question on discovery scopes

 

I modified a UTG side wheel for my VT-2 4-16x50 by reaming out the rubber insert. I also machined away the knobs on the SW rim to make it easier to attach some electrical tape for marking with a permanent marker...........







To enlarge the UTG SW rubber insert ID:

* Remove rubber insert from side wheel

*Turn the rubber insert inside out and slip it over a snug fitting wooden dowel (or whatever).

*Sand the "knobbies" (I used a stationary belt sander ) till the insert was a snug fit over the focus knob (took me several "sandings" to get it right).

As a side note:

I personally stopped using the supplied UTG set screws used for retaining those side wheels (even with my UTG scope) because I never got a satisfactory "rocking free" connection. What I've been doing with the "rubber inserted UTG side wheel":

*Wipe a coat of silicone rubber on the inside of the rubber insert.

*Push the SW on the focus knob while the silicone rubber is still wet.

*Wipe away the excess silicone rubber.

* Make sure the SW is in the correct position and the rim isn't cocked to one side or the other.

* Let the rubber cure overnight.

After the silicone rubber cures the SW will be solidly attached. If SW removal is needed the silicone rubber is simply a rather soft rubber compound and the bond is easily broken by placing a thumb on the focus knob and pull on the SW flange with the other fingers. IMHO, don't pull the SW flange while holding the scope tube to release the cured silicone rubber. It might damage the scope internal mechanism if holding the scope with one hand and pulling the SW with the other. Anywhoo......I've been doing the "silicone rubber deal" for a few years and have never had "scope issues" by putting all "pulling pressure" only on the face of the focus knob with the logo and the rim of the SW. After removal it's easy to remove the cured silicone rubber residue from the focus knob and rubber insert because the silicone rubber doesn't bind tightly. When I attached the UTG SW to my Discovery scope I only had blue silicone rubber and here is a pic of my SW attachment showing a film of blue silicone rubber (LOL, ya might wanna use black) around the focus knob rim...........








 
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just a heads up ,



i have 2 of the vt2 side wheels,

one is on a 4.5-18x44 and one is on a 6-24x44 and they fit great.



but those side wheels wont fit the vt-2 10x44 fixed 10 power scope i just got,

the side focus knob is a good bit smaller on the fixed 10 power model.



i imagine i could tighten the grub screws enough to make it work though.
 
"It seems like you have to have your head & eye in just the exact right position, or the sight moves around. Are you finding the same thing?"

If moving the eye "side to side" in the ocular and the reticle seems to move on the aim point after focusing, the parallax adjustment isn't correct. Here is a procedure used by a field target team for setting up their scopes and it works for me...........

http://www.bcsportsmen.org/ft/A_Team_Parallax_adjustment_procedure.pdf

When setting up my scopes the first thing I do is to adjust the "fast focus ring" so the reticle is both sharp and doesn't move on the aim point when I move my head from side after focusing. I don't get as critical setting up as the above procedure, I simply adjust my "fast focus eye piece" till the reticle is both sharp and doesn't move if I shift my eye position when the aim point is sharply in focus.

I just checked out my Discovery 4-12x50 VT-2 sharply focused 10 yards and when moving my eye from "extreme right to extreme left" the reticle barely on the aim point (about 1/8th the width of a .177 cal pellet hole. I'm guessing that with "tedious adjustments" reticle movement could be completely eliminated, however I never use "extreme eye placement" for shooting so the current adjustment is "good enough for me".

Hope this rambling helps more than confuses!



 
Discovery side wheel arrived today and it fits great!



Matter of fact, the most solid installation I've had with a side wheel with "no rocking" on the focus knob even before snugging up on the three grub screws! Also, there were no silly "knobbies" on the rim like the UTG side wheel that needed to be machined off for applying PVC "marking tape".



Here is a pic of my VT-2 4-16x50 SFIR-N mounted in extra high Weaver Quad Lock mounts mounted to a UTG Dovetail To Picatinny/Weaver Adapter which is clamped to my HW95 receiver dovetail............ 





I was using 1" Weaver Extra High Quad Lock mounts in the pic to accommodate a 5-15x50 Hawke Panorama that was mounted to my HW95 so there was sufficient clearance between the slip over lens covers and the receiver tube. I don't have to mount the Discovery so high so I'll be switching out the "extra high" Quad locks for some "mediums".






 
Hi OP I had a quick question for you, do you have any cons of the scope after trying it out a lot? And also how do you feel it compares to other scopes you’ve got? I’ve been looking into discovery scopes and was wondering what they were like since I’m looking to put one on my qb78 once I finally have the funds lol

Not stepping on the OP here but I just wanted to chime in to respond to this... I now own two Discovery scopes, one SFP and one FFP and I will tell you they are an excellent value for the money. Great coated lenses, built like tanks, great manufacturing, great tactile and smoothe adjustments, great price-point. For my money I am very satisfied with them.
 
My 4-16x50 Discovery VT-2 is actually a pretty good scope considering it's about $130 cheaper than my 5-15x50 Hawke Panorama.

Relative to my 5-15x50 Panorama the Discovery has a relatively narrow field of view and my particular Panorama has a "tad" crisper resolution if I look through the scopes side by side". Actually, not enough difference to notice unless the scope is being used for "scope rangefinding". The Panorama at 15x snaps in and out of focus "crisper" than the Discovery at 16x, however the Panorama uses a "front AO focus". The side focus Discovery is more convenient and when the larger optional side wheel is added the "range marks" between distances are "spread out" more than the marks on the Panorama AO. The 3" diameter Discovery side wheel rotates about 180 degrees from "stop to stop" which "spreads out" the range marks at different distances a lot more that the 2 1/2" in diameter Panorama AO which rotates only about 110 degrees "stop to stop".

The 4-16x50 Discovery VT-2 weighs 23.9 ounces whereas the 5-15x50 Hawke Panorama weighs 22.2 ounces so the Panorama is about 1 3/4 ounces lighter than the Discovery.

When I bought my Discovery directly from China I found the shipping to be interesting, however it surprisingly only took about 10 days to receive the scope.........





I haven't had any issues with my 4-16x50 VT-2 Discovery mounted on my .177 HW95 tuned to about 12.5fpe so I can't comment on warranty work based on the rather confusing warranty statement on their web site............



Judging by the "warranty statement", if you do buy the Discovery scope model I have it might be a good idea to buy from a US based retailer to have some backup if something goes wrong.