No scope on a 20 ga with a rimfire rail?

F

FirstFreedom

Moderator
Guys, I just bought an older Savage combo rifle in .22lr over and 20 ga under. On the barrel, it's stamped "Do not use scope when shooting shotgun shells" or similar. The gun has a rimfire dovetail rail on it. I know the likely concern is the scope not staying put under the recoil of the 20 ga, but is there any other concern? It seems to me that if I am shooting light loads that I find will not change my zero (with good rings & a little loctite), then there should be no harm in this, should there? Thanks.

http://www.savagearms.com/24f20.htm

The one I got is a tad different from this one - it's got wood furniture, the breakdown button is on the front of the trigger guard, not a tang swing lever like that one, and there's no weaver-style rail like that one.

Here, it's about like this one, only mine's wood is not as nice:

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=44030755

I'm thinking I got a decent deal at $150.
 
Also, scopes intended for .22's often have very little eye relief, which isn't a problem on .22's since they hardly recoil at all.

Move up to something bigger, and you have problems.

Oh, and the rings probably wouldn't stay put with 20 gauge loads.
 
I have a 20ga/.22 variant that is scoped. The issue is less of the scope moving under recoil, but rather one of getting socked in eye the by the scope under recoil (the classic half moon cut).

You need a scope with sufficient eye relief to mount it as far forward as possible to preclude this. Mine is an older Weaver K-4 mounted in steel tip off rings.
 
I would agree with the other posters on the thought it was the fear of a person getting a scope cut. I am sure the company assumes a person would install a cheaper 22 scope with little eye relief increasing the chance of getting hurt and their liability for not warning you. If you install a "shotgun" scope you will get the eye relief but you may have to change the base. I seem to remember that someone makes a 1" ring that fits on a 22 rail, which should work.
 
OK, thanks. That's what I needed to know. If it's just a matter of scope-eye, that's very easy to account for; something I would have done anyway - I want to put a 1-4 on it, which will have a lot of eye relief on 1 and 2, if mounted forward. I thought that Savage felt that there's no way rimfire rings could hold a scope in place on the dovetail under 20 ga recoil.
 
If keeping the rings in place does become an issue one could always add another one or two. But a forwar mounted shotgun scope should do all that needs to be done. Sort of the Scout Rifle concept.
 
That's what I'm thinking - a 50-yd parallax-free shotgun or rimfire scope (preferably shotgun-designated, so that if I send it for warranty they can't say "why'd you put a rimfire scope on a shotgun?"). Good point - I can simply secure it with either 3 or 4 rings instead of 2, if need be. Okla is 'the toll road state', in addition to NY - seems our legis-critters are quite fond of putting up toll roads all over the state, with a promise to quit charging after they pay for themselves - but whaddya know - the booths never seem to come down, even 40 years later...damndest thing.
 
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