MArooned Product Review: Barska 6.5-20X Varmint Scope

So last month I stumbled upon a deal that was simply too good to pass up. Amazon, of all places, had a special on a Barska 6.5-20x50mm varmint/target scope. For under $70 (It's up to $71.40 now, better get 'em before the price jumps again!), I figured I could put it on the Savage and have something I could use on the 100 yard range at my gun club without straining my eyes too much. The scope has an excellent rating on Amazon - out of 50 reviews, only three were three stars, and no 2 or 1 star reviews at all. I figured I could gamble the $70 and see if it would work for me.

As I mentioned, the Friday after Thanksgiving my good friend Wally hosted Weerd, SCI-FI, and myself at his range, which has a very nice rifle range that goes up to 600 yards. There are shooting positions at 100, 200, 300, 400, and 600 yards, and we started off on a beautiful day on this range with the intention of sighting in my Savage. At Wally's suggestion, we started off pretty close just to make sure I was on target - we were between 25 and 35 yards -and then worked our way back to 100 yards and then 200 yards.

At the close position (30 yards is damn close when shooting a heavy barrel .308 IMHO!), the Barska was left at the 6.5X (lowest power) setting. It has coarse focus settings on the objective for common distances (25/100/200 yards etc.), so adjusting the picture for clarity is quick and easy. Running back to 100 yards, the scope continued to perform well - changing the power setting to 12 and adjusting the focus gave an immediately reproducible grouping that confirmed the close-up adjustments well. At 200 yards the power was turned to the full 20X, and while the picture wasn't quite as sharp as 6.5X or 12X, it was still quite useful.

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Shorter review:

I used this:

Barska 6.5-20X scope

on this:

Savage Model 10

to do this:

Split the "X"!

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Now, a few caveats. This is the only time I've had this scope out - I have no idea how well it will hold the zero. If the weather stays reasonable I'll get it over to my club and try it out on the 100 yard range for a few rounds to see if it's still hitting the same. At the 20X setting, it took a little extra effort to find the precise spot where glare wasn't an issue. Again, though, for a simple adjustable scope, it's quite effective at ranges at least as far as 200 yards.

Conclusion: I must have said how pleased I was with this scope a good dozen times on Friday. At easily twice the price this would still be a steal - it is easily good for 200 yards, and I wager that if I'd had more daylight (and a less-sore shoulder), the 400 yard trial would have been just fine as well. While it may not stack up to the high end scopes for image quality and magnification clarity, it's also in a price point where the average guy (like me) can afford to put one on his rifle...

Two thumbs enthusiastically up for the Barska 6.5-20x50mm varmint/target scope!

That is all.