Those scopes can work pretty well too. The straight tube scopes are relatively light (even with a steel tube) and are rugged. For big game hunting as it was done at the time, they were perfectly good as sighting equipment too. I have scopes like that on all of my own hunting rifles and have never passed on a shot where I would have taken it with a modern variable on the rifle. I have had my old Springfield, with an old K2.5, all steel and brass, out to the silohuette range a few times and can easily sight on the 300 meter pigs and get good hits.
One problem I have found with these scopes, in the field, is, when crawling through slide alder, branches can get caught between the objective and the barrel. The installation of a rear sight with a base (like a Remington 700 sight) in the right place, fixes this problem.
I have to admit that an eight pound rifle is starting to feel a little heavy. Whether it's due to damage to my hands and the resulting arthritus or just because I'm transitioning out of middle age, I'm starting to look at lighter rifles. To my real shame, I've even caught myself kind of admiring a friend's Kimber!
I grew up reading O'Connor's articles in Outdoor Life and always thought his rifles were what a rifle should look like so that's how I try to build mine. To me, balance is everything and weight, within reason, is secondary. GD
