Really my Dad got into buying 45-70's lately. Including the guide gun. Its a niece piece, I just hate the safety. The weight isn't that bad but I also HATE the ported barrel, just makes more noise.
And labgrade, my dad hunts with a Remington 760 carbine, know why? It works JUST like an 870. Dad used his on a Russian Wild Boar hunt. Shot it with a 165 gr sierra game king quartering head-on. Bullet with between the neck and shoulder, exited through the opposite ribs and got through both lungs in the process. The pig was dead right there, dropped as if pole-axed.
And my first hunting rifle, a marlin 30-30, did havbe a scope. But that was a deer rifle, not a dedicated up close and personal hog-smacker. It also didn't have that PC-lawyer-friendly %%$#& safety. And back then my dream rifle was a Savage pump action 30-30.
On another note You should SEE the looks I get sighting my slug gun in at the range. This is Colorado, NOBODY hunts with a slug gun here. Once when stopped by the game warden with shotgun in hand, he remarked "Bear hunting?" "Nope, Elk" I replied. He shook his head and looked at me as if I was from MARS (or some other place back east). Well, he didn't know I was busting jack pines and heavy timber.