Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Which scope for a SBH Hunter

Ok, I recently picked a SBH hunter in 44mag, likely shooting 240gr XTPs or some cast bullet about the same weight pushed with h110/296. My plan next fall is for it to do some Whitetail hunting here in TN. I would limit myself to about 100 yards (not many shots longer than that available where I hunt anyway). My choices are either a 2x or 4x EER m8 Lupy.

Not having hunted with a pistol before, I am a little concern about the field of view with a 4x and rapidly finding the target in the woods without having to wave it around like a flagman.


Which do you prefer?

Thanks,
Claybreaker

I've not used a scope a whole helluva lot on a pistol, but the 3 that I've had were (2) Leupold 2X and (1) Burris 3X, specifically for the field of view. I had the same concern you do.

Like a rifle, practice raising the weapon and aquiring a sight picture will be a big help.

If you absolutely need magnification go with a scope. Burris has been my favorite for many years.

I currently have a 30mm Bushnell Trophy on my SBHH and field of view is the least of my worries as well as quick target acquisition. At any given time we have deer in our yard so real time practice on deer out to over 100 yards with the Red Dot is a lot of fun. I had my doubts on the Red Dot at first but truthfully its rapidly becoming my first choice over a scope for the distances mentioned.

Bushnell Trophy Red Dot is a cheapie but hasn't broken so far. If you want great quality buy an Ultra Dot.

www.midwayusa.com/product/615022/ul...style-rings-matte?cm_vc=2689BrandPopProd


www.midwayusa.com/product/673097/bu...-6-moa-dot-with-weaver-style-rings-matte

I mounted it on this base.


www.jackweigand.com/Redhawk_Blackhawk_Bisley_Hunter.html

I have one of these on order. It should be here today or tomorrow.


www.midwayusa.com/product/293965/ul...ot-with-integral-weaver-style-base-matte


284.

Have you already ruled out a red dot?

JOG,

Which red dot do you like?

15 years or more years ago I had a Aimpoint on my 629. Eventually it died and now there a bazillion choices in dot scopes.

Jeff

I have not totally ruled out a RedD but I have not seen one that would mount in the Ruger rings that came with and match the gun.

I will say this, I already have the 2x that I picked up the other day at the gun show. And I think I have the opportunity to trade for a 4x. The 2x is gloss black and 4x that is satin silver and I think would match the gun better.

So that got me wondering which would be better to hunt with and thus the posting and question.

Thanks for the postings, more on welcome.

Claybreaker

In the past I've used mostly Ultradots which seem to work okay - no real love, just what I ended up with. I recently switched to a Burris FastFire mostly to try it out since I wanted something a lot more compact than the usual fare. I didn't mount the FastFire for more than a year because all the available mounts ruined the compactness of the scope. Weaver mount + Burris adapter + FastFire wasn't what I was looking for.

This summer I sent the FastFire to Allchin Gun Parts to see if their STS mount would work. It didn't, but Allchin modified a mount for me and now the STS factory mount officially also works with the FastFire. The altered mount is shown below, but I also have a new factory mount that I will switch to soon. The new mount is slicker and a better fit all the way around.



You can see in the photo the altered mount doesn't fit to the end of the sight channel. The new one does and it also is more contoured with fewer edges. I'll post a photo when I install it. If I had to do it all over again I probably would have gone with a J-Point or a Leupold DeltaPoint because they already offered compact mounts and it wouldn't have been such a project.

Long story short, I like the FastFire set-up so far, but don't have enough trigger time for a true 'thumbs-up'.

I have a Super Blackhawk Hunter and a Single-Six Hunter that share the same Leupold 4X pistol scope. This setup would be my choice for stand hunting as shots would be between 25-75 yards on standing or slowly walking deer.







There is a Leupold 2X on a Mark III Hunter I have and it works better if fast shots have to be taken.



50 Yard accuracy will ammo that it likes is great. This is 3 shots at 25 and three at 50...





If you need to do both stand and stalk you may want to look at the 2-6 Bushnell Trophy or 3200 mentioned above. I have one mounted scout style on a MegTech Carbine Conversion and it is a very clear and bright scope but I don't think it will fit on the Hunter with the Ruger rings. One would have to use a Weaver adapter base.


The big reason I don't use a red dot is because it has no light gathering ability and it seems most of my shots come on very cloudy days or right at the beginning or end of shooting light of in the woods.

Bob

I agree, and in addition to the size, that was one of my main reasons for switching to the FastFire. Another reason was the blocky outline of red dot 'scopes' and regular scopes messed with my field of view. So far the FastFire is an improvement over the other red dots.

Money no object, I'd probably go with the DeltaPoint for deer or larger game. For small game I still prefer a 2x regular scope.

I would suggest a Leupold 2X or a Burris 1.5-4X.

I have a Leupold 4X. I'm not that fond of it. The field of view leaves me searching too long to locate what I want to shoot.

I found an earlier Burris 1.5-4X to be a little brighter and have better field of view than the Leupold 2X when set at 1.5X, but it has the magnification I wanted for shooting paper (testing loads) out to 100 yards or so.

OTOH, the Leupold 2X is considerably lighter.

I've hunted with a handgun off and on since about '87. More often than not, when hunting day comes, the scope comes off and I switch back to iron sights. The unwieldiness a scope introduces really offsets most of the advantage a handgun has over a rifle. Anymore if I need to scope a handgun to hunt with it, I grab a short rifle instead.

Tom

Sooo, you recommend a hunting scope that you take off for hunting?

I agree with you though, which is why I switched to a compact red dot for deer hunting. They strike a good compromise for my uses.

I guess I did do that, didn't I? Busted!!!

I tried a red dot once but quit after I had a battery fail on me. I'd been using it at night for pest control around my folks place and hadn't realized the battery was too low for daylight use ... 'til I needed it pretty bad and it wasn't there.

I like plain ol' iron sights on my revolvers for hunting. I'll scope a TC. They're ungainly things on their best days. (Not to say I don't like 'me for what they are.)

Yep, batteries are a big drawback. Now that you mention it, my money-no-object choice might be the C-More STS. That sight has a battery door so the sight doesn't have to come off to change the batteries.

I haven't had to switch batteries on the FastFire yet so I don't know what happens to the POI, but I'm not very optimistic.

If you like the Fastfire/Docter size sights look at the Trjicon RMR Dual Illumination. Tritium for night work backed up with Fiber Optic for day time. Just put one on a friend's Remington 870 Tactical and it works slick...

Bob

My Bushnell with the extension tube mounted works with factory ring spacing and from the pic it looks like this UD with the tube installed will work as well.


www.ultradotusa.com/ultradotdist2010_005.htm


284.

Not a SBH Hunter model but a Super with a TSOB Mount and rings with a Leupold M8 2x. I think that the 2x scopes are a good size and fit for the SBH.

That looks like a nice balanced rig. The SB Hunter carries the scope too far forward, standard over-the-frame mounts carry it too far back. What you've got there is a nice medium.

I think the 2x20 Nikon Monarch on the Ruger SBH hunter makes a nicely balanced rig.



This one is a 41 cal bisley model. The weight of the scope reduces felt recoil by a great deal when firing max power magnum loads.

I also have a 2-6x32 Bushnell, but the field of view is too narrow and eye position is too critical at the higher magnifications. I find 4X and 6X to be useable only from the sandbags/bench.

You are right on target with your opinion of the factory set up which is why I went with Weigand mount. I'm limited to shooting with one so balance and weight was critical for me.

284.

Claybreaker seems to be sold on a scope and I hope he takes this into consideration.

284.