rolltide, thank for the education of the Dan Wesson revolvers!
Willy Snyder
PO Box 2732
Pocatello, ID 83206
rolltide, thank for the education of the Dan Wesson revolvers!
Don Verna
All I can say is, the only chance I have of hitting the target with a BFR is by throwing it like a boomerang!
Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF, .45-70.
It looks like every angle and technique, even the boomerang method has been covered by the posts. All I can add is make sure you have plenty of quality trigger time in with the BFR, also, I gave up on plated bullets for anything. Try some cast or fmj's.
I've been using scopes on a handgun since the mid 1980's. From T/C Contenders to revolvers.
There is a little learning curve. But the amount of variation you list,, is very unusual.
I would get some jacketed bullets,, load a few test rounds, and also start with a very clean revolver. Sadly,,, many plated bullets do not hold up well in some calibers or loads.
Plated bullets rate below Powder Coated ones in my opinion. And this comes from years of using both in competition.
I have very little experience with the .500 caliber guns,, but the ones I've shot were all loaded with jacketed bullets.
Plated bullets,, (usually with a copper wash) should only be loaded as if they were medium hardness lubed lead bullets. Start pushing them, and problems arise.
Powder coated bullets do much better,, but can develop issues as velocity gets in the 1500 fps range. I prefer gas checked bullets for that application in a handgun.
You can also try having a know good shooter try your gun & loads to see if it is you or the gun.
And if you do discover the Burris scope is bad,, they have an excellent warranty. They will fix it for free.
Yes, Burris would probably check it out and refurbish it for free if you send it to them. Their customer service is excellent, that would be one less variable to deal with. Their turnaround time is pretty quick, a few weeks in my experience.
Currently casting and loading: .32 Auto, .380 Auto, .38 Special, 9X19, .357 Magnum, .257 Roberts, 6.5 Creedmoor, .30 WCF, .308 WCF, .45-70.
I put a Nikon 2x on a Super Blackhawk Hunter and it was amazing especially in low light. I didn't find it hard to master
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“ Is shooting a revolver with scope incrediably difficult?”
No.
More "This is what happened when I,,,,," and less "What would happen if I,,,,"
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I'd lean towards the scope being damaged. Just because you can't hear a lens rattling doesn't mean a lens or the reticle isn't moving with that tremendous recoil. It's amazing how parts moving a few thousandths of an inch can move shots inches at the target. I've shot scoped handguns both a contender with a variety of different barrels, and a few different revolvers SRH 480, blackhawk 357 and BFR 357. I've not found a scoped revolver particularly difficult to shoot. A reasonably accurate revolver should be grouping 2" or better at 25 yds, many will group 1" at 25 yds, some will group 1" at 50 and a rare few will group 1" at 100 yds.
bfr 357.jpg
A foot high or low @ 20yds is extreme. I'd be taking a hard look at the scope and mounts.
Never really thought about shooting revolvers with scopes on them being easy or difficult to do proficiently. Shot this setup for over a decade (1990 to 2005), a s&w 617 with the old style tasco reddot on it. Couldn't even begin to count the # of rounds I put thru it. I have a s&w 629 with the same setup/tasco reddot on it that I've used since I bought it setup that way in 2006.
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The 629 the day I brought it home from a gunshow along with a s&w 624 and a m1922 I bought the same day back in 2006.
There's a lot of wabble to contend with when scoping a revolver. One of the hardest setups to master is a scoped contender for offhand shooting. I used this setup on a 22lr contender to shoot silhouettes. A high-rise scope mount and a 4-12 x 40 rifle scope with bdc compensator and used a modified taco hold with the magnification set in the 6x to 8x range depending on the day/coffee/ETC.
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I use this setup quite a bit, a s&w 686 with irons/7x burris scope/burris fast fire III.
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Playing around with blammo ammo @ 50yds with that setup above @ 50yds. That revolver will do better with 1x/2x brass and sorted cast bullets. But 2" 6-shot groups @ 50yds isn't bad for mixed range brass and loading bullets out of the pile without inspection.
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Myself, I'd be taking a hard look at redots to put on your revolver. They don't have the magnification to contend with and will actually teach the shooter point ability/be on target when raising the revolver. (You should be able to see the dot when the revolver is raised). Things like magnification wobble, correct eye relief and canting are taken out of play.
Speaking of playing around, put a fast fire III on a contender (44mag) to beat on steal @ the 100yd line along with shooting junk on the berm. This chicken scratch of a target was me sighting it in. Started on the top right target and ended on the bottom right target.
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A close-up of that bottom right target, gave the red dot a couple more clicks and started plinking.
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I'm old, my eyes are old and I use red dots or scopes on all my revolvers and pistols except for the ccw's/snubnosed revolvers.
Using a scope on a revolver isn't hard but a tv screen red dot is a heck of a lot easier. I'd put 1 of them on that bfr revolver and dial it in. Then put a scope on it and play around.
| BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
| BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
| BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
| C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
| HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
| PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
| LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
| GC | Gas Check |