My dad finally found what has been the Holy Grail rifle for him. He loves his 30-06 Featherweight and has hunted a lot with that rifle over the years, but as he's getting older, he's wanted to get a light 243 for a deer rifle. He's been temped to just go out and buy a new plastic stocked rifle of another brand, but I convinced him to hold off, that's its not like we are in urgent need of a new rifle, and that eventually we'd find a "nice" 243 for him.

He finally found what's he was looking for and I'm thrilled to see him so happy: A 1956 made rifle in really nice shape. The finish isn't even worn on the floor plate and only a few scratches on the stock. Looking closer, there are some scratches around the buttplate. From the wear I'm betting this rifle was carried in the saddle scabbard with the butt exposed and got carried little by hand. From what I can see this one hasn't been messed with and feels really nice in your hands.

Here it is:
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The rifle has Bausch & Lomb adjustable mounts installed but the scope is long gone. From the B&L reading I've done, apparently the scopes were readily detachable from these mounts and because all the adjustments were made in the bases, a single scope could be swapped between multiple rifles.
The rifle probably wore something like a B&L Balvar 8A straight tube scope back in the day.

I want to get a scope mounted on the rifle by Father's Day for my dad. Now the dilemma:
Do I go the practical way and ditch the B&L mounts, buy a new Leupold 2-7x33 and mounts? That's probably the "clearer" choice and a "brighter" idea so to speak.

However the nostalgic side of me is saying to find a vintage Balvar 8A, and then get the appropriate B&L rings from HE Gibbs and have a package that looks straight from the 1950's. I do worry about buying vintage glass online, because how to you know the lenses are clear and it's not fogged up or something?

To consider as a usage model, the rifle would be a fair weather whitetail gun primarily for sitting post. My dad lets the younger generations do the walking and brush busting now. Super long shots are also not very likely either.

Any thoughts or suggestions from the Winchester experts here?