BSA Scopes

BSA SCOPES

BSA - Birmingham Small Arms are a company formed in 1861 but it was not until 1996 when the division of BSA Optics was born with the BSA Scopes product range. So what makes a great BSA Scope so great? Well BSA have spent decades in research and development creating only the best in gun accessories. There are 4 different BSA Scopes in mainstream production today - the Panther Series, the Essencial, the New Cats Eye Illuminated and the traditional Air Rifle Scopes. BSA Scopes have only the best in materials with build quality at such a high standard that their reputation among gunsmiths world-wide is unprecedented. Many different scopes from BSA have been released with certain aspects taken into consideration for certain roles of the user.

In a Little over a hundred years BSA has grown from a small union of gunsmiths to become one of Britain's important industrial groups. The story is not entirely one of steady progress and expansion; there is drama and excitement too. And because BSA has served its country more directly than most private concerns, its story is also part of Britain's history. To begin at the very beginning, however, it is necessary to go back much farther than a century - to the year 1689, infact, at the court of William and Mary. King William III, worried by threats of invasion, sharply criticised the practice of obtaining military weapons from Holland. He was overheard by Sir Richard Newdegate, an MP for Warwickshire,who immediately spoke up on behalf of his Birmingham constituents - among whom were many fine gunsmiths. The result was a trial order for five of the leading Birmingham smiths. It was satisfactorily carried out, and a firm contract was made between the Government and the quintet for the supply of 200 snaphance muskets a month "at seventeen shillings per piece, ready money".

This practice of trading with the gunmakers as a group continued for 150 years. At the time of the Crimean Warfourteen of themaster smiths formalised their position joining together as The Birmingham Small Arms Trade Association. It was this body, which on June 7th, 1861, took the decision to form a public company........ The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited.

BSA SCOPES