Whoa! I just noticed that I replied having not seen some of the prior posts. (Browser refresh issues.) And I typed the meat of what I have below before I noticed. Sorry, I didn't mean to ignore anyone. Hopefully my reply won't seem too disjointed.
No, can't shame me into a better scope (for this rifle). Maybe someday, but first I'm saving my money for a Remington Model 700 Sendero and an appropriately expensive optic for it. The Marlin is my trigger time practice tool until I can get the Sendero. The strategy: get a used Sendero (for the stock and action) and then get a custom barrel. The current plan is for either a really nice Leupold or Night Force with a Horus reticle. But that's going to be awhile, so meanwhile I'm going to be cheap on other stuff.
FiveInADime, wow! I love that stock. Where did you find aftermarkets like that!
But back to the measurement, I was thinking it through this way:
- Working upwards we have 0.150 (barrel to dovetail) + 0.774 (dovetail to ring) + 0.500 (ring to center-line) = 1.424" (barrel to center-line)
- Working downwards we have center-line to base of objective is 1.860 / 2 = 0.930
- That leaves 1.424 - 0.930 = 0.494 between the base of the objective and the top of the barrel (using the BKL as an example).
- In short, I have just short of 1/2 to spare. (And the lower turret block is 0.100, so I'm okay there too.)
Does this make seem correct? My head hurts too.
Of course, all that said, I can't justify $60 bucks to mount a $50/$100 scope unless it makes a critical difference in shot consistency. If FiveInADime has consistent performance with a $15 set then that's the way I'm going.
Still, thank you everyone for the lesson. (And let me know if I'm still bumfuddled with my calculation.)
Thanks again,
Andrew