Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics So I've got an old scope that needs a home.....

It's a weaver K2.5, it was originally mounted on a savage model 99, unfortunately whoever drilled and tapped the mounts on that gun didn't put the rear mount in the correct spot, resulting in a scope that wasn't "true" due to the rear mount. So I had the mounts removed from the gun and went back to the ironsights.


Now, I am contemplating having my Remington 870 drilled and tapped and putting this scope on it. I plan on keeping the smoothbore barrel, for two reasons. Firstly, I live in New England, the trees are dense, I'm lucky to ever see a hundred yard shot, there's no real point in shelling out the cash for a rifled barrel.

Secondly, the rings are the old weaver quick detach rings, with the threaded knob, so I could easily remove the scope to run bird or buck shot.


What are your thoughts?

Sounds like a good plan to me. I've got a K2.5 I bought new in the late 60's that's still in use. I did have Frank? Ruiz give it checking over while he was in business.

I'm not even entirely sure how old this scope is. I inherited it, and the savage 99 it was attached to, after my uncle died. I know it was his dads gun, and due to the date of manufacture, was more than likely HIS dads gun too (my great grandfather). I had always heard about this gun but only ever remember seeing it once before it was mine. I know that weaver scopes weren't even dreamt of when the rifle was manufactured (1925). It's an El Paso weaver, if that means anything, with a single vertical post, construction appears to be steel and brass, or possibly copper.

Is the reticle permanently centered?

Is there more to the model # than just K2.5?

I don't know what you mean by permanently centered, but it does have knobs to adjust windage and elevation if that's what your asking.

As for the markings, it says "WEAVER K 2.5 patented El Paso, TX USA" to the right of the word "patented" there is a small diamond with an "s" inside of it

If you want a easier fix than d&t your shotgun the old weaver side mounts that utilize the pin holes for the trigger housing work pretty good. The one thing to note is the changeable barrels on the 870 have some small amount of play in them so with your scope mounted to the receiver it can be hard to maintain zero especially if you are expecting rifle like performance. For slug guns at 50-100 yds it can be acceptable.

It seems to me that this is a simple choice of "pay more, get more" or "pay less, get less".

I think that if you're a reasonably serious New England deer hunter, you'd have a much better, more accurate, deer hunting package if you bought a rifled barrel with a cantilever mount and installed a Leupold VX-1 2-7x33 shotgun scope with the rings of your choice on your 870.

If you're not a reasonably serious deer hunter there isn't any reason to spend money to upgrade your equipment, so recycling an old ElPaso Weaver would get you less performance at a lower cost.

I used to shoot deer in Iowa with a smooth bore 16 gauge, but upgraded to a rifled barrel 20 gauge 870 when I decided that if I was going to continue to spend serious $$ to shoot Iowa deer, over $500 for the non-resident license and tags, I needed a serious Iowa shotgun.

Most of my really old scope found a new home in a tote box in the storage unit or they are on lower tier rifles that are only used to shoot paper, culls, or antlerless whitetails.

I inherited daddy's old Rem. 760 in a 30/06 that he bought in the '60's. It had an old Weaver 2.5 with the pivot mounts on it in the early years. Just before daddy retired it, he put a Nikon 3-9 on it. However, I wanted the old Weaver put back on it. I put it back on it but I did put the stationary Weaver mount on the rifle. I carry it hunting with me once or twice a year. The only thing I dislike about it is the fine crosshairs. But it is still a good scope.

Old scope

Every Old Weaver I owned fogged internally.

I'd just put it on a 22 rimfire bolt action. Make for a handy squirrel rifle. Wouldn't trust one that old on a shotgun.

I have one on a Marlin 357 lever gun (it's an old mans eye thing) It does a good job there.

These are tough old scopes. If it fogs have it repaired. If you don't want it some one can adopt it. I have several including a 2.5 x that is on a light weight .416.

I love them especially, the post and cross hair versions.

I had one that rode on a bunch of guns including an 870, a .270, a .22, and finally a 77/44, that went down the road with the scope. I did have to have the ring holding the eyepiece lens replaced by Parsons, I believe, because service was no longer available from the new Weaver. If the Weaver craps under recoil, replace it with a 2.5 or 3x Leupold. Not sure if I trust newish mid-range Leupy variables to hold zero under that kind of recoil, although my 3year-old 2-7 SG ML scope on a Knight has worked so far.

Don't worry about using the smoothbore barrel. I've had vent-rib 870s choked Skeet or with an IC tube installed shoot 3-inch 3-shot groups at 100 yards using Remmy Foster and Brenneke Black Magic slugs. One gun was d&t'd, the other used a saddle mount. A good saddle mount works fine, and leaves the gun clean for bird shooting. IIRC, a Weaver 66 is a good fit if you decide to go for a top mount.

I don't know exact dates, but the first K scopes had exposed adjustments and non-centered reticles. later they added turret covers for the adjustments, but the reticles still weren't centered. My Uncle Bill's K4, purchased in the mid 50s, was one of these. The next generation had both covered turrets and constantly centered reticles.