Recently purchased a buckmark. I have never had a pistol with a scope. What would you recommend. Scope , red dot? Thanks for any advice!

Red dots are a hoot on a .22.

I used to take my sons to a range where we set out golf balls at 75 yards. They shot offhand with scoped rifles. I used a .22/45 with a red dot standing, but leaning against a post. I held my own.

BTW, to make a golf ball disappear, hit with a .348!

Mulenbucks: I have a contest going on with myself - how can I have MORE fun than I already have when Hunting Ground Squirrels?
The answer I found is to buy some semi-auto pistols with heavy barrels and great triggers and get after those little Varmints with those arms.
I have several Ruger heavy barrels (seven of these) and another batch of Buck Marks (four of these and another Buck Mark heavy barrel pistol/Rifle thing) and amongst these the ones I have the most fun/success with are the ones with "red dot" sights!
I find I can kill Ground Squirrels out to about 75 yards with these red dot equipped rigs - not every shot mind you but often enough to make the Gophers real antsy!
Yes, "I" can definitely do better with the red dots than I can with either open sights or with a traditional pistol scope.
I know I can definitely "acquire" the target quicker with the red dots and sometimes I even fire at moving Ground Squirrels with the red dots - not so with my scope sighted pistols.
And most of my red dots are rather inexpensive types like $60.00 to $80.00 IIRC.
Best of luck with whichever you choose.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Hey thanks for the responses. What red dot scopes do you like for plugging squirrels. And what magnification? One more question is a reflex sight like a burris fastfire a good option? Thanks

Mulenbucks: I should have made myself more clear the "red dot sights" I am using are not magnified scopes with red dots in them.
They are the non-magnifying type devices that just project a tiny dot downrange. Sometimes the dot is red and sometimes green and sometimes (at my choice) the dot can be changed to circles, circles with dots etc.
I am not sure of the proper names of these - I call them "red dot sights".
Let me know if I can be of more assistance to you.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

the only scopes i've used on any of my pistols have been traditional 2X or 4X fixed power scope. i had a 2X on my Ruger Mark II and i had a 4X on my Savage Striker in 7-08 rem but that was shot at a min of 100 yrds. i did shoot my buddies mark II with red dot and enjoyed it alot. if i wanted a stalking woods pistol fro tree rats i think i would go with a conventional 1X or 2X scope. if i wanted something for shooting stuff on the go i would then use a red dot. why not get both and quick release mounts? just swap and go for the day as you need.

MB,

My BuckMark has a TruGlo reflex type sight on it that I like very much.

The sight is less than $100. Has two color choices and several brightness levels.

From a bench, I can work over a soda can at 100 yards pretty easy.

TacSol ( IIRC ) has a great combination scope base/rear sight mount that I used.

I sighted in the rear irons first, then the reflex in case I find I need to run w/o the optic for some reason.

VarmintGuy,

I was looking just online at Ruger MarkIII Hunter and Buckmark Hunter. Thought about mouting a scope with QD rings. They seem very similar. Can you advise me?

How do the two stack up? Triggers? Accuracy? The Ruger looks a little more solid a design and fluted stainless. But, my experience has been (on average) that gun for gun the Browning has made better rifles. In this case, I am leary of that canter lever Buckmark scope mount.

I have a 3x T/C scope on my varmint model in this pic:



Dave

I have that Buckmark with a 7 1/4" barrel and the same scope. It is very accurate and the trigger is real nice. I hate the breaks like glass saying, but mine does.