All was well for a while. Then I started playing around with 405gr loads. Big booming, teeth rattling, brain shakers in this little gun. I called them my "fun loads."
Super pin point accuracy didn't seem as important (maybe it was the flinching) even though it was still there and still very accurate.
About this same time I sold my "M4gery". (A short AR-15 carbine) My favorite part of that gun was the Swan flip up ghost ring sight, and forward mounted Comp ML2 Aimpoint sight. I started to miss that. I began to toy with the idea of an Ashley style ghost ring rear sight, by XS Sight systems. Only I didn't really care for the look of them, or the front sight they use. About that time I came across the DRC version of the XS sight, with it's protective housing which I really liked.
That combined with Brockman's winged front sight would give me the sight picture I missed on my M-4gery.
The Brockman's front post is threaded for elevation adjustment, but is extremely wide,
made for real fast up close work I suppose. I knew I'd never have any long range ability with it, so I thinned it to a more usable width. I now had the battle rifle sights that I missed.
I also decided that if I was spending money on things I didn't really need, and going with the "lever gun tactical" look, I'd go one step farther and get a large loop lever from Dave Clay (DRC). This at least, would be practical and stop my fingers from getting mashed inside the little factory lever with those big kicking loads.
All these parts came together and I'd assembled a little 45-70 in the very trendy "Express sight" dress, that I'd been trying to avoid in the beginning. I went from stock sights that weren't accurate enough for me, to sights that were. Then boredom set in, and I switched to sights that were nowhere near as accurate as the previous two types. Oh well.
It was "oh well" for a little while. But then the memory of how accurate this little gun could be kept popping back into my head. Again the M4gery did it to me. I thought about how nice it was to be able to switch back and forth between sight systems and iron sights with the Swan extended rail and about that forward mounted dot sight. All while still being able to put a standard rifle scope on now and then. I guess I missed the gadget factor on my "EBR". What most people would call, the over used "T" word... "tactical". (whatever that means) Hmmm....
I'd used extended eye relief scopes on rifles in the scout rifle configuration several times, and always liked the idea and had good results. I also had a spare 2x pistol scope lying around. A scout rail would allow me to use the iron sights for the bone cruncher loads (in case they reintroduce grizzly bears to the neighborhood), AND sight the scope for the super accurate 300 grain JHPs. I'd be able to shoot the flinch maker loads, and the "reach out and touch em" loads. That, and I'd have a carbine I could hang junk on like I could with my EBR! So an XS scout rail and some Warne quick detachable rings were the next logical purchase. This was getting exspensive. (the only thing missing now was an evil black stock)
Much to my surprise, this worked better than I'd ever expected. I'd never realized just how accurate the little rifle was, nor would I, had I stuck with just the express sights. When I finally got the scope sighted in, and tried it on the 100 yard range, I was shocked at how well it shoots. Many bolt action rifle don't shoot this well.
