karl wrote:The Annoyed Man wrote:
I have a fair number of 30 round P-Mags, maybe 12 or 13 of them for "something arises" purposes, and they have ammo in them, but those aren't my range magazines. For the range, I use 20 round P-Mags. More time shooting and less time stuffing magazines, for one thing... ...but also, like you say, they're easier to use on a shooting bench.
When the dead rise from their graves I'll be stopping by your place first (zombies, that is).
And you'll be welcome. There is safety in numbers. That's why I have so many magazines — because of that zombie principle that you don't have to be the fastest runner.. ...just faster than the slowest runner. I am the slowest runner.
But bring a .308 too if you have one. It has the advantage of being able to go through 2 or 3 or more of them at a time if you line your shot up right, depending on their state of decay. We have two M1As and 3 bolt rifles in .308 and are working on building up the ammo inventory.
Led Jedi, the one thing I would advise you to do differently has to do with your optics choice.
There is more to scope choice than just magnification. What you're going to find with a $60 scope is that image clarity will suffer, and light gathering capability at dawn and dusk will be compromised. Here is BSA's web page for that scope:
http://www.bsaoptics.com/scope.aspx?productID=77. Parallax is not adjustable and is set for 100 yards, which means that, regardless of magnification, objects closer or further than 100 yards will be very slightly out of focus — and that effect will be increasingly pronounced the closer or further from 100 yards the target is. Also, although the reticle has that red dot, it has no graduations on it to use as both a ranging tool and for bullet drop compensation and windage offset.
If 100 yards is the maximum distance you are likely to use this rifle, and if you're thinking primarily of plinking and range sessions during good daylight, then those things will not matter so much. But if you plan to also use it for hunting (a legitimate use), then you ought to give some serious consideration down the road to buying better optics. Most game animals are going to be taken at dawn or dusk, so optical clarity is a major factor, and shots of over 100 yards would be not at all uncommon, so the ability to range a target and see it clearly under poor light conditions would be very important.
It is obviously not something you need to do to get started. But when you are ready to step up to a higher quality scope, I would be glad to help you figure that one out. We have rifles with scopes from Leupold, Super Sniper, Burris, Horus, and Bushnell, representing a reasonable price range with better clarity and better reticles than you'll find on cheap scopes, all bought for prices from the $400 to $800 range. Given that you could easily spend $1,200 or more on a scope, that is a relatively economical price range.
Otherwise, it sounds like you're on the right track with this rifle. Well done.
