how many up/down inch travel i have on this scope ?

minkman1

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Mar 18, 2013
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folks.. I have a older BSA 5 STAR PLATNUIM SIDE WHEEL SCOPE. 10X50X60 SIDE WHEEL. Scope is used for air gun shooting and 22 lr shooting. It will focuse from 5 yards out to pass 1000 yards. really not a bad scope. clear at 50 power , not as good as a Leupold or Nikon but not a bad scope. not like the BSA scopes made today

I called BSA company today and they said my scope has 12 moa total, 1/8 marked turrets. not much. I want to put this scope on a Savage 26 inch barrel 308 cal. 168 GR BULLET and shoot long range. Will put a 20 moa scope base on the gun to give me more up down travel.

question... can some one tell me how many inches I can adjust this scope up /down and how long of shot I can make with turning cross hairs , holding on the bulls eye. the sight in zero will be 100 yards. I will be adding a 20 moa scope base. so that will be a total of 32 moa not sure I am sure there is a better way to ask this question but hope u guys get the picture. ha ha . thanks. marty
 
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It has turrets that are graduated, right ? Can you tell right off the bat what a rotation on the turret is ? It is marked in MOA right ? So dial the elevation UP until it stops. Then count how many rotations it takes to get from there to the bottom and multiply by how many MOA per rotation. Thats your adjustment. Some platinum scopes are still made, looks like 8-32x44. Some only have 20 minutes of travel, others have 30. So your prospects are not looking good.

Remember, you need at least as much adjustment as what you need from your "zero distance" to the distance you intend to shoot. So even if you have a 250 yards zero with your turret "bottomed out" you will run out of travel at 12MOA up, which would be at a distance of about 575 yards.

How exactly you would accomplish a perfect zero at 250 yards with your turret travel bottomed out is another story. Perhaps you have calibrated shims in your toolbox ? Maybe you could sacrifice a feeler gauge set ?

I think you might save up a little money and get a real scope that has some adjustment. If your very cash strapped, one of the 10x fixed milldot types, they have a LOT more than 12MOA of adjustment.

You would NOT be able to zero that scope on a 20MOA rail, since you don't have 20MOA of travel in the first place... But check it out, maybe that info you were provided is bad.
 
ok. thanks for the info. yep tis scope only has a 12 moa. scope was made in the 1980" and 1990's for the airgun and 22lr shooters . target shooters.

it is to bad I was really hoping to use this on a 308 cal rifle because the glass is so nice at 50x power.
so it does not look good for me. so at 100 yard zero how many yards can I shoot using the cross hairs on a 308 cal ( by turning them ) if my info is correct ? I guess it will not matter if I buy a 20 moa , or 20 moa burris z rings. 308 cal gun. thanks. marty
 
The problem you are facing is that you have to zero the scope somehow. I also assume that the scope was probably not designed to crank back and forth on the turrets in the first place. You can easily use up half of the adjustment just getting the scope zeroed with a "normal" installation. If you do some back tracking on this forum you will find lots of people posting that they mounted their 50MOA scope on their rifle and then ran out of travel trying to zero it. Now clearly that is NOT normal.

This for example Burris 3x-9x40mm Fullfield II Ballistic Plex E1 Riflescope FREE S&H 200320, 200446, 200322. Burris Rifle Scopes. is a scope with 50MOA of adjustment, fairly decent reticle, you can use it on a 20MOA base (which allows you to theoretically to use 50/2 = 25 + 20 = 45MOA usable travel). It would be cutting it a bit tight but probably OK with a good install job. Listed for $249.
opplanet-burris-ballistic-plex-e1-reticle.jpg
 
ok..i I guess I will not really know tell I try to sight it in. at the time this scope was a high dollar scope for air gun shooters and 22lr shooters. it is still the go to scope for competion airgun shooters. the glass is so clear airgun shooters sight there guns in at yardages on how clear the yardage focus is at each spot on the yardage turret. I think I paid 500.0 for it back in 1981. i might need to put it on a 10/22 rifle. would make a good gopher gun. has clear glass out to 50 x . marty
 
According to the info you provided you have 12MOA of travel (total, up and down). You can never use a tilted rail that is inclined more than about 40% of your adjustment range, since you still need a reserve to zero the scope after it is installed. Thus the best inclined rail you could do is 5MOA (1/12th of a degree) - hence why I suggested using a feeler gauge set and trying one after another as a shim under the back of a flat base.

As I said, the best you can do (with a long zero at 250 yards) is 575 yards. And that would require that you figure out how to install your scope so that no (zero) elevation adjustment is needed after installing and sighting. That might be a nice challenge for a machinist, but it would be cheaper to just get a decent scope.

I fail to understand how you can afford a savage 308 with a 26" barrel (so either a model 12 or any model with an aftermarket 26" barrel) and then not have $200 to buy a good used centerfire scope ? Even people for whom 100 yards is a long shot are not trying to use air rifle scopes ? Lets not forget that ammo is currently running $1.50 to more than $2.0 per cartridge unless you have a bunch squirreled away so ammo will quickly cost way more than what we are discussing for an entry level scope.

ok..i I guess I will not really know tell I try to sight it in. at the time this scope was a high dollar scope for air gun shooters and 22lr shooters. it is still the go to scope for competion airgun shooters. the glass is so clear airgun shooters sight there guns in at yardages on how clear the yardage focus is at each spot on the yardage turret. I think I paid 500.0 for it back in 1981. i might need to put it on a 10/22 rifle. would make a good gopher gun. has clear glass out to 50 x . marty
 
I understand what your saying. I just like this scope and have had it a long time and would like to use it on a savage 308 I want to buy. I have a few other nice guns , R-25 in a 308 with a bushnell 6500 4.5 -30x50.. and a D760 night vision scope on a ar15. but thanks for the input on the scope up and down travel. marty
 
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