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Really cheap China scopes, worth it?

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Savagefox

Savagefox

Member
Sep 7, 2018
115
67
Spain, Spain
Well... I have told that some Zasdar cheap scopes, are just china rebrands, and they get some praise (considering the price). we talk about 60/80 buck scopes.

It seems that I found a suspiciously EXACT model that cost 65/70 bucks in my country, for much cheaper in, what else... aliexpress:


Yeah yeah, I know its crap, I know it wont hold zero if I drop it and the optics blablabla... I know man... But I don't own any scope, cuz I'm more of a pistol guy and I like to shoot with open sights, so, for a initiation thingy to just play arround... is it worth it?

The most powerful thing I have is the Huben Gk1, I plan to make it a semy-carbine stock in 3D on the future, scopes takes less hard recoil from pcp, but the Gk1 is fairly powerfull... Im happy if this scope can just hold the zero on mid power recoil.
 
I know nothing about that particular scope, but there are a lot of cheap imports that will work fine, particularly on a PCP. Many hold zero just fine. Where most suffer is in optical quality, which is frankly still OK for sub-100 yard daylight shooting. I'm still a fan of 'better' optics, but I've played around with some of the cheap stuff and it's not usually as bad as what you hear.

GsT
 
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Not worth it; get a Hawke Vantage:
www.optics-trade.eu

Hawke Vantage 2-7x32

Hawke Vantage 2-7x32
www.optics-trade.eu www.optics-trade.eu

Some extra-cheap scopes do probably work, but you can never know which ones, or if for example bottoming out one of the turrets isn't going to break it.
Parallax definitely needs to be adjustable. Note that 89mm eye relief means that your eye needs to be exactly 89mm away from the scope - this means that the scope needs to be mounted so that part of the scope sits above and over the stock, if there is a stock.
 
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When you buy a chinese scope from an unknown source it's most likely a scam. I've bought a few cheap china scopes and they are not what they claim to be. It it says x-24x zoom then it's most likely only 16x. Basically material wont be what they claim, specs wont be what they claim and quality over all will be garbage. It will look ok but once you use it don't be surprised if it falls apart.
The only chinese brand of scopes I trust are Vector Optics and only from official or legitimate partner stores. They are cheaper than most brands but from my own experience the quality is really good.

If I wanted a scope with 3-9x then I'd go with this one. Victoptics is part of Vector Optics afaik and their budget brand.
VictOptics B3 3-9x40 - €24.45
 
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I've owned a number of dirt cheap scopes over the years and almost all of them have actually worked. The difference between a $29 Pinty or CVLife and a $75 BSA is the turrets, the tube and the glass. The dirt cheap scopes will tend to have small turrets with plastic adjustment knobs with a slot for a flat head screwdriver in them. The tube will be very lightweight and the glass quality will be noticeably low even by someone who's not familiar with optics. In all likelihood however it will hold a zero and function just fine. On a budget oriented scope like a BSA, you'll typically have taller turrets that are made of metal. The glass quality will not be great, but if you're not picky about these things it probably won't bother you and the tube will be more substantial. I wouldn't bet on adjustments being repeatable with one and if you get it pointed anywhere near the sun you will likely find that the light obscures your target, but again, it will be highly likely to work as advertised. Step up the scale to a $200 Leapers or Hawke and you'll be getting a scope that does most of the things the expensive scopes do, but without the same quality of glass or adjustments or low light visibility. At that point though you're getting to the point where you'll be paying progressively more and getting less for what you pay for. That's not to say you shouldn't spend more and get a better scope, just that a $400 scope won't be visibly twice as good as a $200 scope. Once you start getting into high end products you can easily start paying 90% more for 10% better performance and for someone who's involved in competition that might be what's necessary to stay competitive.
 
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One other thing about scopes in general is that they don't need to be paired with any one gun. Having an extra scope or two around means that you can slap one on whatever rifle needs one at the moment. Say you just spent all your disposable income on that high end rifle you've been dreaming about and you don't have the money left over for good glass. Well, take the Leapers Accushot off of one of your decent rifles, put it on your new dream rifle and then put the old Barska 3-9x32 on the rifle you swiped the Accushot from.
 
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MadCowCrazy2 said:
When you buy a chinese scope from an unknown source it's most likely a scam. I've bought a few cheap china scopes and they are not what they claim to be. It it says x-24x zoom then it's most likely only 16x. Basically material wont be what they claim, specs wont be what they claim and quality over all will be garbage. It will look ok but once you use it don't be surprised if it falls apart.
The only chinese brand of scopes I trust are Vector Optics and only from official or legitimate partner stores. They are cheaper than most brands but from my own experience the quality is really good.

If I wanted a scope with 3-9x then I'd go with this one. Victoptics is part of Vector Optics afaik and their budget brand.
VictOptics B3 3-9x40 - €24.45
Click to expand...

VictOptics uses a lot of fibre reticles... okay for very light airgun recoil only.
 
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