Hey VA Redneck,
Do yourself a favor and get that rifle out into the deer woods, my friend!Those rifles get mighty lonely taking up residence in a dark gunsafe.
I love mine and wouldn't trade it fior anything because it's my go-to brush gun. With that being said, the majority of my humble collection serves specific hunting niches in long rifles. There are a few "just cause I like em" but the others, like golf irons, serve specific purposes.
The BLR, in my opinion, is really more a short throw bolt gun than it is a lever gun in the classic sense. I have reserved it as a close quarter to medium range (50 yard) brush gun because I have opted to not scope this gun but to add fiber optic ghost sights for fast target acquisition. I have other options for longer shooting, say over bean fields, clearings etc. There are certainly folks capable of squeezing out sub MOA accuracy out of open sights for this rifle. I am not one of them. If my shooting will take me out past 50-75 yards, I am far more accurate with a scoped optic. If I were to throw one on my BLR, I would have no hestitation of taking longer shots. For me personally, this rifle comes up quickly and makes very fast and accurate successive follow-up shots when demanding, quick decisions were necessary.
My BLR in .308 has taken several deer over the years up North and down South with family on deer drives. Dust that baby off and get it some air man!
