Lloyd..
yep, when i got the 45-70 with the long barrel, i was told that i wasnt going to like it for hunting.. i never have any issue with it.
i hunt the gwinn swamp alot, near the small town of Rock in the UP. my brother has a place there.
and, ive to the black lake swamp area, and hunted the river bottoms, against several peoples warnings, never had the barrel or scope get caught or even bumped. yes , the overall size of the scope is a consideration, but more looking at weight then anything else i think..
shootall, ive been to all 3 of them states. its beautiful there, but i didnt get a chance to hunt, so i'll take your word for it.
but the size diff between my 4x and my 3x9 is small , i dont know about the weight diff. but im not doing any crawling around where i hunt, well, not alot anyhow, lol...