Question Regarding Placement of a Scope on a High Powered Rifle?
June 23, 2011 by
Filed under brown sheep
1) I hunt in a place where it is totally legal to hunt, but no one does; Angeles National Forest right behind Los Angeles. It is very big with bear, deer, Bighorn Sheep and a 10,000 foot peak. But almost no one hunts there because 1) Terrain is very steep 2) It’s hard to find deer without inside information 3) If you drive for three hours you can find places with ten times the amount of deer.
2) Unlike other places in the country, a man walking with a rifle along the road gets law enforcement attention. The forest is about 60 miles by 10 miles and is used mainly by communters as a way of getting to and from work from Lancaster and Palmdale. If you walk along the road with a rifle, you see people’s eyes get big with horror. Most people don’t even know you can hunt here.
3) So for me, I want a gun that is accurate, long ranged, powerful, and collapses into two pieces so I can put it in a big gym bag and not attract attention. Also, if it is in two pieces, no one can complain about me walking with a disassembled rifle.
4) I am looking at a Browning Lever Action Rifle (Carbine) in .243. I hunt in the Lead Free Zone in California. You can only get lead free bullets in .30-06, .270, .308, or .243. The BLR has a switch you flip, and the barrel comes right off.
http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?value=003B&cat_id=034&type_id=011&content=blr-lightweight-’81-takedown–firearms
5) You can put the scope on a BLR on the barrel or on the receiver. But someone told me that if you put the scope on the receiver for a gun where the barrel comes on and off, you will have terrible accuracy. He said you need to mount the scope on the barrel, a la Jeff Cooper Scout rifle style.
6) Is he correct? Would you need to put the scope on the barrel? How do scout telescopic sights work? What is the largest power you can use? Three power? Are they accurate? Can you shoot them to say 250 or 300 yards?
I can find lead free bullets in 7mm-08,
7mm Remington Magnum and several other calibers including .223, .25, 6.5, .338.
As for mounting, I’d mount it on the barrel and get a scout scope because that is what is going to give you the best accuracy for a scope mount. But if I was you, I’d get proficient with irons. Take downs do best with iron sights normally.
Don’t mess with it, the gun is predrilled and ready for scope mounts. Use a weaver quick release type mount and 3-9×40 scope.
I can only answer the part about the scope placement as it pertains to accuracy. This is the voice of experience speaking. The scope needs to be mounted on the barrel for optimum accuracy.If you mount it on the Receiver, every time you take it out and shoot it there will be a different point of impact,
A good gun smith can mount the bases for you. And there are mounts that are designed to be barrel mounted and will still allow the scope to be in it’s natural position just above the Receiver due to the design of the mount bases. You may use any power scope you wish on it.