If I were to be bluntly, brutally honest, I would describe BSA Optics‘ products as "affordable, functional, but nothing special", at least from my own personal experience. They get the job done, and they are great for people with limited budgets, but there can be concerns about long-term reliability, and some of their stuff just screams "tacticool to excess!"
A few years back, I purchased a 2005-era BSA RMDS Multi-Dot reflex sight for use on my M1A*, but I have not tinkered around with it for at least a year now. After this past weekend, I realized that my Millet DMS
Something – and I am not entirely sure what – had happened to the black rubberized coating on the optic, to the point where the entire thing was sticky, gooey, malleable, and generally impossible to hold without some kind of obnoxious, adhesive residue ending up all over your hands. I wiped the sight down with soap and water… I even got up to using a Clorox wipe, but the stickiness showed absolutely no indications of going away any time soon. Again, ew.
On the suggestion of Better Half, I dropped BSA a line to see if they had any suggestions for removing this… junk… from their optic, and two days later, I received the following response:
Thank you for contacting us. Sorry to hear about the issue. Some of the older model’s had a rubber finish that would come off. Please send it back to us for replacement. Place a $10.00 check or money order made out to Gamo USA to cover return shipping and a description of the problem in the box with your return. The process takes 2-6 weeks.
Now, I know red-dot optics are not covered under BSA’s limited lifetime warranty… it even says that on their webpage. But, hey, given that a BSA-branded replacement
So here is to BSA Optics – you may not be Trijicon, but that is a good thing (at least for my wallet), and your customer service is pretty darned impressive regardless. And if you are looking for an affordable optic that its company stands behind even when they do not have to, you can certainly do worse than BSA.
(* Note: not the best optic to use, due to the glass being too high for comfortable cheek, or even chin, welds. However, it seemed to take the recoil like a champ, and its zero did not change noticeably over a couple hundred rounds.)
(Obligatory Up-Yours to the FTC: I received no compensation to write this post. I purchased the aforementioned sight with my own money, and will be giving BSA more money to replace it. Piss off.)
I have a BSA Sweet .22 for my old bolt-action rifle, and I’ve been nothing but happy with its performance. (I also managed to get it on clearance.)
Man, that’s just a heartwarming story right there. Just has gunnie goodness all over it!
Fortuitously, they share initials with the Boy Scouts of America.
While I haven’t zeroed it yet, I recently purchased a BSA RD30 red dot sight for my Mossberg 702 Plinkster, as it was the only red dot sight I could find locally (other than a more-expensive BSA sight) that will mount out-of-box on 3/8″ optics mounts. Looks good so far….
BTW, do comments on your blog also require FTC kiss-my-fourth-point-of-contact disclaimers? I ask because, as I was not compensated in any way for this comment, they are cordially invited to do so.
Apropos to nothing, how does Auric manage to have an avatar while mine is blank?
@ Erin Palette:
Gravatar. Check it out.
Success!
@ Erin Palette: Bolt-action .22 I assume? For those calibers just about anything will work – the reliability concerns seem to kick in with larger calibers and the resulting increase in recoil. And I am certainly not trying to disdain BSA – after all, I have been happy with my sight – just pointing out that they are not exactly US Optics or whatever
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@ Groundhog: Sure surprised the hell out of me! I will, of course, let everyone know what I get back in return
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@ AuricTech: I am, on purely personal tastes, inclined towards the HUD-style reflex sights… It just seems easier to use both eyes with those than the tube ones. Although, since you are here, stupid question – does the light go straight through, or are there lenses involved inside? I ask because I got shot more often than not trying to “find the light” through my DMS scope at the airsoft field, even though it was set to 1x at the time. With my full-face mask, trying to find that 30-odd-mm window behind the scope was just a pain in the ass, hence the reflex sight consideration.
@ Erin Palette: BlueSun beat me to it. Not sure how they managed it, but Gravatar has become pretty much the industry standard.
@ Linoge: Honestly, from what I’ve read online, the Wikipedia article on red dot sights explains the optics involved more than adequately. While no lenses are used, both tube-frame and open-frame red dot sights involve what is, in essence, a curved one-way mirror coated primarily to reflect the light wavelength produced by the LED that produces the red dot image. Through proper choice of coatings, the mirror is mostly transparent to other wavelengths.
It’s a good thing that they chose red illumination, rather than yellow, for this type of sight; otherwise, parallax would be a serious problem!
OTOH, a lot of gunny-type companies don’t ask you to pay for postage. After all, they did create the problem. I’d rate BSA’s response as “decent, but not great”.
@ AuricTech: That I knew, but I was more asking about the “tube-effect” from your personal experience… but reading your comment more closely, I guess you have not had a chance to try it yet
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@ Beaumont: Given that the device is at least three years out of warranty, I am willing to spot them the delivery charges.
@ Linoge:
Well, based on my around-the-home practice viewing through my red-dot sight, the tube effect narrows the field of vision to about the size of a quarter viewed at the same distance.
Makes sense… that far away, the tube/body around it will not be that noticeable, but I still lean towards the HUD-design, if only for the lack of bulk.