Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer, the "beater'' scope?

In the distant past, I faintly recall, probably in an article addressing diagnosis of accuracy gone south, you mentioning in passing a substitute beater scope that was your "go to" when suspected scope problems arose. I have Rifle and Handloader stretching back to antiquity, Obsessions of a Rifle Looney, Gun Gack II, but darned if I can find it. Could this be a fig newton of my imagination? Or in fact, does such an old "proof of pudding" scope exist and would you be willing to divulge it's make and power? (4x of course). I originally posted in optics, and they recommended I post here, reluctantly, as I know you are a busy man. Thanks, Paul

Might not be. It probably was a 4x, and probably an M8 Leupold. The M8 adjustments are a PITA, but a 4x M8 is almost unbreakable unless a horse falls on it, or you fall off a cliff with your rifle.

MD, i know of a guy in Alaska who could break an anvil.
Could the M8 withstand being thrown at fish?

Thanks much for the comeback. The beater scope is going on the beater rifle in the beater pickup with the other fence building accouterments. A 28 inch barreled rifle is not to be disparaged when fixing fence.

That's funny right there. Totally worth reading the post for that.

I related more to the "beater scope [that] is going on the beater rifle in the beater pickup." I've been down that route before.

I had a an old Bushnell Sportview 4x that was like that! I put it on .458WMs, 45-70s, .416 Remington, .416 Taylor, .375s and an assortment of smaller calibers. It finally got sold with a rifle it was on. I also had a 2.5x10 Tasco World Class that was as good. Clear lens, great resolution and accurate dials. Every now and then a jewel is found ( in a pig's snout)

this might not be spelled right ? Baush & lomb scopes used to make their scopes of the past with the adjustments in the rifle scope mounts,those old scopes maybe 50 years old glass isn`t as good as new scopes but that is one of the strongest and tuffest scopes ever made. you could even take scope off and use a different Baush and Lomb scope of this type and never worry about readjusting scope. i still own a half dozen of these fine old scopes. i believe there is a gentlemen in New York who still sells used ones. the famous old Marine Sniper named Carlos Hathcock used scopes of this type with the adjustments in the mounts.most people may not know this but his longest shot with the 50 caliber was made with this type of scope mounting system,the only reason i know about this,one of the old Marines Carlos was with i have hunted with and have heard stories about Carlos and him.i really have enjoyed those stories too especially when my other Ranger sniper friend is with then you get to hear some tails of gun fire of the past !

Those old El Paso Weavers with steel tubes were pretty close to bulletproof, at least the two examples I had were tough. I had a K-4 on several 12 gauge shotguns, a couple of '06s and other centerfires, and it never lost zero. Ever. The K-6 didn't sit on as many rifles, but I can't recall it losing zero even once.

I really enjoy this type of thread. I usually learn a bit from them and I've been into the shooting sports a while. I know there are more senior guys around but I'm nearing 70 myself. It is fun to learn a new trick as often as possible. Rusty

I have an old VARI-X-II like that. It has the old M8 adjustments like John spoke about. It's a little tricky getting that last 3/4 to 1/2 inch out of it but once set it's golden. powdr

My beater scope used to be Weaver K series scopes - mostly 4x. I let the last one go to a friend who was in need.
Now I have more M8-4x scopes than most others, certainly in the “beater” category. I consider these beater category due to sighting in issues. Otherwise good scopes for the $’s. The M8-4x scope has not failed once for me. The other scopes I use a bit are: VX2, VX1 & VX 3 series - I feel they are out of the beater category though. I have not treated any of them with hurtful recoil.

I was thinking Full Field II and older Leupold scopes were tough too.

The rifle that climbs off of the bag and points up in the air after the trigger is pulled is a 350 RM Remington 600 with a Kevlar stock and with 250 grain bullets. That rifle wears a newer low powered Weaver. It had a Weaver K2.5 with post - I can not remember why I sold that scope since it does not seem logical. It may have been light gathering ability, I don’t know.

I have an old M8 4X also that never loses zero. My other favorites are the original Burris 4X scopes from the early 1980s. Stout and crystal clear.

R O F


Jerry

He is a big Leupold fan

-Jake

I've also had great service from the Weaver 1x3.

I have always used an M8 3x for said duty and the adjustments do not bother me a bit because I am only shooting to verify the rifle is not the issue. Could not care less where the group is, but as long as it is a group it has done its job... again...

Bugger,

While I still have a couple of El Paso, steel-tubed Weaver fixed-powers on my rifles, they're more for "period correct" matching than anything else. The adjustments work fine, and they hold zero, but I became disillusioned with the optics of MOST of them about 30 years ago. Put a 3x on my first .338 Winchester Magnum, because I knew it would hold up to the recoil, but one morning before the sun had quite gotten above the local mountains, I ran into a small bunch of deer with two bucks, both following the same does. Through my Bausch & Lomb binocular I could see the bigger buck had VERY nice antlers; the other was probably a 2-1/2 year old.

The range was a little over 200 yards, as it turned out, but when I put the K3 on them all the antlers disappeared! I could plainly see 6-7 deer, but not which was which--and they were steadily walking across an opening toward some cover. Some quick switching between the B&L and the K3 eventually allowed me to take the shot. I heard a good whump, but until I walked over there and found the big buck lying on the ground, wasn't completely sure I;d aimed at the correct deer....

B&L Bal-series hunting scopes came in 2.5x, 4x, 6x, 8x, 2.5 or 4x, 2.5-5x, and 2.5-8x.

They came in a couple different styles, none of the early styles had belled objectives, while the later series all had belled objectives.

The early series were the Baltur (2.5x), Balfor (4x) and Balvar (2.5 or 4x).

The later series were the Baltur A (2.5x), Balfor A (4x), Balsix (6x), Baleight (8x), Balvar5 (2.5-5x), Balvar8/8A (2.5-8X).

They are rugged scopes, KISS, and the bases are a PITA to zero, but once they are zeroed and locked, they will stay that way. The idea was for a consumer to buy one expensive scope that he could swap between multiple rifles via inexpensive bases and not really quickly detached rings. The Buehler Micro-Dial is a much nicer base, but it isn't QD and the windage is roughly adjusted by opposing screws, like the Redfield style turn-in bases. It is hard to find a Buehler Micro-Dial base for any rifle other than large ring 98 Mausers and pre-'64 Winchester 70s. I'm not a fan of the Leupold Adjusto-Mounts, but think that the Detacho-Mounts from the same era are a good design.

I have an old Denver made Redfield 4X that has been beat on pretty hard. It spent many years on a .270 and then bounced around on a bunch of different rifles including some pretty hard kickers ( for me at least). It lives on my .22 that stays behind the truck seat now. Anyway it has always held zero and if I need to put it on a rifle to test if an accuracy issue is the scope or something else I always pull this scope off of my .22 and use it. Not bad for a 50 year old scope.