A quick session at a lasered 31.5 meters with the 98 this evening yielded 5 shots that fit under a nickel. The paint splatter on the steel makes groups look larger so I'm pretty sure they would have fit under a penny. It was right before final dark but between the large white spinner and the excellent glass of the Leupold at 8X it was simple.
For the purposes that I intend to use this 98 I don't like how high the rail sets my scope. Everything else about it I like...I just don't like the height and length. If this was primarily a target shooting setup than it might be fine...but I find the ideal PBR to be difficult to achieve with this setup. Currently, zero is at 20 meters and 40 meters, approximately. At 50 meters its almost exactly 1 mil low and at 30 meters its about .3 mils high. There is just too much elevation variation there for a comfortable hunting experience. I intend to throw on a droop compensating BKL-260D7 one piece mount and see how I like that. Previous experience tells me that with that lower mount a 20 meter zero should give me zero at roughly 30 meters also...giving me a dead-on hold(PBR) from about
15m-35m(there must be no more than 1 cm deviation from LOS to meet my criteria of PBR)...absolutely deadly for any kind of small game hunting. Running on 4X(which needs no parallax/focusing correction) it is a lethal point and shoot combo with no adjustments needed unless its uber close(hold under as necessary) or past that 35 meters at which point there should be time to range, dial, adjust, etc....
The BKL mount arrives early next week...stay tuned for pics of "switched off" squirrels sometime before too long!
View attachment 494367View attachment 494368View attachment 494374PS...we already "switched off" a fat starling the other day during a plinking session. This is probably the easiest springer to shoot well I've ever owned. It is also easily the most ergonomical and cosmetically pleasing. I'm ecstatic
