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Biffy3 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Biffy3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Hello all Newbie to forum
    Posted: October/29/2008 at 23:17
Hey fellas, new to the forum here and must say I have been really taken in by all the information that you guys pass around. Some really helpful and some not so but that is what makes this country great everyone can have their own opinion and think freely. I wish I would have checked this forum out prior to purchasing my BSA Catseye scope, not a whole lot of good things being said. So I have to say when I went out today to sighter in I wasn't expecting much. Had her dialed in on my third group and did the ol grandpa shake it and smack it test and fired 2 more three shot groups and she seemed to hold the zero just fine(for now). Two of the guys I hunt with are your run of the mill Joe Lunch Box( Joe "The Plummer" or Joe "Six Pack" whom ever may be your cup of tea) and they actually were the ones who told me about the BSA scopes and they have had zero issues(knock on wood) so I figured hey its $80 lets see what happens. I assume alot of the hating on these optics are the fact that they are cheaper and users have had bad experiences. I would actually like to hear some experiences on this as to form a more informed opinion of these optics.
 
I look forward to sharing input and experiences with you all.
 
Happiness is Knob Creek in a glass on ice.
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bricat View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote bricat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/29/2008 at 23:31
I don't use BSA optics so I can't comment on them, however, I will say WELCOME TO THE OPTICSTALK FORUM!
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Folically Challenged View Drop Down
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Joined: October/20/2008
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Folically Challenged Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/30/2008 at 06:38
Originally posted by bricat bricat wrote:

I don't use BSA optics so I can't comment on them, however, I will say WELCOME TO THE OPTICSTALK FORUM!
 
Ditto.
 
I'd also like to add that your taste in Bourbon is impeccable! 
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cyborg View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote cyborg Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/30/2008 at 10:42
Welcome to our little piece of Heaven on earth.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote supertool73 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/30/2008 at 10:51
I have two of them.  4-16x40 I believe.  I had one on a savage .308 for a while the other I had on my AR.  It seemed to hold zero okay while I was sighting it in, but the optics were not very good once you got to about 8-10x.  I just figured oh well, I really don't need more than that for hunting anyway. 

So off to do some hunting I went.  2nd day of the hunt, I spotted a spike bull elk across a canyon from me just feeding.  I was on the east slope of a ridge so the sun was above but in front of me.  I got all settled in and put my gun up to fire and all I could see was white from the sun.  It did not matter what power my scope was on, the glare was so bad that I could not see the elk good enough to shoot.  So I called my dad on the radio to come over to where I was.  It took him 30 minutes to get to me since he was two ridges in the other direction.  When he got there he handed me the 7mm with a Leupold on it and I shot the elk. 
That scope came off my rifle that night and I never used it again. 


Edited by supertool73 - October/30/2008 at 11:44
Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own."
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Ick View Drop Down
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Joined: October/08/2008
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ick Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/30/2008 at 11:20
Welcome, new here as well.  Avoid the ladies on the forum.  They all belong to Ed and should not be flirted with.
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Ick, Ed's boy,www.ick.bz
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Tip69 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Tip69 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/30/2008 at 11:26
Bif - Welcome to the OT!  I don't have any experience with BSA, so can't help other than to say I have stayed away from them due to several unflattering reports - some from here and some from other sources.
take em!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote lucytuma Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/30/2008 at 14:52

I'd spent alot of range time with an inexpensive scope, you want to be totally confident in your hunting tools.   

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." - Thomas Jefferson
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RifleDude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/30/2008 at 15:17
I've spent some range time with 3 BSA scopes, all of them belonging to my friends.  The first one was so bad optically that I had to take frequent breaks from shooting because it gave me a headache from my eyes trying to focus through it.  The other two both had the reticle move during the first time they were taken to the range.  The reticle actually rotated inside the scope when the power ring was turned.
 
Although there are a few true bargains to be had in the optics world, and there are also some that are grossly overpriced, for the most part, you get what you pay for.
 
Welcome to OT, Biff!
Ted


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SamC View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote SamC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/30/2008 at 15:17
Never used a BSA product but agree your taste in Bourbon is absolutely impeccable! 
Sam

Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.
Winston Churchill
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FunShot View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote FunShot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/30/2008 at 19:52

I am from the SE Asia and here the most common optics used by most shooters or hunters are BSA, Bushnell(china made), Tasco(china), and Leapers.

I also don't own a BSA but most shooters i know use BSA optics particularly their sweet 22 or sweet 17 series since rimfires are the most popular and only type of rifle you can own. I've looked thru them and i have to say that for the price, they have good bright and clear image specially at low magnifications. When you go past 8x though, things get more blurry or dim than a comparable mid priced scope and specially the hi end brands. But like i said for the price, and based on image alone, they are worth it.

As for dependability and for holding zero, it's a mixed crowd as some are satisfied but the others have complaints. Most common complaint is that they don't hold zero well specially when transported(gun and scope) thru bumpy terrain. The only logic i can see is that the people who complain are the one's who either occasionally or commonly go target shooting aside from hunting. Most likely because, being paper shooters, every mm shift in POI is crtitical while the pure hunters using bsa optics, a .5inch and even 1 inch shift in POI due to the scope not holding zero is negligible and unnoticeable. Big%20Smile
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swtucker View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote swtucker Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/30/2008 at 19:58
I've got a story or two about Knob Creek, but none for BSA....but BSA's are kinda the 'old crow' of scopes....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 3_tens Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/30/2008 at 22:38
I have a 2-7 sweet 17 It held up well enough on a 17HMR for about 300 rounds. Then I noticed that when I dialed up then back down I was no longer at zero. The adjustments may or may not return to the same point. If the scope is not repeatable it is of no use to me. It shoots well sometimes then it will stick well off of where it was centered. The concept of the scope is great but the manufacturing is weak.
Folks ain't got a sense of humor no more. They don't laugh they just get sore.

Need to follow the rules. Just hard to determine which set of rules to follow
Now the rules have changed again.
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Folically Challenged View Drop Down
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Joined: October/20/2008
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Folically Challenged Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/31/2008 at 07:03
I just remembered that I do have an experience with a BSA scope:  a red dot, to be precise.
 
Back when I started hunting again after a 20 year layoff, I had somewhat of a notion that optics were optics.  I let a gun store guy talk me into topping my AR-15 with a BSA Red Dot, ''cause it looked like what the soldiers were carrying.
 
Other than the scope being extrmely dim, and the red dot being so big that it covered 3 rings of the target even at 50 yards, it was a great scope.  No, the size of the dot was not adjustable.  So, for a $20 scope... well, it wasn't quite worth $20 to me. 
 
I then put a Nikon Prostaff 3-9x40 on the rifle, back when the goin' rate was $150, and I've been pretty well pleased with it.  Not the greatest scope in the world, but it's certainly serviceable under most conditions that I'm going to use it.
 
Oh... I also tend to mix my Knob Creek with club soda - just like Dad does.
 
FC
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swtucker View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote swtucker Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/31/2008 at 09:36
Originally posted by Folically Challenged Folically Challenged wrote:

I just remembered that I do have an experience with a BSA scope:  a red dot, to be precise.
 
Back when I started hunting again after a 20 year layoff, I had somewhat of a notion that optics were optics.  I let a gun store guy talk me into topping my AR-15 with a BSA Red Dot, ''cause it looked like what the soldiers were carrying.
 
Other than the scope being extrmely dim, and the red dot being so big that it covered 3 rings of the target even at 50 yards, it was a great scope.  No, the size of the dot was not adjustable.  So, for a $20 scope... well, it wasn't quite worth $20 to me. 
 
I then put a Nikon Prostaff 3-9x40 on the rifle, back when the goin' rate was $150, and I've been pretty well pleased with it.  Not the greatest scope in the world, but it's certainly serviceable under most conditions that I'm going to use it.
 
Oh... I also tend to mix my Knob Creek with club soda - just like Dad does.
 
FC
 
I've also been pleased with Nikon Prostaffs....for the money they aren't bad scopes.  I had one and my friend shoots my .300 win mag handloads out of a light rifle..with a prostaff and he hasn't had any problems...other than he couldn't find an elk to shoot.
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Biffy3 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Biffy3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/31/2008 at 11:00
I have heard real good things about the prostaff as well.
 
 
I went to the range again yesterday and have to say that so far so good, guess I will find out in a couple weeks when deer season opens.
 
Knob Creek over ice with a splash of tonic does the trick as well.
Happiness is Knob Creek in a glass on ice.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote medic52 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October/31/2008 at 22:55
Howdy Hello and Welcome, IMHO- I tried BSA, never again B(better) S(stay) A (away) from. I tend to lean toward Crown Royal Special Reserve myself and even treated myself to a couple of shots of there ER Line (20.00 a shot) and have found that I can tolerate there Cask 16 also..........not even enough of that would make me take a BSA again.....
"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him." G.K. Chesterton
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BayouBuck Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: November/04/2008 at 12:47
Picked up a rem 700 ADL 270 that I was told would not group very well at a gun show as a project gun. It had a BSA cats Eye 3-9x50 ( I think) on it. I removed the scope and put it on a 10/22 I had tricked out 3" groups at 50 yards. So I went back got the 700 and found a scope to try on it. MOA all day long with a old Redfield I had. Someone lost a good rifle for $200 that day because of a crappie scope. I also had one on a 17hmr the sweet 17 that held zero good but one day at the range I was spotting for guy shooting  a 44mag next to me and ever since that day the ajustments would not move. I dont know if the pressure from the revolver did it or what but I was not that close to him. I am not sure but I will never buy another.
We, the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln
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