East central Alabama. 150 yards and under when I tote the 94. I use my bolt actions o out to 300 plus yards around the farm. I stalk hunt mainly with the model 94. What I’ll probably wind up doing is going to the eye doctor and get some glasses. I need to anyway, and get some fiber optic sights and keep on trucking lol.
I think there are three different issues that interrelated but worth thinking about separately.
First, aging eyes suck. Ask me how I know. I've owned a handful of bolt guns and lever guns with iron sights of various sorts. IMO, in increasing order in terms of working with aging eyes:
- Open sights
- Receiver mounted peep sights
- Tang mounted peep sights
- Red dot sights
- Scope
I had a Swedish Mauser for a bit. Couldn't see the sights. At. All. Put a no drill scout scope on it and could see again.
I have 2 Win94s (both in 32Wsp). I used to be able to see standard irons on the. But really struggle with them. My grandfather's gun has Lyman No 1 tang sight and I can see great with it. But I wouldn't use it for tracking as it's frail when up and too clumsy for quick shots. I put a Williams FP receiver sight and their FireEye fiber optic front sight. Not as clear in certain light and I need to swap apertures through the day. But a lot more durable. Eventually, my newer 94 will get an XS scout rail for use with a red dot or scout scope. I'll leave the FP/FireEye on as a back up.
I've played with scout scopes on both my Mauser and my 94 and they don't. Wreck the handling as muc as a traditional scope. And while I shoot in offhand matches with normal scopes, I struggle to shoot off hand for tracking hunting with a scope. I'm much better making quick shots with peep sights.
All of this to say, I would suggest thinking about sights and optics for your stalking gun; whether it be a lever or bolt gun.
Second issue is which cartridge. Not defending the the 30-30 (or 32WSP) but I think they're perfectly adequate out to 150 yds. And TBH, that's beyond what I can do off hand making quick shots and well beyond the distance I see deer when stalking. If I had to replace it with a none lever round, I go back to the 6.5 out of old times sake and would only use a .308 if I downloaded it a bit. It's more than I want for a stalking gun.
Third issue is how the different platforms match their cartridges. The 94 started its life as a pistol caliber 92. When JMB shoved that 30-30 into it, that same stock design that comes up to the shoulder so easily also flips up under recoil. I often punch myself in the nose with mine. In this way, I wouldn't want anything more than a 30-30 in a 94.
The only options that I can think of would be a carbine pump or bolt. Personally, I would go with a 6.5x55 or 7mm-08 carbine, but finding them is hard.
Sorry for the stupid long post. Hope something here helps with your search.
