Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Need opinions on older Weaver scopes to hunt with?

Guys I have a rifle w/ a deep blue finish kinda like the old Savage blue. I want to put an older Weaver or like scope on the rifle to hunt with. My problem is I don't know about the optic quality as it's been years since I looked thru one. It would have to be pretty good for me to hunt with and most here on the fire are so so. Didn't Leopold make a blued steel scope one time? Any advice or help out there? Thanks, powdr

The old El Paso Weavers were good scopes. Their tracking was good. New scopes have better glass. Glass quality is so competitive now, even the Chinese scopes have better glass than those old Weavers.

IMHO,

DF

I hunt with a half dozen of them. Optically they are not as good as more modern scope but they appear to be ugged and function well. I can see well enough to make remarkably good shots with the rifles which wear them. I like 'em. GD

I have an El Paso K4 w/ standard crosshair on my .22lr, a K6 on my 6-250 varmint rifle, and a K3 on my son's 257 Rob. and never have problems using them as hunting scopes.

If you haven't looked through one in a long time upon what grounds would you say the ones here are so-so? I have been very pleasantly surprised by the optics in mine. They're not as great as new stuff, but in my experience good enough for first-shot hits on milk jugs at 400 yds or squirrel heads at 25.

Iron Sight refirbs El Paso Weavers and can clean up their glass and whatnot as part of a package of services.

We used them for years and were happy with them. They were the stand by, the one to compare to. I made many great shots with Weaver scopes.

Now, with better glass being offered by so many vendors, they sorta pale in comparison.

And, it's a chore to get one fixed. I've had a K-8 at Iron Sight, Inc. in Tulsa, OK for almost a year. I will report when it eventually arrives.

DF

I just put a K-1.5 on my drilling for hunting out here on the coast. The target is the first three rounds out of it at 100 yards after I made the rings and mounted the scope. I think it is perfect, have the same scope on my Savage 99 375Win for still hunting the swamps of northern WI. I have a couple of K-3's that I use for backup scopes on trips.

When I say I haven't looked thru them in years efw I mean the early one's I had in steel were pretty good but one was bought new. The one's listed here seem to have some sort of caveat of some sort or another. I have an old Marksman 3x9 here at home but don't like what I see when I look thru it. Any other vintage scopes out there that might make the grade? powdr

We considered those old Weaver scopes to be as cheap as it got.

They were called the "No see em thru" scopes.

We used Lyman, Redfield, Kollmorgen, B&L and Unertl back then.

When I get one on a rifle purchase I put it aside to put on a gun I am going to sell.

Wouldn't a new gloss Leupold look just as good?

Am considering RH. powdr

I have several old Weavers that are serviceable (no moisture or dust creeped into the innards). The last El Paso Weavers were "MICRO-TRAC" marked on the turret, and they were/are better scopes than they should have been for the money.

True, newer coatings and glass is likely better. Jack

I just think you would have better glass and a lot less problems if the scope ever went bad with a gloss Leupold. I "think" you can order any model in gloss through the custom shop.

I had a "Micro-Trac" Weaver that came on an older rifle I bought at a local pawn shop. I used it a couple of times before I sold it and found that in the late evenings when I tend to hunt it was significantly dimmer than even my "cheaper" modern scopes. The older Weaver and Redfield scopes I have owned seemed plenty clear but just weren't bright enough for my style of hunting. Maybe if I did more daytime hunting they would be fine, but at daylight and dusk they definitely are not up to the standards of modern scopes.

Problem solved!!!


http://www.midwayusa.com/product/12...rifle-scope-4x-38mm-dual-x-reticle-gloss

Totally agree about the dawn and dusk performance. All of mine have gone down the road except a K8 that's mounted on a pre war Mauser 22 target rifle I've used for squirrels. All day light shooting so not a problem with brightness.

I will say that the Weaver Classic line from the early 1970's, while not as popular as the steel tubed Weavers, seemed significantly brighter than the steel tubes of the same period. I had a Weaver 400 Classic that was brighter than my Leupold vari-x II from the 1980's.

Dan

The current Leupold 4x is a much nicer scope than the new Weaver 4x.

And both of those blow away the glass/coatings in an ElPaso Weaver.

They were decent scopes back then, and still are tough, but the glass is ridiculous in low light compared to even a cheap current Tasco.

And yes, Leupold did make a steel tube scope a few years back.