Advice re fitting scope rail to pre-war BSA

[averageplinker]

How about finding an engineer who can make a scope rail in 2 parts that clamps around the barrel and try a pistol scope on it? If it was made well it should not mark the barrel too much/at all and would be completely reversible!

[Lakey]

Interesting thread.
I too would try fitting an aperture sight onto the gun, and try that out before fitting a scope ramp.

That said, I have two BSA's in my collection with scope ramps fitted. One gun sports a Parker Hale, once piece scope ramp, that has been screwed to the compression cylinder. The other is a flat steel plate that has been spot welded ( and screwed) to the cylinder and has the step of the higher trigger block to act as a scope stop. It looks as if someone has added blobs of weld ( or they could be shortened screw shanks) to the top of the cylinder, then further welded the scope ramp to them? Both are effective, but neither are reversible.

I had thought of possibly fitting another scope ramp to another one of my guns ( only an average to bad condition gun - would never do it to a good condition gun) , and thought you might be able to bond a closely fitting scope ramp, with a high modular silicon sealant.
I think if you degreased the area well enough, you would have enough bonding power to safely support a small scope, and I reckon that would be fully reversible if you decided to change your mind at any time.

NOW I HAVEN'T TESTED MY THEORY OUT, but if the correct ramp was fitted to the cylinder, and enough silicon ( high shore rating ) was used, it would damage a patinated finish to much, and you would have in effect a primitive "Dampa Mount" idea to further protect the scopes internals. Maybe fit a nice early weaver scope, as their long thin profile wouldn't look out of place on a pre-war BSA.

Just my thoughts........



Lakey

[jirushi]

Thank you gents for all the interesting and kind replies.

@AndrewM, although I must confess that I own more pcp's than springers, I do agree. I like pcp's especially for long range precision work. It is fascinating - at least for me - to see a .25 pellet land exactly where you want it at 100 meters. For close range work, I prefer springers. More interesting to shoot, less things to go wrong, no worries about needing to fill up with air, etc. I find that the lower powered springers work better for me. The Light Model for instance, and a Lightning which was made for .22, but now has a .177 barrel. This reduced the power from about 11 fpe to 8 fpe. It shoots better now.

@45flint, wearing this hat makes me shoot better haha. Interesting to read that you have scoped some other vintage airguns. I had never heard of the Crosman Town and Country by the way, but it looks nice. It reminds me of the Sheridan Blue/silver streak. The Sheridan must be based on the T&C? Just read an interesting article on Pyramid Air about the gun. Mr. Tom Gaylord aka BB Pelletier never fails to write something good.

@shed tuner, good idea, but thinking of the peep sight on my Webley Service Rifle, I find it difficult to see targets further than say 20 meters. A scope for me means magnification and a nice and easy aim.

@average plinker, that is an interesting idea, but wouldn't something holding the barrel cause the gun to be less accurate? Not sure if this is true for the one-piece design of the old BSA's, but I know that with break barrels, the barrel should not make contact with anything during the shot.

@Lakey, any chance to see some photos of your scoped vintage BSA's?
Do you mean a sealant like Loctite btw?

Thanks, Louis

[averageplinker]

Hi Louis
The idea I suggested should not affect the accuracy in the way you suggest unless you rested the barrel on something when shooting it.
The weight of the mount/scope however might make the rifle too front heavy. It may also affect barrel harmonics which might aid accuracy or might make it worse?
Rich.

[averageplinker]

Hi Louis
The idea I suggested should not affect the accuracy in the way you suggest unless you rested the barrel on something when shooting it.
The weight of the mount/scope however might make the rifle too front heavy. It may also affect barrel harmonics which might aid accuracy or might make it worse?
Rich.

Having thought about this overnight I think it would look a bit sh#t all the way out in front of the underlever!
Rich.

[Shed tuner]

yeah I wonder if tiger seal or something would hold a scope ramp, and allow a light scope (the SMK 4x28 is light, cheap and surprisingly clear)... I might try it on my standard. Needs a very careful degrease first though, but the finish on that gun is pretty crap, so not much to lose

[edbear2]

Hi Louis,

Here are a couple of photos;

Parker Hale ramp;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/312284...57638438579196

CS with Leupold (I think...can't remember) base

https://www.flickr.com/photos/312284...57622571667325

Made up side mtg;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/312284...57612687471706

Hope this helps,

ATB, ED

[andrewM]

Hi Louis,

Here are a couple of photos;

Parker Hale ramp;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/312284...57638438579196

CS with Leupold (I think...can't remember) base

https://www.flickr.com/photos/312284...57622571667325

Made up side mtg;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/312284...57612687471706

Hope this helps,

ATB, ED

My word, Ed, that is absolute genius. I would yield my eye teeth to see those and to have a shot through them. What sort of grouping can you obtain at, say, 25-35yds with the scopes which, themselves, are collector's pieces?

It has made my evening to see those magnificent photographs.

So glad you are back again on the site.

[Shed tuner]

Great to see those Ed, I love the "blinged" mount.. amazing.

[andrewM]

I can entirely understand the enjoyment to be had from a powerful pcp doing some 40-50 ft/lbs and shooting targets at 100m. We cannot do this with our springers, of course. If a springer is to be used for hunting purposes, then part of the process is what might be described as 'field craft', albeit, at 100m, this is hardly necessary. I have always considered a springer to have the same range as a shotgun, albeit more accurate but with only one projectile. In the USA, of course, springers are available at beyond our limit of 12ft/lb.

I would not discount the possibility of introducing a peep sight. Having recently done this on my Omega, I find it is as accurate as a scope. Quite how you would attach it, I don't know.

I would be most interested to know what sort of groupings are possible with a scope on a Standard BSA.