RE: Silver or Black...
 

Keep all of your scopes matte black, then you can swap them at random.

Camo and silver scopes limit your options and just kind of suck.

RE: Silver or Black...
 

Peanutbunkerandjelly,

I'm in the same situation (see my post about gun metal gray/silver finish on a Leupold scope for my 116 Savage). I think silver looks slick (matte does too). Most people tell me to get matte, but I have seen some really nice guns with silver scopes.

In fact, I think mixing black and silver/stainless mounting hardware looks cool too. So cool that I think I'm going to use my matte Warne Maximus Quick Release rings/base on my gun if I end up getting a silver scope. My gun also has a black synthetic stock.

The picture below came from Accurate Innovation's website (they make awsome walnut, bamboo and laminate stocks by the way). This guy's gun looks sweet! You can't see it up close, but I'm sure he wouldn't have spent his money on that expensive of a stock/scope if it didn't look right.

RE: Silver or Black...
 

Although your gun looks better than most, matte scopes, hardware, and black stocks usually have different shades too. Most stocks look more charcoal-gray than black. Your stock looks pretty sweet though.

RE: Silver or Black...
 

I don't have a problem with black optics on a stainless rifle. I think it looks just fine, which is good since silver(ish) finished scopes can be much harder to find and more expensive. Also, as mentioned, the "silver" or "stainless" finish on the scope can run anywhere from a dark greyish matte stainless to nickel to matte aluminum, and they seldom match the rifle. Black is black for scopes. The only difference is matte or gloss, but it's still black.

Here are a my stainless/black rifle combos...

My Remington M-700 with Zeiss Conquest matte black scope in stainless rings (though I wish I'd have gone with black rings now, because they don't perfectly match the receiver):

RE: Silver or Black...
 

And my Savage 10ML-II with a gloss black scope:

RE: Silver or Black...
 

You don't have problems seeing the open sights through your glass do you? I think open sights look great on bolt action rifles and am thinking of adding them to my rig. You never know, the sh** could hit the fan and my scope could become compromised. It would be nice to use my warne quick release rings to pop the scope off and switch to open sights.

RE: Silver or Black...
 

Not at all. The open sights are well out of the field of view of the scope that close to the objective. The only way you'd have problems is if the sights are very high and get very close to lined up with the center axis of the scope. Remember that the field of view of the scope is very small that close to the objective and comes right out of the center of the lens.

As for why I still have the open sights on the rifle... well it's really that I've just never bothered to take them off. Not to mention that the screws are black and would look funny sitting above the bore and I don't like the idea of leaving open screw holes on the barrel of my rifle to catch dirt and moisture. I know that a gunsmith could fill the holes flush and make it look clean, but why bother when the open sights don't interfere with anything. The only time I definitely remove them if they are present is if they would physically interfere with scope clearance.

As for needing them in a pinch, I'm really not worried about that too much. Modern scopes are pretty reliable and durable, and in case I do manage to break my scope, I ALWAYS have a spare RIFLE, sighted and ready to hunt with, in the truck if I'm hunting more than an hour from home. To be honest, I don't even know if the open sights on my muzzleloader are sighted in, so they'd be nearly worthless to me anyway.\

Mike