
Overall, the installation was straight forward and I think the results are good. At low magnification, the scope provides a 23′ field of view. While about 20% less than a large Burris Signature model, this difference narrows as magnification increases. On the plus side, the Compact weighs 50% less and it is almost 3″ shorter in length. The real pay off, with the addition of the scope, I’ll now be able to attribute 10″ 100 yard groups directly to my “special” handloading talents, and not strained eye sight.
Thanks
Joe
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