Mounting: Bronco v. Marlin

Just to document:  Yesterday, I brought the Marlin (45/70) out on the porch along with the new Bronco, just to see how it compared when mounting at speed.  You may recall that on a right-hand mount, the Bronco seems to have a noticeably high comb, causing me to have to crush my cheek down or hold my head much farther back toward the buttplate.  (Oddly, no such problem seems to attend a left-hand mount, which gives a perfect sight picture with no effort at all.)  I was curious to see if I'd have the same problem on the Marlin, which I haven't worked with in a while.

Nope.  The levergun's ghost-ring sights land just where I remembered, with a very comfortable cheek weld whether I go perfectly erect or take a more aggressive mount for managing recoil.  Of interest, it was also obvious that the length of pull on the Bronco is longer than the shortened Marlin stock;  I do like my LOPs at between 12 and 12.5", despite conventional wisdom, and I've had cause to be happy about that when in the field, shooting prone, with a thick jacket on.  :-)    I just have to think more consciously about mounting the Bronco, with the right hand at least.  I'm certainly getting better at that, but it struck me as odd.  I'll not rule out some stock work to shorten the LOP and maybe increase the drop at the comb just a little bit. We'll see.

And boy, I do love my Marlin.  Dry snaps reminded me of just how...unbelievably magnificent the trigger is on this piece.  Part of it was just the lucky coincidence of a really good M1895 trigger to begin with, part of it was the ministrations of the 'smith at Gunsmoke in Denver, and part of it was the truly amazing NP3 finish from Robar, but still...daaang.  Lever guns simply do not have triggers like this, but there it is anyway.

Anyway:  duly noted on the sight alignment during mounts.

I should get the chrony out before long and see how consistent the Bronco is.  Wee!