Pimp my BSEV

Alright my fellow savages:rockon:

I'm eagerly awaiting my new BSEV 22lr, which I'll be collecting in three (long) weeks.
What I want to do with it is bench rest, and I'm currently liking the look of the leupold vx1 3-9x40 in silver.
thats as far as I've got thus far.
what I need to ask the savage universe is:
1) what rings and bases do you guys and gals recommend
2) is there a bipod available that doesn't involve pulling the rifle down to install
3) what do you guys think of the leupold vx1.

any advice you guys could give me would be appreciated as I'm just getting into shooting, and I'm not too sure how much advice from gun shop guys is sales driven if ya know what i mean

cheers
Alby

So are you wanting to shoot actual bench rest or just from a bench with a bipod and bag? Any hunting, what distances, and what sort of accuracy are you looking for? Answer these questions and we can better help you pick gear. Yes the vx-1 3-9 is a great scope for hunting, but it'd be towards the bottom of my list for a target gun due to heavier cross hair, low magnification, non target turrets, fixed parallax etc.

Alby, hi. I'll answer your questions in order (I hope!)
1. Bases - I like Weaver and EGW, both one piece styles. The reason I like the one piece style, is that I have a lot of rifles and 'spare' scopes and I'm constantly swapping them around. Kind of a sickness I guess, but I can swap scopes without having to do a lot of rezeroing. Rings, I like the Weaver Quad style. I have a bunch and never a single problem. Believe it or not, I also have a bunch of UTG rings (4 and 6 screws / ring) that hold zero perfectly.
2. Bipod - Every rifle I have (except the original BMag) has a Harris 'style' bipod. If you have a front sling swivel, it's a simple bolt on. Used with a rear bag, it's great.
3. Scope - I just put a new silver VX-1 on a new Marlin bolt action .22. (don't tell anyone!) It's nice but as Maztech89 mentions, it's shortcomings are lower power and the lack of parallax adjustment. Silver scopes are few and far between, and the price jump from a VX-1 to a VX-3 is hard for this retired guy to swallow.
I much prefer side parallax adjustments versus the objective types..........

Don't overlook the Mueller 4.5-14X40mm silver model. Have several and love 'em......

good luck

ron

G'day maztech,
im gonna start off at the range shooting from a bench at targets probably with bipod , ultimately I want to get out and go hunting for wabbits
in terms of range I am sure not sure yet, (new shooter) I'd like to stretch her out as far as I can.
in terms of accuracy, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and want to do as well as I can
while I have done a little bit of reading re scopes I'm not sure what you mean by target turrets, fixed parallax
Does this help?

hi Ron,
1 not sure about swapping over scopes (wouldn't you have to reorient the scope each time you change over?)
2 unfortunately I don't have sling swivels with the rifle, it doesn't come with them
3 relax your secret is safe with me! again the terminology is still something I'm coming to grips with. I'm the same as you regarding price too, in that I'm not sure if the price increase is on par with the increase in quality etc . And as far as the meuller is concerned, I did look at them (online) but from everything I've read and heard, the leupold seem to have a decent reputation (I'm after Cadillac, not Bentley, not Hyundai), mid range I guess !

alby

Alby, thanks for helping me to share my thoughts.

I understand your thinking on the Leupold and I agree and understand what your saying. I would put a VX-1 on my deer rifles in a heart beat because of their quality nice glass and nice price. I love the one that is on my Sako L61R. The trouble with it is even for 50 yards the magnification is a bit low if you are trying to shoot super tiny groups. Also with the crosshairs being more of a hunting thickness they prevent getting a very fine aiming point, conducive to good accuracy.

I'm not good at always explaining things without rambling off so take a look at this. It does a good job of a clear explanation, the types of adjustment, and how to adjust.
http://www.6mmbr.com/parallax.html

I second the recommendation for the mueller. I am looking to purchase 2 of them myself after reading the recommendations and trying one out myself. The 4.5-14 will be on my target/hunting 17 and 8-32 on my bench only rimfire.

Target turrets are just tall turrets that can be dialed with fingers clearly and easily with marked graduations that make easy and precise adjustments. They can be capped or exposed, your preference. Not required but make it nice to quickly go from 50-100 yards without a dime and counting every individual click.

I'm also a fan of the EGW or DIP rails. Most of my centerfires wear an EGW, they are good for the money. I'm partial to Burris rings but own many many different types and they mostly all work fine. I lap all rings before mounting of scope.

Consider a DNZ game reaper one piece rail/ring setup if that might be something that interests you. They require no lapping and are a very good setup.

I too use the knockoff Harris style bipods with good results. If you want the best and are willing to pay, get a Sinclair but I do believe that's way overkill and probably a waste on a rimfire.

You can add a sling stud for a bipod in about 3 minutes. Just center it up, measure twice, drill the pilot and screw it in. Every stud I've installed has had instructions with it saying what size pilot to drill.

Forgot to mention, if you happen to be taking a survey I too prefer side parallax adjustment but I do have plenty of the objective style. Just nicer for prone shooting when switching distance without coming up from behind the gun.

Hope I helped some
-maz-

Thanks maz,
thats a bit to digest!
youve given me a tonne to think about, thanks