Feedback on BSA & Simmons pistol scopes?

[Col. Plink]

Hey y'all!

I am going to do a 'scout' scope mount and optic for my VZ-24 8mm Mauser, which has a minimum eye relief of 13" from the forward end of the opening in the receiver.

After having done some research on eye relief range vs. magnification, it looks like a BSA pistol scope is coming in as the top contender. It's a 2-7x28 with 12-20" of eye relief, billed at $78 at MidwayUSA.

The Simmons is a 11.8-17.6" eye relief fixed 4x power for $91 at Midway.

Anyone out there have any experience with these? I have actually had BSA pistol scopes come recommended. The scout scopes I'm seeing have a maximum eye relief of 10-13" instead of a minimum (meaning their variable magnification would be lost on me).

 

[Smokey Joe]

BSA--Hmmph!!

Col. Plink--The "standard wisdom" in my neck of the woods is that BSA is a cheap POS. My own experience bears this out with all of one BSA 'scope, and I will never buy another.

Simmons is a slightly better name, IMHO. Have owned ONE Simmons, and it did not fail me. Still pretty cheap, though.

However, for a scout 'scope rig, you want a SCOUT 'scope, not a pistol 'scope. Spring for the $$ to get a Leupold scout 'scope--you'll never be sorry. The Bushnell scout 'scope is also a good item I understand, but no experience personally.

It seems that in optics, even more than usually, it's true that you get what you pay for. If you buy a $90 'scope you get $90 worth of quality. Spend 3x that much, and get 3x the quality.

 

[Col. Plink]

I don't know...I've had fabulous performance from some 4x BSA scopes that were $12.

Scout scopes typically do not have enough eye relief: mine needs to have 13" minimum.

I'm open to suggestions, however.

 

[flipajig]

I dont have a scout rifle but I do shoot some handguns with scopes on them and one thing that ive leard is you pay for what you get. I have one 4x simmons so far so good and its mounted on 44mag. I also have a burris,wever and a bushnell and out of the three I like the bushnell and the wever both were over the 150 mark I have one other barrel that im going to scope and its 223 and it will wear a bushnell or a wever.

 

[fireman5069]

Didn't have luck with BSA. Truglo was very good.

 

[ColeK]

The BSA scope I had was POS. The Simmons my father used for years was very good. I’ll stay with my Leopoles, Nikons, and Burris’

 

[chicharrones]

I have a Simmons ProHunter 4x32 pistol scope mounted on my K31 rifle using a S&K mount. It works well enough for the shooting range and allows me to shoot as accurately as the gun will allow, which happens to be sub-MOA with this rifle.

However, the eye relief just isn't far enough for my K31. I really need to move the scope forward about 1 or 2 more inches. The way it is, I have to move my head back on the stock which makes standing and shooting feel unnatural. S&K makes a weaver style mount that would probably let me slide the scope forward just enough to make me happy, but I bought the smaller, cleaner looking S&K style mount. None of this is the scope's fault, just the execution of the installation on my K31. Other than that, this Simmons is a good scope for the money.

With the Simmons mounted, the rear of the scope is about 17.5" forward of the butt plate of the rifle. Minimum eye relief of the scope seems right at 12".

 

[LlanoEstacado]

I put a BSA handgun scope on my .44 SBH. By the 4th round of 240 gr. WWB, it was gone. Sent it back and got another one a month or 2 later. That BSA now sits on my Ruger Mk. 1 .22. Seems to handle .22 recoil fine. Not sure how it would handle 8mm centerfire rifle recoil - I'd probably put my $ elsewhere.

 

[Nashanthra]

The problem I have encountered selling and using BSA products is quality control. You can get one scope that is ok (for the money), and another from the same lot that will have you scratching your head how it left the factory. Although, oddly enough BSA is now the importer for Kahles, muhahaha!

 

[Ky Larry]

I've never had good luck with BSA optics of any kind. In this case, it seems you get what you pay for. The BSA red dots are especially fragile. Never say on that would take more than .22lr recoil. YMMV. If you've had good luck with them, good for you.

 

[DBR]

If Weaver makes what you need I think it would be a "best buy". A second choice would be the low end Nikons. I own several recent Weavers and I been impressed with their optics and overall quality for the money.

Try Natchez for the Weaver. They usually have good prices.

 

[Nashanthra]

+1 On DBR's post!

Natchez might have what the OP is looking for.

 

[The Bushmaster]

BSA & Simons?? Not in my gun safe...