BSA scopes for rim fires

[olsingleshot]

Does anyone have experience with the scopes designed for rim fires?

[youthpastorjon]

My brother has a sweet 17 scope for his 17 HMR and he routinely shoots 200 plus yards with it and is dead on.  Granted he has an uncanny ability to be extremely accurate but I know he loves this scope.  He recently put this scope on his 22-250 just to try it out and was sighted it in at 250 yards.  He has never had a problem with it and has been using it over a year now.

[TommyD]

I believe that there are two differnces between scopes designed for heavy recoiling centerfire rifles and the rimfires.

First they usually don't have to be as ruggedly recoil resistant as a rifle firing a 30-06.

Second is the matter of parallax. The practical implication of parallax is that the reticle and the image are sharply focussed together.

In a centerfire rifle scope the parallax is often set at 100 to 150 yards and beyond. That means you will see your target clearly when at a longer range. This can be a problem if you are shooting at a close target, say 25 to 50 yards. The reticle will be sharp, but the image blurred. You can adjust focus for the image, but the reticle will be then blurry. Initially I had a very nice Leupold scope (from my 30-06) mounted on my 22 rifle. I could see great at 100, but close targets were tough.

In a rimfire scope the parallax is set for shorter range which is more appropriate for the distances one normally shoots a 22.

The best of both worlds comes with the Adjustable Objective (AO) scopes. I think Leupold calls it their EFR (extend focal range) scope. They AO scopes cost a bit more, but are really worth it. I just bought the Weaver Classic AO rimfire scope 3-9x. The difference is like night and day. There is a focus ring on the far (objective lens) end of the scope and will bring the target into tack sharp focus at any distance from 10 yards to infinity. At 3x it doesn't make that much difference, but you can REALLY tell the difference at higher magnifications.

Tom

[mattmillerrx]

I have been using the .22 sweet on my browning bl22.  It is a 3-9 x 40 and has turrents that can be adjusted for different distances and bullet wts.  The turrents are not on with any of the ammo I have tried but am planning to put tape over them and make my own.  As of right now they are handy, they will get you on paper at said distance and back to starting place accurately they just need a few more adjustments up and you are on center.  It is a very heavy scope and adds some wt to the gun.  I did drop the gun, right on the rear edge of the scope, did not loose zero nor was there any other damage to the scope had the lens caps or would have at the very least scratch the lens. 

I know they get a bad rep for there cheap scopes but have had good luck with this one so far.  If your use is for plinking/target shooting and you are on a budget I think the BSA will do you fine.  I may even hunt with mine later this year but orginally bought it for target shooting.

[Keith L]

The simplest way to understand paralax is at the range a fixed objective scope is set for you can move your head position all around and the point of impact remains the same.  Paralax is not a problem if you are always able to have the perfect cheek weld with the stock and your eye is always in the exact position relative to the scope.  If you are not always in the same spot at ranges not paralax corrected your point of impact will vary.  Adjustable objective scopes are ideal because they allow you to set this distance for the range you are shooting.

I have a BSA Sweet 17 on one of my 17 HMRs and it works fine so far.  I drove the clerk at Cabela's wild looking through all the Sweet 17s he had in the place before I chose one.  Each one had flaws with the optics, and I had to choose the one that troubled me the least.  I would never be happy with one mail ordered because I would always wonder if the next one in the bin wouldn't have been better.  Mine was in the initial issue of the product and they may be better now.

[Glanceblamm]

Seems like most of my problems regarding paralax error went away when I stopped using the little 17mm or 19mm tubed scopes that were designed to fit the standard grooves on most rimfires.
The 1" tubed scopes have been much better and a standard 4X32mm is plenty for the (point blank range) of the .22LR
These can still have that error with some brands being a lot more than others. A quick check that you can do (and at different ranges) would be to position that rifle where you can push\pull it back and forth while looking through the scope. An error can be seen if the crosshairs appear to (Jump) within the rectile.

[tn_junk]

Had two BSA scopes. One pure junk and the other doing very well after couple of years. Both on .22 Rifles.
Just depends on quality control the day they were built.

alan

[Victor3]

 I've never had one, but a friend of mine put one on his old Remington bolt-action 22 (The model# escapes me now).

 He and I used to have friendly competitions at 50 yds off the bench. First day he used the scope he had trouble getting on target, and it seemed to both of us that the windage wasn't tracking right. It appeared to have a major "dead spot" where the POI would not change when reversing direction of the adjustment.

 On top of that, there were some tiny screws in the knurled ring on the objective bell that were loose; one almost falling out. The holes appeared to be tapped way oversize.

 I'll stick with my old El Paso Weaver K series scopes for close range work. They can often be had for less than a new BSA and have never let me down.  The polished & blued steel tube looks more appropriate on a traditional style rifle to me anyhow

 Lower one is a K4 on my CZ 452 American...

[Keith L]

The quality on the Chinese imports has been coming up, but now so is the price.  The price of fuel has more than doubled the cost of getting a container of goods from Asia to America, and it is also really escalating the cost of raw materials world wide.  I think companies with quality issues with their products are going to have trouble competing when they are no longer cheap.  Be careful when buying cheap optics.  YOu often get what you pay for.

[jgalar]

The only BSA product I have used is one of their cheap red dot scopes that I have mounted on a Remington 597. The scope is far more reliable than the Remington is!

[Brithunter]

The only BSA product I have used is one of their cheap red dot scopes that I have mounted on a Remington 597. The scope is far more reliable than the Remington is!

Careful I can here them heating the tar and plucking the chickens  One must never criticise Big Green