BSA 8-32x44 Review

This post is to review the BSA 8-32x44 scope I have on my Stevens 200 rifle. I picked up this scope from Cabela's about 3 years ago. I purchased this for about $100, after checking out the reviews on it extensively. I was cautious because it was such a cheap scope, however I didn't have the money to put a $1000 scope on a $200 rifle.

As for features, it is fairly simple. There is a nice black rubberized coating that does not shine. It has an eye piece adjustment for the magnification, and on the objective lens for there is the parallax adjustment. It also has a mil-dot reticle, with 1/8 MOA clicks for adjustment.
The eye relief is short, about 3.5 inches. The optics are clear, but not optimal. The difference in light is readily available between this scope and higher dollar ones. I was not surprised at this because it was an inexpensive scope. The scope also seems solid and well built. I wouldn't hammer nails with it, but I'm not afraid of breaking it with any sort of normal use either.

Mounting this scope I have a tall scope rings on due to the size of both the eye piece and the objective lens. With medium rings, the bolt comes very close to the eye piece and can make reloading difficult. These rings, I've decided, need to be replaced. They close on in an uneven way and don't look as sturdy as they might be. Also because the close to one side it tends to turn the scope as they are tightened. I have also put on "flip-up" covers on it. These are clear to allow me to look through the scope when they are closed if need be.
Additionally, this scope came with screw on/off covers and a four inch sun shade in the box.

In the field I've put over a hundred rounds through this rifle with this scope and it keeps the zero very well. The adjustments also seem to on at 1/8 MOA, as far as I can tell.

Overall I give this scope very high marks for the beginning shooter who wants high power when it comes to the scope. I think if you have the money and experience this may not be the scope for you, but I have no problems recommending this scope for someone who can deal with a slightly lower quality scope and wants to save a good deal of money.

-Steven Kipp

Practice

I went to the range a few days ago to practice prone shooting with a 22 long rifle. I found this to be good practice, but with a "light" feeling. It felt very different than shooting my 270. There wasn't a great deal of anticipation because of the light recoil and because 22 long rifle is very cheap. There seems to be a certain amount of weight with every center fire rifle shot that the 22 does not have. (Note: This does not apply to safety. All guns deserve and are treated with respect and caution) It feels like every shoot needs to matter with the larger guns, where the 22 I can load another magazine and have at it again. I'm wondering if this is more just me, or is normal at the range.

Don't misunderstand me, I think any trigger time is good. Getting into prone and working on form is great with any rifle, even shooting a BB gun in the basement. (Again with proper safety) But could this feeling of "Oh, I'll just throw some more lead down range." missing the point? Or worse yet training me incorrectly? It seems to me that when one is shooting long range, for what ever reason, every shot counts. Shouldn't that be the way we practice too?

What I think I may do to solve this is take Massad Ayoob's advice and make every shot worth something. For example for every shot I miss I owe my wife a dollar. I believe that method would put me in the right mind set.

Do you have any additional ideas? We'd love to hear from you. Comment so everyone can see or drop us an e-mail.

-Steven Kipp

Stevens 200 Review

This post is a review of my current rifle, a Stevens 200. Savage makes the Stevens brand. It even has the chief head mark on the bottom of the grip.

The other aesthetically appealing thing, for me at least, is that “STEVENS” is printed on the bolt. Having the same name as the rifle is somewhat of kick for me. Okay so I’m easily amused.

What drew me to this rifle in the first place was the price. It was the first year Savage had come out with these Stevens rifles and it was tagged at $199 from Bass Pro. It didn’t look like much when I bought it, and I wasn’t expecting much taking it home. I was mainly after a big game hunting rifle. I was extremely surprised when I got this rifle home and learned more about rifles in general. It had many features of a good rifle, but I hadn’t the knowledge or experience to look for them before I had bought it. Point being, I lucked out.

Starting from the business end of the gun, I found it had a free-floating, blued barrel. It is 22” long with a 1:10 twist. The barrel is also light and tapered, with a rounded crown on it.

Moving back we get to the stock. It’s a gray synthetic stock that is mostly hallow. Being hollow does give it a bit of a flimsy feel to it. It is, however, strong enough that I don’t worry about it. There are standard swivel studs (one on the fore-end and on the shoulder rest) that I have mounted a bi-pod and attached a military style sling. On top is my 8-32x44 BSA scope. I’ll get into the accessories with later posts.

The action is chambered for 270 Winchester. It has a standard cylindrical bolt with the afore mentioned “STEVENS” mark on it. The bolt is smooth and feels strong. The head of the bolt also has some checkering on it, I am assuming for slip resistance. But the best part of the action, other than the fact that it is safe and works, is the safety. It is on top of the action where your thumb rests as you are ready to fire. It is in a very natural position, which makes operating it very easy and natural to operate.

The trigger is a standard trigger, as the Stevens brand does not come with an option for the Accu-trigger. It seems to have a nice break on it, but my experience in that area is limited. The pull weight is still set at what ever it rolled off the factory line at. I do not have a scale to measure it. Overall it has a nice, but not great, trigger. On the back of the rifle I have mounted a Limb-Saver recoil pad, which helped with the recoil from this some what light rifle.

Needless to say, at this point the gun shoots much better than I do. Therefore I have no idea what it is capable of in terms of accuracy. The exception is that both my brother and I hit a soda can at ~415 yards with about a dozen rounds of zeroing in, each.

I am very happy with the rifle.

-Steven Kipp

Beginning

Our (Brad and myself) interest in long range shooting developed out of a tradition we started in 2007. Our dad had died in 2005, and one of his favorite things to do was to go shooting. On fathers day weekend in 2007 we headed out to some national grasslands and spent most of the day shooting in his memory. We continued the tradition next year up here in Wyoming at a range that stretched 500 yards. Most the time we spent was with shotguns or pistols. But I had brought a rifle and we tried to hit a couple of soda cans at about 415 yards, just for the fun of it. We found this to be quite enjoyable, to say the least.

Our set-up, if you could even call it that, was a 270 win. rifle with an 8-32x44 scope on it. The person not shooting spotted with a 4x scope on the back of a 10/22. Not ideal, but we managed to hit those pop cans after about a dozens rounds each. For ammo we used 150gr. Remington Core-Lokt. We laid down in prone, or something close to it, and fired off a bipod. Before we ran out of ammo the result was the following:

Neither one of us has any formal rifle training. We both have a good knowledge of physics and of guns (safety, operation, ammo and so on.). Hitting those cans was probably half luck and half persistence. But what we experienced was a great amount of excitement when an orange explosion of soda greeted us after many rounds of trying to hit the cans. I find reactive targets have that effect. And so began our interest in trying to hit things at great distances with a rifle.

-Steven Kipp

Introduction

We started this blog to make notes of how my brother and I are getting into, and learning about long range shooting (hence the title). I looked for a time and found very little info on this matter on the web, and even less that was current. Knowing almost nothing about shooting at long range we wanted to document what we're doing to learn about this and also carve out a spot where people could come and see what we've tried, done, messed up on, and found helpful. A place that someone else can find answers to "Gee, that's something I might like. How can I get started?" We would also love some input from people who actually know what's going on with long distance shooting. Help is always appreciated.

We have several main goals in addition to making a log of what happens with this endeavor. One is to review products for the shooting world. These will usually be things we buy to fill whatever need we may have for shooting. Another goal is to pass on some of this knowledge about equipment, technique and other helpful hints. The third is, as mentioned, to gather some additional information from anyone willing to give input. Every gun owner I've ever meet has been kind, helpful, and most willing to share his or her knowledge with others. I think that speaks a great deal about the kind of people who enjoy firearms.

There are a few things that this blog is not. First and foremost: this is not a place where we want to talk about purposefully doing unsafe things. Examples of an oops at the range to warn others is usually a good thing, but anything suggesting somebody do something unsafe is unwelcome here. Secondly: Anything referring to doing something unlawful is also unwelcome. We will remove any comments referring to willingly doing something illegal or unlawful. We are the good guys and gals that own and use firearms in a safe and responsible manner, and I'm sure all of you, as well as my brother and I, don't want to see anyone get hurt. So we're going to keep it safe out on the range, and all come back intact.

If you want to contact us directly, please feel free to e-mail us at: LongRangeDiscovery@yahoo.com