Anyone have any hacks that can be used to get a little bit more crispness (Sharpness) out of cheap glass?
tim
tim
hacks for cheap optics
- Thread starter Hw9720
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No, not me Someone might chime in but I'd have to see it to believe it. Other than regrinding the glass I've never heard of making cheap glass better.
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I've heard, not sure if true, that glass is mainly the same, the coatings are different. If so, don't think much can be done on our end. Recommend removal from gun, placement in scope drawer and order an upgrade. WM
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My reply is all anecdotal, but to my knowledge, there are NO "hacks" to make a cheap scope have better glass other than buying a better scope.
If you want good glass, buy it. Not saying you have to spend over $1000 for that, but if you are spending below $100... then your chances of getting clear/crisp sharpness is not very good. I have 2 scopes that I am happy with for what I do.
Aim Sports Alpha 6 4.5-27x50 SFP and Athlon Argos BTR 8-34 FFP (first generation).
I paid ~$210 in January 2020 for the Alpha and $333 for the Athlon in July 2019.
For the most part, those prices were considered pretty "cheap" or inexpensive at least at the time and DANGED cheap these days! (smile)
Neither is perfect, but for what I paid for them and what I use them for (pesting in my backyard) they are both very good. Not great, but VERY good.
I have used the Alpha on a Crosman Fortitude .177 shooting ~750fps using 10.3 pellets out to ~75 yards for pesting successfully and out to 96 yards for pesting successfully using a Benjamin Akela .177 shooting ~850fps using 10.3 pellets using the Athlon.
Just as an aside, having used both for a few years now, I know I prefer FFP. To each their own. (smile)
In any case, if you want good glass, you usually won't find it in a cheap scope no matter what you may read online... in my humble opinion.
All my best!
Kerry
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Thanks guys but I have more good to great scopes that I need for the moment. What I do have is a cheap Barska8 15-45x60 spot6ting scope. I was wondering if I start messing with lens ring or some high speed missile wax to put on the lens to make it a bit more sharp. Might even give a fan belt stretcher a shot.
tim
tim
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LOL! Seems you, like me, have too much time on your hands! LOL!
However, no insult intended, I tend to choose tasks that I think I can handle with success and this is one I know would not end up good for me! (chuckle)
Good luck!
I have a VW Beetle I want to make run and handle like a Ferrari... can you help me with that one? LOL!
No offense intended, but I can't help but poke fun at what I think are useless endeavors. Then again, I had a chance to invest in Google, literally on the ground floor. Long before anyone ever heard about it.
$10,000 then would have made me a multi-millionaire today, if not a billionaire... so take my comment with that in mind. (sigh)
All my best!
Kerry
And if you believe that, I have some ocean front property available in Kansas! LOL!
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Yeah my hack is to sell them and upgrade ASAP. Or give them away the first opportunity that presents itself. Then research your next purchase more carefully.
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Recently gave away the last 2 really cheap scopes I had. I could not sell them because I thought they were that bad. AFAIK, all of the folks I gave those cheap scopes to are happy with them, but none of them could afford a better scope, so they don't know what they are missing anyway.
The OP said in a later post that the object of discussion is a spotting scope, not a rifle scope so there may be something there, but once you break into a purged scope, spotter or rifle, etc... you introduce moisture and IMHO it will never be as good as it was new unless you have the equipment to purge/vacuum the scope similar to what it was when new... no matter what else you do to it.
Of course, I have never tried it so what the heck do I know? LOL!
All my best!
Kerry
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You make the assumption that this was a unresearched or under researched purchase. I just love when the presumptuous chime in. So here are the facts so you will understand the situation. In Oct i purchased a collection of airguns and scopes. 203 air guns and 150 scopes. The said spotting scope was in the lot. so each of the 352 units cost me about 18.00 each. There was no research needed. I was just looking for any chance someone could get a little more sharpness out of cheap glass. I did not and don't need any guidance on buying quality optics. I will bet I have bought concededly more quality optics than you have ever handled. In the retail firearms industry for over 30 years.
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Not sure about spotting scopes but on rifle scopes spend some time getting the ocular lens adjusted properly for your eyes.
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I'm sorry if I came off presumptuous to you Tim. Heck I was just giving the soundest advice there is.
Here I fixed it for you so your sentence better fits your arrogant attitude.
But you're correct I concede that I did wrongly assume you were a newb because I already knew that there is no hack to increase glass quality which you should already know but somehow you posted the absolutely silliest question anyone with your level of proclaimed experience should already know.
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What a Dick.I'm sorry if I came off presumptuous to you Tim. Heck I was just giving the soundest advice there is.
Here I fixed it for you so your sentence better fits your arrogant attitude.
But you're correct I concede that I did wrongly assume you were a newb because I already knew that there is no hack to increase glass quality which you should already know but somehow you posted the absolutely silliest question anyone with your level of proclaimed experience should already know.
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Actually, you built this. In your OP, you could have said exactly what you wanted to know, that you didn't spend much money on it and what "glass" you were talking about, etc, etc, etc...
But you did not do that. So, you left it up to US to assume quite a bit.
Yeah, you did explain somewhat in a later post and I defended you because of that, but why NOT put all that in the first post?
As I said, YOU built this.
So why are you getting all upset?
Makes one think twice before trying to help others without asking a LOT of questions first... (our bad or my bad at least)
All my best!
Kerry
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You've got 150 scopes, of which a large number are presumably cheap and low quality. Why would you bother doing anything other than just sell them? You're not going to want to shoot with them, polishing the lenses won't cause them to fetch a dime more and no ones going to expect an old Tasco, Simmons or Pinty to be anything other than a cheap scope anyway.
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