I need a scope for a marlin 1894

[bunnielab]

Exciting thread, huh?

I have just entered the exciting world of reloading and my test gun is a 1894 in .357mag. I keep hearing different things about what kind of cast bullets I should use at what velocity and am trying to sort all this stuff out for myself.

The upshot of all this is that I want a good, simple, low power scope to stick on it so I can do some accuracy testing. I want to get an idea of what I can do off bags at 25 and 50y with factory ammo so I can see how my loads stack up. I am fine with a fixed power in the x3-x6 range, I mainly want the scope so that I can avoid having to walk down range as often. I know a spotting scope will do the same thing but I want to wait on that untill I can buy a nice one.

My budget is around $100 for the glass and rings, which I know is nothing, but I dont plan on using the scope for anything other than finding a good load.

[sza]

Well, a cheap Weaver base and rings will only run you about $10-15, which leaves roughly $90 for a scope. If you're only going to shoot at 50yds I'd look for 6x magnification at most, although at those ranges parallax is going to be an issue with most non rimfire scopes if you don't get your cheek weld exactly the same between shots.

When buying cheap optics (scopes, camera lenses, etc...) I usually stick with fixed power or models with as small a zoom range as possible. My reasoning is that I'll get better optical quality for cheap with a simple optics design (few lenses, etc...).

Also, for precision shooting at a fixed range you want the simplest, finest, most uncluttered reticle you can find. Stay away from BDCs, wide duplexes, circle duplexes, or any of that crap.

Something like this Weaver Classic (http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=468799&t=22164010) would be really nice but it's slightly out of your price range (Midway Dealer Price is $112, FYI). That's also a scope you wouldn't feel like throwing away when you're done working up your loads either. You could always slap it on something else at some point if you don't want to use it on the Marlin.

There's also this Pentax GameSeeker (http://www.swfa.com/pc-7352-887-new-pentax-6x42-gameseeker-rifle-scope.aspx) which falls in your price range but I'm not all that crazy about the reticle.

[B4Ctom1]

new meets old
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=401546