I will be taking delivery late this week on an octagonal barrel Marlin 45-70, converted to break down by David Clay in Texas....David has designed the breakdown to avoid wear on the uninterrupted threads that can occur with the CoPilot.
The sights are being done by Ashley Emerson himself. The ammunition has been ordered from our own Randy Garret. The scope is conspicuously absent.
Different people buy the same weapon for different reasons.
For me, the 45-70 will be employed to put considerable power onto short range targets
as quickly as possible.
Why no scope? The Scout scope is fast...but not as fast as a ghost ring, especially on a stock that's set up for iron sights. As has been pointed out, the effective range of the 45-70 is 200 yards. That's the
outside limit. Most shots,
for me will be taken inside a 100 yards. In any case, optical magnification is not critical. Finally, IMHO, with the trajectory of that 45-70, the greatest margin of error will be
bullet drop, not point of aim. So if you scope it to get a more precise shot, your range estimation and trajectory/hold calculation best be reflex.
YMMV...and probably will.
Rich
[This message has been edited by Rich Lucibella (edited April 05, 2000).]