Red dot for Marlin guide gun 45/70

[mike t]

Im thinking of putting a red dot on my guide gun and have narrowed it down to 2. I have had ppsitive experience with the regular Bushnell trophy red dot (only the red dot with 11 brightness settings) and was fairly hapy with it. That red dot was on a 308 but im also interested in the Bushnell TRS 25 model, what does everyone think?

 

[chalkriver]

I went with a TRS on mine and like the set up . FOV is pretty good and I put on a eagle cheek rest .

 

[DMS1]

My impression of these style of scopes is that they seem to be "tinted" for contrast to allow the dot to be better seen. From my experiences, I find these scopes darker that what I can see with my eye, while regular scopes appear brighter than the naked eye in low light. Am I wrong?

The aimpoint micro seemed brighter, but still dim compared to conventional scope.

 

[bcsteve]

I'd be looking at the Burris Fastfire III. They are nice and small, perfect for a lever gun. Even Turnbull makes a mount for them for his expensive custom levers.

 

[sgt.rock]

I put a red dot on a 444 marlin I had and was regularly ringing the gong at 300 yards. I found them to be the very best set of open sites you can put on top of a lever gun.

 

[mike t]

Im leaning toward the Bushnell TRS 25

 

[Sharkson]

I'd be looking at the Burris Fastfire III. They are nice and small, perfect for a lever gun. Even Turnbull makes a mount for them for his expensive custom levers.

This is what I have on my 1895GBL on my after market rail. Very fast acquisition on moving game. Small dot size makes for good accuracy.

 

[Horse96]

My impression of these style of scopes is that they seem to be "tinted" for contrast to allow the dot to be better seen. From my experiences, I find these scopes darker that what I can see with my eye, while regular scopes appear brighter than the naked eye in low light. Am I wrong?

The aimpoint micro seemed brighter, but still dim compared to conventional scope.

You are correct that the red dots are darker. They are darker for 2 reasons (that I know of). 1) they are tinted so the dot can be seen and 2) they are darker because a scope is a 'light bucket.' Scopes gather more light, eg a 50mm scope gathers about 10x the amount of light our pupils let in (avg pupil is 5mm I believe).

Red dots are faster though because there is no need to line up a rear sight with the front post. Enter parallax discussion. They are also easier as well because you are not 'covering' up half of your target as you would using irons.

Dot size is what it should come down to. 1 moa dot size (eotech) covers one inch at 100. 12 moa dot covers 12 inches at 100. I am looking at one for my hunting shotgun. The c-more is looking like a good option. Can change the light module for $65; dot size and colour. And a good red dot for under $400, I am in!

https://www.freedomventures.ca/products/c-more-railway

 

[mike t]

I decided to go with the Bushnell TRS25. We will see tomorrow how it does.

 

[Chem]

Holosun might have been worth a look. Particularly one of the models with solar power as they can run during the day even with a dead battery.

 

[zuke]

I tried a Burris Fastfire also, but stuck with iron site's.

 

[mike t]

Just got back from the camp and the Bushnell TRS25 worked great. I have it mounted forward and I could continuously put 3 shots in the bullseye (3" wide) at 80 yards free standing. Thats minute of deer enough for me. Thanks for everyones suggestions and time

 

[pounder]

I have had a reflex sight on my Marlin for a number of years,works great,fast,accurate, makes the rifle look like $hit but I am way beyond looks if it works.

pounder