Ordered and received a Discovery scope from china. LOL...what a trip!

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nced

nced

Member
Jun 1, 2016
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NC, United States
I watched Joe's YouTube review of a "new to me" Chinese discovery scope and Since I really wasn't interested in a 4.5-18 first focal plane scope, don't need a "camera bracket", and didn't like the busy reticle in the video I did some "Youtube research" for other Discovery offerings. I found quite a few "Discovery YouTubes" and found these interesting vids (sales pitches?).............

Anywhoo.........on April 26th I ordered a 4-16x50 Discovery VT2 from an amazon retailer for $209.99 + free shipping. The scope arrived from China on May 7th (only 12 days later). LOL....that scope started in Hunan, China (I assume).....went to the Dubai, UAE warehouse.......then to Liepzig, Germany........then to Cincinnatti, OH........then to Morrisville, NC.........then to my home in Rougemont, NC.
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Here is what I received............
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The scope didn't come with a large sidewheel for the side focus knob but I found that an old UTG side wheel I had laying around would fit if I modified it a bit.
Sidewheel before and after enlarging the original rubber insert on the lathe for a snug fit on the focus knob..........
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Since I really didn't like the UTG focus wheel factory "knobbies" they were knocked off using my lathe and here is a pic of the mounted scope with sidewheel mod. LOL..........there is even a bit of visible blue colored silicone rubber visible I used to secure the modified UTG sidewheel.
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The "smooth rim" of the modified SW allows me to easily attach PVC electrical tape for the holdover marks to be applied with a permanent marker. As a side note, I stopped using the supplied set screws that came with the sidewheels I bought. I've had scope focus knobs damaged when the points of the set screws penetrated the "rubber liner", plus the cheap sidewheels I bought never were secure on the focus knob when turning. Whit I've done for a while now is to remove the set screws altogether and secure the sidewheel with a coating of RTV silicone rubber in the sidewheel "rubber". After the silicone rubber cures the sidewheel is secure and the rim doesn't "flop back and forth when turning". Also, the sidewheel can be pulled off the focus knob if needed and the silicone rubber residue is easily removed from the focus knob and side wheel rubber liner. 

When setting up the scope I found that the turrets, focusing, and quick focus eyepiece were very smooth and firm functioning. Matter of fact, the side focus hasn't exhibited the "backlash/slop" found in the side focus of my Accushot 3-12x44 SWAT Compact. The optics are pretty good, even at 16x and I do like the "Hawke style reticle" that came with my scope. Also, when the screw in sun shade was mounted the scope is very long (and heavy at 24ox) so I has trouble mounting the scope forward enough to get a good eye relief and still be able to cock my HW95 break barrel. My solution was to mount the shade in the padded jaws of my lathe chuck and shorten it. worked a treat and all I had to do was move my scope & rings forward on the Weaver to dovetail adapter............
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I am wondering who decided to use baby blue color lens caps and what the holes around the base of the shade are for! Holes not much of a biggy but I see some black "paint for plastic" in the future for those caps!

I have been shooting a bit today and the scope is holding zero really well! Matter of fact, I'm wondering if my previous scope (a 5-15x50 Hawke panorama) was developing a "wandering zero". With the Discovery I'm putting "pellet on top of pellet" at 18 yards with a good release and (so far) I haven't had any misses that I couldn't attribute to the nut yankin' tha trigger. With the Hawke it seemed that I was getting a lot of unexplained "fliers".

Anywoo.......never ordered a scope from China before so I'm hoping that it's as tough as the YouTube Vids show and I thought that this might be interesting to some! I'm actually very surprised at the speed of delivery considering that I'm sure it had to pass through a few customs inspections.
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According to this review the Discovery model listed passed the "box test" perfectly......

Since I only use holdover aiming (don't "click on"), don't change my scope mag, or shoot videos through the scope, "passing a box test" and a first focal plane reticle isn't an issue!

My Discovery will focus adequately to see .177 cal holes in a paper target at 50 yards, will actually focus sharply under 10 yards at 16x (about 9 yards), and "scope rangefind" better than my other scopes. Good enough for my hunter class field target purposes! So far my Discovery "holding zero" fine after a couple hundred shots and as long as the thing "holds zero" I'm satisfied.

 
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"nced"According to this review the Discovery model listed passed the "box test" perfectly......
Since I only use holdover aiming (don't "click on"), don't change my scope mag, or shoot videos through the scope, "passing a box test" and a first focal plane reticle isn't an issue!
My Discovery will focus adequately to see .177 cal holes in a paper target at 50 yards, will actually focus sharply under 10 yards at 16x (about 9 yards), and "scope rangefind" better than my other scopes. Good enough for my hunter class field target purposes! So far my Discovery "holding zero" fine after a couple hundred shots and as long as the thing "holds zero" I'm satisfied.
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The only issue with taking reviews at face value is that the problem with low cost scopes like this is the lack of QC. The reviewed one may be perfect but others may not be. 
Rusbear got a dud Discovery which changed diopter settings as soon as the focus wheel was turned.

So far so good on yours it seems though! Sounds like you only really need to make sure there is no wandering zero with changing the side focus and you'll be good to go, provided it continues to hold zero otherwise.

If it's all good and continues to be, then you've scored a great bargain!
 
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I agree concerning "face value reviews" but reviews are simply opinions of the reviewer and "reviews" by a retailer can simply be the pitch of a "snake oil salesman"! LOL........ my "Social In-Security income pockets" aren't deep enough to by a bunch of scopes for personal testing so (in my case) various reviews are "watched and read" hoping for the best.

Concerning the term "low cost scopes".........
The definition of "Low cost" is dependent on "how deep the pockets"! My definition of a low cost scope is my 4-16x40 Center Point bought at "WallyMart" for about $80 and the 3-12x44 UTG Compact SWAT bought online for about $130. To me my 3-12x50 Hawke Airmax AO at about $230 is "mid price" and my 5-15x50 Hawke Panorama at about $280 is at the high end of "mid price". I consider anything over $400 to be "high price" and would never even consider one for my airgunning. Hummmmmm...perhaps the "Chinese offerings" are the only scopes I own (or plan to own) preferring to take chances with "spotty QC". 

Some of the Bushnell scopes are also of Asian origin and I do wonder how many don't use Asian components regardless of the price. Perhaps the vendor overseeing of the QC process has a lot to do with the consistency of scopes coming out of China. LOL....I'm betting that only one or two factories produce the components of all scopes of Chinese origin regardless of the price and most scope makers in the USA use some Chinese components!
The Bushnell Elite Tactical HDMR II 3-5-21x50 costs about $1600 (high price for me) and the Bushnell AR Optics 4.5-18x40 costs about $200 (mid price for me) so I wonder which scope contain all (or perhaps some) QC issue related components regardless of the price.

Here is a "cut-n-paste" from a web search........
"I just got off the web and I was double checking something about Leupold scopes on the Dicks Sporting Goods websight.
On the three Leupold scopes that they have listed for sale, at the bottom of the page it says country of origin China.
I was under the impression that Leupold scopes were made in the USA. Does anyone out there know if they are now made in China and if so, are they all or just certain models. I checked the Leupold websight and there is nothing there."

LOL, I guessing that the March Optics 8-80x56 Tactical Knob scope at about $3300 (have seen a couple used on the field target courses) wouldn't have any Chinese parts....but who knows?
 
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My "cheap" Chinese Discovery scope update.........
Till recently I've been using a 5-15x50 Hawke Panorama mounted to my HW95 for shooting field target matches ("bucket and sticks" hunter class) and have scored poorly using the scope at recent matches. Matter of fact, at the April CCGC field target match I knocked down only 20% of the targets. I was getting a lot more "unexpected fliers" than normal but I thought the issue was the shooter and poor wind doping! Problem is that I was also getting "unexplained fliers" when practicing upstairs at 18 yards in still air!

Well....I replaced the $300 5-15x50 Hawke Panorama AO with the $209 4-16x50 Discovery SF and noticed that I wasn't getting "unexplained fliers" during my 18 yard practice sessions. Matter of fact, while still shooting a mediocre hft score at best I did knock down 50% of the targets at yesterday's CCGC ft match the score was 2 1/2 times higher than the Hawke Panorama score on the same course.

This morning I chronied my HW95 and it was still shooting .177 CPLs at 860fps so I shot a couple 5 shot groups, upstairs from "bucket and sticks" and here is a partial scan of the target...........
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LOL.....seems that the scope is "holding zero" so far!

I have noticed that the Discovery set at 16x is a tad less crisp that when it's set at 12x. While the "16x image" is indeed larger than the "12x image" and sharp enough to resolve .177 pellet holes in a paper target at 50 yards I do wonder how the slightly less sharp "16x image" affects the scope rangefinding during a hft match. Hummmm.....I'll be trying to determine if a slightly crisper "12x setting" will make it easier to determine an "exact sharp focus" than a slightly less crisp 16x setting and it's shallower depth of field. I did find that the 16x setting gave a considerably more critical "eye placement" than when set at 12x". Anywhoo.......the resolution of my particular Discovery at 12x is similar to the resolution of my 4-12x50 Hawke AirMax set at 12x.

One issue I have with the Discovery is that the lighted reticle "red setting at 5" is too dim for my liking, even on a dark lane, however the "green setting at 5" is pretty good. LOL.....perhaps one of those "mentioned "QC issues" but green is fine with me even though I prefer red. :p
 
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"nced"I agree concerning "face value reviews" but reviews are simply opinions of the reviewer and "reviews" by a retailer can simply be the pitch of a "snake oil salesman"! LOL........ my "Social In-Security income pockets" aren't deep enough to by a bunch of scopes for personal testing so (in my case) various reviews are "watched and read" hoping for the best.
Concerning the term "low cost scopes".........
The definition of "Low cost" is dependent on "how deep the pockets"! My definition of a low cost scope is my 4-16x40 Center Point bought at "WallyMart" for about $80 and the 3-12x44 UTG Compact SWAT bought online for about $130. To me my 3-12x50 Hawke Airmax AO at about $230 is "mid price" and my 5-15x50 Hawke Panorama at about $280 is at the high end of "mid price". I consider anything over $400 to be "high price" and would never even consider one for my airgunning. Hummmmmm...perhaps the "Chinese offerings" are the only scopes I own (or plan to own) preferring to take chances with "spotty QC". 
Some of the Bushnell scopes are also of Asian origin and I do wonder how many don't use Asian components regardless of the price. Perhaps the vendor overseeing of the QC process has a lot to do with the consistency of scopes coming out of China. LOL....I'm betting that only one or two factories produce the components of all scopes of Chinese origin regardless of the price and most scope makers in the USA use some Chinese components!
The Bushnell Elite Tactical HDMR II 3-5-21x50 costs about $1600 (high price for me) and the Bushnell AR Optics 4.5-18x40 costs about $200 (mid price for me) so I wonder which scope contain all (or perhaps some) QC issue related components regardless of the price.
Here is a "cut-n-paste" from a web search........
"I just got off the web and I was double checking something about Leupold scopes on the Dicks Sporting Goods websight.
On the three Leupold scopes that they have listed for sale, at the bottom of the page it says country of origin China.
I was under the impression that Leupold scopes were made in the USA. Does anyone out there know if they are now made in China and if so, are they all or just certain models. I checked the Leupold websight and there is nothing there."
LOL, I guessing that the March Optics 8-80x56 Tactical Knob scope at about $3300 (have seen a couple used on the field target courses) wouldn't have any Chinese parts....but who knows?
Click to expand...
I've got no doubt that the Leupold scopes that you are referring to are counterfeit. There is no such thing as copyright in China. Regarding Bushnell using Asian parts. They are, after all, a Japanese company. Most of the big names are having budget models at least, being made in China and a lot of hi-end brands are using some Chinese components. There are companies like Discovery and Vector Optics that are making quality products at affordable prices and are working hard to establish their reputations. I would steer clear of anything that has a quality brand name with a cheap price tag. If you can't find the exact same model in the company catalog or website, give it a wide berth. 
 
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This thread has prompted an internet search on "Leupold origin" and found this to be interesting...........
https://www.leupold.com/service-support/resources/counterfeit-warning

From the above..........
"We strongly recommend against purchasing optics purporting to be Leupold products from www.wish.com, www.ioffer.com, www.aliexpress.com, and www.alibaba.com, among many others.Leupold® is issuing a consumer alert to purchasers of Leupold riflescope products, particularly via internet sales, in regards to counterfeit Leupold products that are illegally imported from the People’s Republic of China. These fake products bear many of the trademarks and trade dress of current Leupold & Stevens riflescopes, and are sometimes difficult to distinguish externally from authentic Leupold products. Common counterfeit scopes purport to be Mark 4 riflescopes, VX-III riflescopes, Prismatic riflescopes, CQ/T riflescopes, LCO sights, and Deltapoint Pro sights. These counterfeits are regularly returned to us for service due to failures; however, counterfeit products are not manufactured by Leupold and are not covered by the Leupold Full Lifetime Guarantee. We do not provide service for counterfeit products."

Anywhoo, except for offerings like the VX-3i 6.5-20x40mm EFR I don't think that most Leupold (or other rifle scopes for that matter) offer the "10 yard parallax correction" necessary for my airgunning. Still....at about $900 the mentioned 6-5-20x40 EFR is WAY ABOVE my "retirement income level" so I'll have to keep buying the "lesser cheap Chinese offerings".
 
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That sounds about what I suspected. I've also seen Bushnell and BSA logos on some pretty low-end optics. I even bought a BSA branded scope, not because of the brand but because it was a generic cheap Chinese 6-24 x50 that I had seen a lot of favorable revues on. It isn't a bad scope especially for the $75 AUD that I paid for it. I knew it wasn't genuine but it came with the type of mounts that I wanted and had a few extra accessories than the other branded and unbranded guises of the same scope. Here in Australia, American imports, not only scopes but guns as well are more than double what you pay over there, even after the exchange rate. For instance, a plastic stocked Marauda is selling for $1350 AUD.compared with an FX Streamline at $1750 and a Hawke Sidewinder is almost a grand. Leupold is only for shooters with deep pockets real deep. On the other hand, Chinese stuff is the same price here as it is in the states so it is a lot more appealing to the average shmo. I have a couple of Tac Vector scopes and I couldn't be happier with them. I have dealt with their staff in Shanghai and they have been nothing less than delightful to deal with. I have said it before, there is a lot of crap made in China but not everything that comes out of there is trash you just have to sift through the chaff. 
 
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The combination of HW95, UTG Universal Adapter, Weaver Quad Lock rings and 4-16x50 Discovery VT-2 with modified UTG focus wheel is working well after several hundred shots and a field target match a couple weeks ago.

Scope is staying put in the Weaver Quad Locks even using only 10in/lbs of torque on the top strap screws, the UTG to Weaver adapter is holding firm to the HW95 receiver dovetails using 35in/lbs torque on the four base screws along with a s UTG supplied stop pin, and the scope is holding zero (so far).

Basically, I'm very pleased with the scope except for the silly light blue flip up lens covers. LOL......I just solved the "lens cover color issue" with some satin black Krylon "paint & primer"..........
Before & after..........
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The Discovery Optics scopes are not 'cheap scopes.' They compete mostly in the middle scope market, $150-400. At about $149, The VT-2 competes with scopes like Vortex Crossfire Ii and Nikon Buckhunter 2 series, and I think Discovery is the better product. The Discovery warranty on the lower end lines is 3 years I think, and lifetime warranty for higher end lines. A lifetime warranty on low end models might be the only advantage that Vortex has. I actually think the Discovery VT-2 is a better scope with better glass and features for the money. But make sure you buy from an American seller like Airgunopticsplus.com because there are lots of counterfeit Discovery scopes that look really close to the original. Same thing goes for Leupold or Zeis or any good scope. Buy reputable from American companies if possible. Airgunopticsplus.com actually sells Discovery scopes for cheaper than the Chinese sellers I see on Ebay or Amazon. I bought 2 from them, a VT-2 4.5-18x44 and an HS Ultra Light FFP 4-14x44. They come with usable rings too, with square stop bolts underneath for picatinny rails, your choice low or high. Stunner. Free shipping from NC. Best scopes I've ever seen in their respective price ranges. 
 
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