My experience.

Jump to latest Follow Reply
boscoebrea

boscoebrea

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,479
2,534
SF Bay Area,, vallejo United States
Over the years I have found that when it comes to advice for new air gun owners: some of the worse advice I see is when it comes to ,"what scope should I get"...sometimes it is so bad it is not fair to the person asking...First off the person may have a price range=budget...too many times too many people go way past the budget asked for.Another problem is what power should I get for what range....that depends,is the person asking going to rest the rifle or is that person going to shoot off hand,many times it is both,please take that in consideration..... someone may think their scope it "killer" not having experienced some other really good scopes in that price range.

Fact,many of the different scopes are actually the same scope with different names or add-ons .you can save money knowing this.

What got me going is a person asked what power scope they needed for 10 yds...will that is 30 ft....you don't even need a scope for crying -out- loud.and hopefully they are shooting offhand at that range........yet someone says the more power the better,wtf....

I remember going to the range and this person had a expensive scope cranked up to 25power,he let me shoot the rifle,I am like where the heck is the target, oh and adjusts the power down to 10x,we are shooting at 25 yds.,he was using a rest ,I shot offhand...I hit it...the difference is offhand vs.rest...

Don't forget many new people in this sport do not have the money to be,"all in"...Yet they can have Plenty of fun and gratitude with their limit budget,please be aware of That.

Thank all of you that have helped me....through the years...and continue doing so....
 
Sometimes people don't read through the OP's requirements. Then again, sometimes the OP doesn't list them. It also depends on the type of shooting the OP will be doing. Strictly for hunting or shooting tiny targets? A combination of both? Fixed Power, Variable Power? FFP, SFP? The OP will have to do a lot more research and list their wants than just asking "Recommend me a scope".
 
Upvote 0
I agree with you Bosco.

Part of it is often people have no idea what they want or need in a riflescope???

I try to recommend people spend time researching instead of purchasing hastily, and buy the next tier up in quality if at all possible. It cracks me up when a guy posts this - I just bought so and so scope, what do you guys think about it, it should arrive next week, lol!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

A person can "grow into" a decent scope, I'd rather have them do this than get a scope that is not very versatile. 

Rifle scope features - It's better to have and not need than need and not have! Example - one can always dial a variable 3x-18x up to 18x but you can't dial a 3x-9x up any farther than 9x. Yeah, that 3-18 might weigh a pound more - oh well, everything has compromises. That 3-9 might have 100Y non adjustable/fixed parallax, the 3-18 might have10Y minimum focus which is beneficial to most airgunners. The list of benefits goes on.

VERSATILITY is where it's AT for me so that's what I try to suggest. 

Also in most cases I would rather have a full featured decent quality Chinese scope than............ But I use those features.
 
Upvote 0
I agree. It is especially important to understand the OP's use for the scope as you suggested. No sense telling him to get an 8-40 power scope if he is going to be shooting offhand at 10-30 yards. FFP is great...until you shoot in the woods at dusk and can't see the crosshairs. You really need to understand the power range...whether FFP makes sense vs. SFP...whether illumination would be a benefit...all that before you can make a recommendation.

By the way, I just picked up a US Optics TS-12 3-12x scope which usually sells for about $530 (sale price $400) after glowing recommendations. I already own a Discovery compact 3-12x ($230). What do you get for an additional $170-300? Honestly, not a lot. I'm half convinced the US Optics TS-12 is made in the same plant as the Discovery. Is the US Optics crap. Hardly. The little Discovery is just an amazingly good value.

Once I have more time with the US Optics I'm going to do a side by side comparison.
 
Upvote 0
I am so sorry to inform you that the Vector Optics 3-12x44 is the same scope made in China at less than half the price who probably has a cousin named Discovery at an even cheaper price but at least yours has a better brand name and all of them share very good optics. I say if buying Chinese scopes buy the cheapest label you can find of that very same scope. Marcool funny name is one of the cousins as well. Yo!
 
Upvote 0
I am so sorry to inform you that the Vector Optics 3-12x44 is the same scope made in China at less than half the price who probably has a cousin named Discovery at an even cheaper price but at least yours has a better brand name and all of them share very good optics. I say if buying Chinese scopes buy the cheapest label you can find of that very same scope. Marcool funny name is one of the cousins as well. Yo!
Click to expand...

I just looked at the Vector Optics and agree completely. I wonder how many other companies brand this scope as their own? Funny thing is I prefer the reticle in the Discovery better. The Discovery does have a stupid flaw. The number of serrations for lining up the turret cap don’t equal the clicks so you can’t zero the turret exactly. I’m curious if the Vector has that same flaw?

P.S. It is a damn nice little scope...but certainly a better value at $230.



 
Upvote 0
How does one find out all of the equivalent Chinese made scopes, with different labels?

is there a website?
Click to expand...

No but if you're stupid like me to try all of them just to try out and do side by side comparisons you'll know first hand like I did it's real crazy how many US brand stuff are made in China and even a company Barra known for Japanese optics has scopes Made in China too. Says so right on the scope but pretty darn good glass I have 4 of them for sale on the classifieds BTW. Checkout Aliexpress and Amazon to get the cheaper spinoffs some are crazy cheap compared to the "brand names". Look at the Discovery turrets with the holes in them surely even you could figure those other rebrands out at least for the Duscovery. Then you have the $500 Aliexpress no brand Air Venturi Hatsan compressor selling for almost triple the cost I could go on and on and on. Buy the CHEAPEST CHINESE SPINOFF of that same item unless you don't mind paying double or triple the price I say... I have a very difficult time justifying spending over $300 00 for ANY Chinese scope. I pretty much have all of the cheap $40 Amazon on to Tasco and Simmons $100-$300+ Leaper UTG. And Hawkes inluding Frontier Vortex Athlon Optisan Aztec Emeralds Mueller BSA Marcool Tac Vector Discovery and spinoffs $500 up to $650 MTC Chinese scopes already and Bushnell Engage(this one is really not too bad). Suggest save a little more take brown bag lunch to work and buy Japanese Phillipines (maybe even)Korean and FOR SURE USA scopes and if you have the means then by all means go European. Yo!
 
Upvote 0
Oh just remembered another 2 diamonds in the roughs in CHEAP Chinese scopes don't laugh some but not all Monstrom Tactical and some but not all Barska too. Couldn't believe it when I looked through some of these. Most importantly my all time favorites in CHEAP CHINESE SCOPES are the JSAR 4.5-27x50 $220-$275 SFP/FFP Illuminated and Aim Sports Alpha6 4.5-27x50 SFP Illuminated $189-$249 if you shop smart when DVOR has a sale on them and yes they both are cousins too. I have the $220 SFP JSAR 4.5-27x50 on one of my other Daystate Redwolfs now and it's clearer than ALL of my $649 MTC VIPER PROs. The Aim Sports Alpha6 typical price averages $289-$299 when not on sale and even at those prices I think they are still worth it. Next time DVOR has them on sale for $189 I'm buying at least 20 of them maybe more. Then I'm going to sell my CHINESE Aztecs Athlons Vortex Optisan some Hawkes Leapers UTGs and probably all of my MTC Viper Pros too.

Anybody reading this post if you buy either of the JSARs FFP or SFP or Aim Sports Alpha6 "ON SALE" I'll buy them from you if you aren't pleased with what you see when you check them out so long as they're not used on a Springer or damaged. I have no sponsorship from either JSAR nor Aim Sports nor any vested interest nor any relatives or friends working at either company. If you don't buy on sale I'll pay UP TO $189 which is what I would pay next sale anyway. Yo!
 
Upvote 0
We should start a thread, "cheap Chinese crap that's not crappy", Yo.

Started by talking about the compact 3-12x but I like the compact 4-16x even better. It has all the good traits of the 3-12x...same low cost, compact, good eye relief and eyebox, sharp, mechanically sound, close parallax distance of 8 yards...but has that extra 16x range on the long end which is more suited to an airgun. 

The other one that impressed the h_ll out of me was the Discovery 4-20x-50 illuminated SFIR. It's clear, sharp...good strong illumination, 10 yard parallax. 

The main negative to these excellent Chinese scopes is their weight. They are little tanks. On the other hand, it is a positive on the toughness side. 

One other comment on these. They love to throw in a compact honeycomb sunshade. Throw that right in the trash. Everyone I've tried degrades the image quality unacceptably by reducing the contrast and producing a "milky" image. 
 
Upvote 0
 Yes!!! should start a new Subject post,The topic changed and it is a great topic and because I know optics and can verify Yo does to...you can save a lot of money ....by paying more,what you mean boy ! I mean by knowing the Facts you can get a lot better scope for your money that you will be pleased with.....and not have to Second guess yourself.

And staying on subject,,,there are posters that know more,or have more experience or have more money to play with....=can afford to check out more different brands or types of air rifles or scopes....you just have to trust they know what they are talking about....and take what they say as help,not as gospel...


 
Upvote 0
The last scope I purchased , brand new, was a Hawke 4-16x50SF mildot IR (17410) for 460$ out the door. 


It is Chinese. What is it’s equivalent?
Click to expand...

That's a real tough one and can only speculate an equivalent would PERHAPS be a Discovery ED or HD equivalent since it looks like UK importer was pretty sly and didn't want spinoffs to happen with their Hawkes. The Discovery has a very interesting HAWKE-Esque reticle though! YO!
 
Upvote 0
$93.74-$116.92 BSA 4-14x44 Aliexpress FFP non illuminated SWFA SS/TAC Vector reticle and illuminated double FUNKY looking double cross reticle for holdover. $220-$275 JSAR 4.5-27x50 illuminated FFP and SFP and $189 from DVOR when on sale or current cheapest $229.99 free shipping from BUDK right now Aim Sports Alpha6 4.5-27x50 SFP Illuminated all gets my vote for CHEAP CHINESE CRAP THATS NOT CRAPPY. Yo!


 
Upvote 0
2-Jul-20 Copied to New Topic

Great topic, I've been researching next scope for some time. At this point, narrowed list to about 5 candidates but still learning and willing to add/delete based on new info. So challenge for the group - Below is intended use of optic, best guess requirements and features that *might* be nice to have. Recommendations? Thoughts?

PCP in .177 caliber used for backyard plinking, pest control between 10 and 40 yards as well as Field Target Hunter class matches. Budget is under $500 with Lifetime warranty from a Quality manufacturer offering excellent Customer support.

Requirements -

  1. Audible, positive, accurate turrets.
  2. At least 16x magnification on the top end.
  3. Accurate sde parallax adjustment down to 10 Yds.
  4. Numbered vertical subtensions.
  5. Etched Reticle.
    [/LIST=1]

    Wish List Features -
    1. FFP
    2. Zero Stops
    3. Zoom Lever
    4. Sunshade & Flip Covers.
      [/LIST=1]

      Finally, purchase from an Authorized retailer that offers generous, easy returns.

      Thanks,
      Bo3b
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu