# Barska Scopes



## tn_junk (Nov 28, 2006)

Picked up a NEF Handi-Rifle (.30-30) this weekend. Am ordering .270 and (maybe) .223 barrels this week. Will need scopes. Has anybody had any experience with Barska scopes? Looked at a couple this weekend and they look solid, and very reasonable price wise, but don't want to buy junk.
Any input appreciated.

galump


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## bgak47 (Sep 4, 2003)

Never heard of them. Where are they made?


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## CGUARDSMAN (Dec 28, 2006)

not bad scopes i put them in line with tasco.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

bgak47 said:


> Never heard of them. Where are they made?


Near as I could tell they are made in Japan


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## bgak47 (Sep 4, 2003)

What is the attraction of these cheap single-shots? Interchangeable barrels? I'd rather have a good, reliable rifle in bolt or lever-action in a caliber that is versatile, than a bunch of single-shot rifles in various calibers. But I guess that's just me.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

bgak47 said:


> What is the attraction of these cheap single-shots? Interchangeable barrels? I'd rather have a good, reliable rifle in bolt or lever-action in a caliber that is versatile, than a bunch of single-shot rifles in various calibers. But I guess that's just me.


 The main attraction is the price, plus the fact that they tend to be pretty accurate. Sometimes one caliber just isnt suited to do it all, and extra barrels are a LOT cheaper than a whole gun for different calibers


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## bgak47 (Sep 4, 2003)

Bearfootfarm said:


> The main attraction is the price, plus the fact that they tend to be pretty accurate. Sometimes one caliber just isnt suited to do it all, and extra barrels are a LOT cheaper than a whole gun for different calibers


 I like a Winchester Mod 70 in .308 with a good scope & handloads. I can load for everything from varmits to moose in the same caliber,without the cost of a lot of different barrels. By the time that you pay for all of those extra barrels & the different ammunition for them, you could have a real world class rifle & the reloading equipment to feed it for whatever you want to shoot,Forever! How do you manage to sight in all of those different barrels?


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## Rockin'B (Jan 20, 2006)

Barska is in the class of scope like Tasco, simmons et all. 
In optics, you get what you pay for. 

FWIW, I'm a died in the wool leupold man.


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## CGUARDSMAN (Dec 28, 2006)

bgak47 said:


> I like a Winchester Mod 70 in .308 with a good scope & handloads. I can load for everything from varmits to moose in the same caliber,without the cost of a lot of different barrels. By the time that you pay for all of those extra barrels & the different ammunition for them, you could have a real world class rifle & the reloading equipment to feed it for whatever you want to shoot,Forever! How do you manage to sight in all of those different barrels?


but would you go squirrel or rabbit hunting wilth a .308??


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## Jersey Milker (Nov 4, 2006)

I never would buy anything but a Leupold for any rifle I owned until I was introduced to a Simmons Aetec , now I am sold on them. They have excellent optics for a cheap brand of scope but they still are over a 100 bucks to buy but much cheaper than any Leupold I used to buy. I would recommend one to anyone looking for a quality scope at a affordable price. I don't know much about Barska scopes but they appear to be just another cheap brand of scope.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

bgak47 said:


> I like a Winchester Mod 70 in .308 with a good scope & handloads. I can load for everything from varmits to moose in the same caliber,without the cost of a lot of different barrels. By the time that you pay for all of those extra barrels & the different ammunition for them, you could have a real world class rifle & the reloading equipment to feed it for whatever you want to shoot,Forever! How do you manage to sight in all of those different barrels?


 The costs wouldnt be that close. For the cost of the reloading equipment, you could get several barrels. And having the equipment STILL wont make a 308 into a good small game rifle. You cant count the cost of the ammo since you still have to buy or load that no matter what gun you have.

And the fact that you can LOAD a bullet in a calber WONT make it shoot well in the average gun. Rates of twist limit bullet weights that are most accurate, and having different barrels MADE for different cartridges will always be more versatile than trying to "make " a cartridge work for everything
Youd have to re- zero your bolt gun every time you changed loads, and that would cost more in time and ammo than just switching a barrel, which only takes a couple of minutes Once you zero the different barrels, they wont change.

You can get 2 Handi Rifles for the cost of one AVERAGE bolt gun.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

I like a whole safe full of guns. Why would I want to limit myself to just one? I have very good rifles and I have cheap rifles and everything in between. A set of dies is cheap for a new caliber. 

I got a Sportsman's Guide copy of the EOS Holosite the other day. It turns out it is a Barska. Seems to look alright, I haven't mounted it yet because I ain't done making the stock yet. 

For my casual guns, Tasco and Simmons work fine. For serious work, Leupold is much better. But I have used cheap Tascos on many hunts with great success.


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## tn_junk (Nov 28, 2006)

Thanks for the info. I ended up picking up a BSA 4X at WalMart, they are closing out all of their "gun stuff" according to the manager and I got a good deal on it. Seemed pretty clear when I looked through it. Got a 2-7x BSA for my .22 also. Mounted it last night and sighted it in in my basement range. At 50 feet my last group was small enough to cover with a quarter, so I am happy with that scope. Also picked up a 550 shot brick of Remington .22 hollow points for $9.99, and a couple boxes of Remington .30-30 for the same price. Don't know if all WalMarts are doing this, but ya'll might want to ask the managers. The one at the store near me said he just got the word this weekend to clear it all out. 

galump


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Wal-Marts have a history of "clearing out" seasonal items when their seasons are over for the year. Ive gotten some really good deals on hunting and shooting products after hunting seasons closed. They often sell them at half price or less


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## bgak47 (Sep 4, 2003)

CGUARDSMAN said:


> but would you go squirrel or rabbit hunting wilth a .308??


 No, I wouldn't, but would you hunt deer or elk with a .22, or pheasant with a .44 mag handgun? Different guns for different jobs. That single shot rifle with interchangeable barrels may be OK for some folks, but I'll pass. JMO


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## CGUARDSMAN (Dec 28, 2006)

bgak47 said:


> No, I wouldn't, but would you hunt deer or elk with a .22, or pheasant with a .44 mag handgun? Different guns for different jobs. That single shot rifle with interchangeable barrels may be OK for some folks, but I'll pass. JMO


and your entitled to it. of course some believe in one shot one kill so a single shot is what they have....your .308 comment made it sound like you would hunt anything with it..my bad


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## bgak47 (Sep 4, 2003)

Bearfootfarm said:


> The costs wouldnt be that close. For the cost of the reloading equipment, you could get several barrels. And having the equipment STILL wont make a 308 into a good small game rifle. You cant count the cost of the ammo since you still have to buy or load that no matter what gun you have.
> 
> And the fact that you can LOAD a bullet in a calber WONT make it shoot well in the average gun. Rates of twist limit bullet weights that are most accurate, and having different barrels MADE for different cartridges will always be more versatile than trying to "make " a cartridge work for everything
> Youd have to re- zero your bolt gun every time you changed loads, and that would cost more in time and ammo than just switching a barrel, which only takes a couple of minutes Once you zero the different barrels, they wont change.
> ...


 Sorry Bearfootfarm, but I don't see it that way. I can load my .308 with everything from 55gr sabots to 200gr SJHPs & any combination of powder load that I want. I can sight it in with about 5-10 rnds because I have a pretty good idea of what a particular load is going to do before I ever shoot it. I really don't see how you think that when you switch barrels from one caliber to another on the same stock that you could possibly have anything like the same shooting characteristics from one to another? By the way, I don't shoot AVERAGE bolt guns... I shoot SUPERIOR bolt-action rifles & SUPERIOR single-shot rifles, & I expect SUPERIOR accuracy from them at 300-1,000yd ranges. Your Handi Rifles may seem like a economical way for you to have a wide variety of calibers, but I prefer my way. JMHO of course... based on my 50+yrs of experience shooting & hunting & handloading. Each to their own.


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## electronrider (Nov 10, 2004)

No really, this thread was about scopes.......


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## bgak47 (Sep 4, 2003)

OK... never heard of that brand of scope. You can put a cheap scope on an accurate rifle & get indifferent results. You can also put an excellent scope on a mediocre rifle & get indifferent results.


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## tn_junk (Nov 28, 2006)

Update:

The cheap BSA scopes went back to WalMart today. The one on my .22 wouldn't hold zero. Didn't bother mounting the 4x on my .30-30. 
Sometimes you get what you pay for. Had Burris and Leupold before with good luck. Will save up the money and get good stuff again.

galump


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## jross (Sep 3, 2006)

There are scopes for certain weapons. Every type of gun has what is called a recoil profile meaning a rifle scope may not perform well on a 22 and vice versa, ditto with a rifle scope on a shotgun or bb gun. This is not true all the time because one will always hear of someone that has successfully used a scope designed for one weapon on another, and then there is the story of a rifle scope falling apart on a shotgun, 22 or bb gun. It seems manufacturers are taking this into account when designing scopes. I have gone through two rifle scopes on my 20 ga, a 3x9x40 Tasco, and the latest, a 3X9x40 Simmons, both performed well at first, but then the zero started walking, especially after changing magnification. I will either buy a 2x7x32 Pentax or a 2x7x 33 Leupold, both designed for rifles or shotguns. I am leaning more toward the Leupold.


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## Ed Norman (Jun 8, 2002)

I used to have a high powered RWS air rifle that would eat scopes because it recoiled backwards from normal rifles. I finally got a cheap air rifle scope and then it was happy.


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## outgunu (Sep 14, 2006)

Had one of the lighted ones on my MINI-14 and it did the job. Tried it on my 30-06 and the impact point started shifting shot to shot. Put it back on the MINI and it did the same shift thing... So my two cent worth is if you want it for the 223 go for it. Anything larger than that might kill it.


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## hunter63 (Jan 4, 2005)

My 2 cents:
Barska, aren't they sold by Sportsman Guide? Nobody seems to have used one yet?
Haven't tried them, but was thinking about it.

I see several scopes in the their catalog, including BSA and a couple of others, all real cheap.
I bought several Tascos when they first came out, and have had good luck with them. Interesting enough, the prices of Leopold, Burris, Zeiss, Bushnell, Simmons, Redfield, etc started to come down, or they have lower priced versions of their scope, now.

Seems it use to be that you bragged about how much you paid for your scope, like it was something magic that made up for a poor shooting, but equipment will never make up for practice/proper loads and more practice. 

I have several H&R/NEF Handi's my self and the (4) scoped barrels have Tascos on them, but I am having a problem with an old 2X I just mounted on the .270 barrel.
Need to work with it to see if it's the scope. (picked it up used at a gun show, probably why it was sold).

I guess I don't really like the very large lens (40mm to 50mm objective lens) scopes, seem that everyone thinks that the bigger the better, that is why I picked up the old Tasco. (Handi-rifle isn't very handi, if you have a big clunky scope on it.)

So I guess I'll just watch this thread and take a trip to the range, to work with the old Tasco, and consider a Barska.

Also need to try out some loads for the .223 Handi that Santa Clause dropped off at Christmas this year. (and maybe order up a few more barrels?)


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