An adventure in scope mounting on a BLR

[sza]

I recently upgraded the scope on my AR15 to a fancypants Leupold LR/T. This meant that I suddenly had a halfway decent scope (a Nikon Monarch 3-9x42) with no home.

Well, I have plenty of rifles that could use a 3-9 scope. Here's one of them:

http://230grain.com/images/rsrh/BLR_Scope_Mounting_01.jpg

It's a Browning BLR in .30-06. Unlike more popular rifles, like, say, a Remington 700, there aren't that many options for mounting a scope, and there's no real information online. This thread is an attempt to rectify the latter.

My BLR has a pretty decent set of iron sights. I like iron sights almost as much as scopes, and I desired to retain use of the iron sights without having to use tools to remove the scope. To this end, I decided on a set of Weaver #25 bases and Leupold QRW (Quick Release, Weaver) rings, which would let me easily remove the scope if I decide I want to use my iron sights.

Problem number one was immediately apparent upon mounting the Weaver bases:

http://230grain.com/images/rsrh/BLR_Scope_Mounting_02.jpg

They're taller than the rear sight. :( To compound matters, the low rings I purchased exposed problem number two:

http://230grain.com/images/rsrh/BLR_Scope_Mounting_05.jpg

See it yet? Maybe this will help:

http://230grain.com/images/rsrh/BLR_Scope_Mounting_06.jpg

Yeah, the scope hit the rear sight. As you can see the width of the rings also didn't allow me to move the scope back far enough to fit behind the rear sight either.

Removing the rear sight wasn't really an option as you're left with a couple ugly holes in the barrel:

http://230grain.com/images/rsrh/BLR_Scope_Mounting_03.jpg

At this point I kind of gave up on the Weaver/QWR solution and decided to go with Bubba's best friend: the see-through ring:

http://230grain.com/images/rsrh/BLR_Scope_Mounting_07.jpg

Well, they worked, but good lord was the scope high. Cheek weld? More like chin weld. Not the greatest idea for accuracy or maintaining a healthy smile with .30-06 in a light rifle.

Now I was frustrated. I started searching the internet for other solutions, and eventually discovered the Weaver #54 base. It's exactly the same as the #25 bases I had before, except it has a groove in the middle! Perfect for seeing the rear sight:

http://230grain.com/images/rsrh/BLR_Scope_Mounting_04.jpg

At this point all I needed were the #54 bases and a set of medium height Leupold QRW rings, which I promptly ordered from Brownells:

http://230grain.com/images/rsrh/BLR_Scope_Mounting_08.jpg

The finished product. Not too tall, eye relief is perfect (this scope has pretty short eye relief), and best of all, I can still use the irons:

http://230grain.com/images/rsrh/BLR_Scope_Mounting_09.jpg

The scope just barely clears the rear sight:

http://230grain.com/images/rsrh/BLR_Scope_Mounting_10.jpg

[wilbur]

SZA-

Incredibly useful post--thanks! I've been looking on the web for days trying to get this info for my new BLR .243. Dealer couldn't help either. Are you still happy a year later with this option for using the iron sights?

Wilbur

[Fang]

I managed to track sza down elsewhere and he related that the scope has worked fine for him, although he hadn't done much shooting of the BLR due to how light it was.

[wilbur]

Hi Fang,

Thanks for helping with this. I just got my BLR outfitted with a Burris 40mm scope that looks very similar to the one sza used. As with sza, it didn't fit with low Leupold rings, but with medium rings it has even a little more clearance than shown above. It is awesome to have good positioning of the scope and yet be able to switch to iron sights with a few twists of the quick release levers. I plan on testing it "live" this weekend.

Wilbur

[Fang]

Just out of curiosity, are rounds fed from a vertically-stacked magazine or a lengthwise tubular magazine? Because if it were the latter, I'd be worried about the tip of a bullet igniting the primer of the cartridge ahead of it under recoil.

[wilbur]

Fang,

The beauty of the BLR lever action is it uses a vertically-stacked magazine (actually, the four-cartridge clip has the shells somewhat offset laterally from the one below so it isn't any taller than the receiver). It was specifically designed to use spitzer-style pointed bullets to avoid the shortcomings of the tube-type magazines in my Winchester 94 30-30.