Scope question

[T-town]

While rambling through some of my old hunting "stuff" I came upon an old 1 3/4  X  5  Redfield Widefield scope that Dad bought back in the mid 70's for a .243. It has long been replaced by a 3x9. My question is this: is there anything inherent about Redfields made in the 70's that dictate it should not be mounted on a 12 gauge shooting 3.5" magnums?

What about 3" mags?

Since posting the Q I've done some surfing. Looks like it's been used on a lot of 30-06 and bigger rifle calibers. However, the only shotgun reference I saw was someone asking where they could get the  scope repaired after the crossshairs broke while shooting it on a shotgun. Did not state type load and number of rounds fired. Does this help anyone form an opinion?


Thanks guys

[cannonball]

My first scope was a Redfield that my Dad bought for me back in 1981. I had it mounted on a 30-30 Winchester on a side mount. Being 10 years old, I beat the heck out of that scope dragging it around in the deer woods and never had a problem with it. I know the old Redfields were good scopes, I would give it a try.

[Hognutz]

Putting a rifle scope on a turkey gun may present a focus problem, at close ranges. Make sure you look through it at 10 and 20 yards to make sure it is not blurry. That is a great scope, by the way. I own one myself. Mine is probably 35 -37 years old. Mike

[hawk]

Eye relief....make sure you have lots of it.

[bencattin]

The first scope I put on my H&R 12 ga was a 4 power Tasco that I got in 1975. It lasted about 3 seasons and then fell apart inside. The recoil from the 3 inch mags with 2 oz shot did it in.  I use a shotgun scope now and so far so good.

[Hognutz]

Those old Redfields were put together much better than the Tasco's. Tasco is pretty much the bottom of the line.

[T-town]

I appreciate the insight. After setting it up on the gun and evaluating the eye relief, I believe that if I scope a shotgun, I'm going to go with one designed for shotguns. It's been a while since I've been hit between the eyes, and while I wouldn't be suprised if it happens again before I give up hunting, I don't want it to be with a 3.5" magnum. And this setup looks like it would do the trick.  My son's all grown up and moved off with a bunch of our guns, so I've been thinking about a new .22. That old Redfield would be perfect...

[davisd9]

Try a Simmons Pro-diamond 4 x 32mm.  Just mounted one on my 835 and it is clear and plenty of eye relief.  They are very reasonably priced.  There is also one with an adjustable magnification, but I like the fixed better.  Good luck!