bsa 3-7x20 review

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Average Ratings

Value for Money	10/10
Reviewer Rating	10/10
Overall Rating	8/10

100% Recommended4 out of 4 Reviews

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By starling death on 27th Jan 2007

starling death's Ratings

Value for money	10/10
Overall value	10/10
starling death's recommendation

Good Points

Variable power is always a good thing
Lower power gives a very sharp view of the target
About as bright as you are going to get for $35
Sold under many different brands
Inner turret seems like a good quality metal
Precise click adjustments

Bad Points

Surrounding object's lines break into their color spectrum at closer ranges (edges get fuzzy and rainbow-like)
Parallax is severe closer than 50 yards
Mounts are too simple, cannot be easily removed
Slop in the exit pupil (will not black out if you shift a small amount)
Parallax is non-adjustable

General Comments

My Daisy Grizzly came with a 4X15 scope i used for my Diana Springer. There was a fleck on the crosshairs which was driving me insane, so i unscrewed the eye bell and took a q-tip to the crosshairs. Bad idea, as it goes, because those thin metal lines instantly broke the instant i put even minute pressure on it. So it was off to wal-mart for another budget scope, in the flavor of the Tasco 3-7X20. Yes, it says BSA, however this scope is like generic pop: different brands, all coming from the same factory. Don't be fooled by different branding, just get the cheapest you can find with the same specifications. If you don't believe me, read the back of the packaging. They are all identical. It is a rimfire scope, which is generally wholly inadequate for airgun use, especially with springers.
However, the scope i got with the Daisy was the lowest form of rubbish, and if that could cope, so could this. The largest problem with buying a rimfire scope for use with an airgun is that of parallax. they are parallax free at 50 yards; you would never hunt at 50 yards unless you were shooting a PCP, and even then 50 would be the absolute maximum. My Diana does not deserve a true airgun scope, however, so i simply coped with the parallax. What is parallax? It is very difficult to explain, but the phenomenon occurs when you shift your eye slightly and the crosshairs move, but not the target. This means your POI will shift. Not a problem with rimfires, which regularly shoot at 50 yards, just airguns.
Performance was adequate for a $35 scope. I mounted it on my Diana and sighted in at 7 meters.
One thing about this scope unique to other cheap scopes is the sight picture. instead of the usual round image, this is one with a rounded square. You might be thinking, "well gee, why would you choose a square with less area than a circle with more area?" Well, it turns out this is a very rounded square, and helps in shooting moving targets, as you are more focused on the area besides the target than the ground/sky. The clarity itself is also adequate. At ranges as close as this, a ton of parallax is to be expected. it is severe, but manageable. adjustments were easy and reasonably precise, at 1/4 MOA per click. However, a pronounced problem with this scope at close range is a prism effect at the extremities of the scope. Anything which stands out next to the background will blur and break-up into a rainbow edge when the object nears the sides of teh scope. tolerable, but even the lowly 4x15 did not have this problem. Also of a main concern is that the scope has a lot of slack (if that is what you might call it) in the exit pupil. The exit pupil is the picture you see. Put your eye in the wrong place, and the exit pupil is smaller, hence the black ring you see. This is meant to direct the shooter's eye into correct alignment. The easier it blacks out, the more accurate it will be, but the slower it will be to use. This scope is more suited to quickly shouldering the rifle for a quick follow-up as opposed to shooting targets, which require more precision. Also with this scope is a 20mm objective, or the front lens. The bigger it is, the more bright the image. 15 mm is a joke, but good enough for well lit areas. 20mm is still laughable, but is much brighter than the 15mm, a definite plus.

Total Respect: +1