Weaver 63B and Other Mounts - How to Stop Ruining Your Lever Guns with Picatinny Rails

 Blocks on blocks. I've coined this term, I think, to refer to how people will put a picatinny rail on top of a rifle to attach a red dot using a generic mount. In the video below, you have a prime example of the phrase.

There are better ways than slapping a picatinny rail onto of a rifle and ruining the aesthetic. For example, in the above video, the red dot is probably about 2 inches over the bore. If we assume that the dot in question uses an RMR footprint, then instead of spending the money on a generic rail, use a dedicated mount like from EGW.

By using a dedicated mount, you remove the extra and unnecessary layer of material saving height and weight. There are mounts for RMRs, Fastfires and even Aimpoint's Micro. Here's a great example of a low profile, dedicated mount from Phoenix Weaponry.

Phoenix Weaponry's mount. They have others for Henry and Marlin PCCs.

Depending on the mount, you can use various mounts for different guns. I used the Burris Fastfire 3 mount for the 336 and 1895 on my Marlin 1894 for a while until Midwest Industries came out with their T1 mount. I swapped the T1 mount for an Ashley Performance mount for a while but harvested the FX-II for the Henry Homesteader. ArgentGranjero went back to being the ArgentVaquero. In the three pictures below, you can see the first, second and third iteration of my Marlin 1894.

This is the initial version of the 1894 CST with the Burris 336 mount

This is the ProjectVaquero version of the 1894 CST with a MI T1 mount

Finally, this is the ProjectGranjero version which didn't last long as the scope went to the Homesteader

In the above pictures, none of the mounts used are picatinny. The Burris mount is for the 336 and 1895 rifles for Marlin but because it only uses two of the holes, you're able to use the mount on either the front or the back. Since the distance between either pair of holes is the same (half inch), you can use the 2-hole mounts for the 336 and 1894 on the 1894 and Henry guns. The Weaver 63B mount pattern is what 336 and 1895 use so many of those mounts are compatible with the larger Henry receivers like the Homesteader and the 45-70, 30-30 and 410 versions of their guns. The smaller guns like the Big Boy rifles use a different layout but the rear holes are still half inch. 

The Homesteader as stated above is capable of hosting the same 2-hole mounts as the Marlin 336 and 1895. In my case, the Burris 336 mount hosted the Fast Fire 3. It was very low profile and I think looks pretty good. It's clean and simple. 

The Ashley Performance 1895 / 336 mount also fit nicely. I harvested the FX-II that was on ProjectGranjero for what I think will be a permanent installment on the Homesteader. I do suffer from a case of Can't Leave Things Alone so it's possible the Homesteader can change. 

I had briefly considered using Farrow Tech's Red Dot Mounting Plate on the Homesteader and harvesting the SIG Romeo5 from the T1 mount. See the picture below where FT has their mount on Marlin. I'd be willing to bet, that mount would work for the 1894 since it only uses the front two holes.

Farrow Tech's Low Profile Mount

The Henry Big Boy rifles use a three hole mount but looking at the rear pair of holes, they are around half inch apart which is the same as the 336 and similar. You should be able to use a 2-hole mount for a 336 (like that Burris mount) on a Big Boy. 

In summary, you don't need to use picatinny rails on everything. Use pic rails where it makes sense or at least looks good. If you look around, you can find mounts that you can use for your scopes and red dots to keep things low profile and clean.