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Scope choice, your respected opinions needed!

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Jking_sley

Jking_sley

Member
Jan 13, 2018
207
7
MI, United States
Hi guys, I've been kicking around ideas for scopes lately since cancelling an order due to long wait times I've come up with these ideas and want your respected and informed opinions! I've narrowed it down to these few: Bushnell match pro 6-24x50, the Athlon Ares btr gen2 2.5-15x50 aplr4, the Athlon Ares etr 3-18x50 uhd aplr6, and the Delta javelin 4.5-30x56. Glass quality is my #1 priority, I want this thing to wow me every time I look through it. It's going to be going on a bullpup that's going to see long distance fieldwork in very windy conditions. My benchmarks right now are a crimson trace 2 series 4-16, an Athlon Argos gen2 6-24, and a Bushnell nitro 2.5-10 ffp also for background info and comparison. Also, if there are any standouts I'm not mentioning in my "choices" I'd love to hear about them too. Thanks guys!

-Jake Kingsley
 
I know many here will poo-poo Hawke scopes, but I like them, especially the Sidewinder series. Hawke scopes seem to be aimed toward the airgun market and most focus down to 10 yards.. Reticles are just the right thickness and not too busy. I didn't like the ED because the reticle is too fine. I've had lotsa others that I didn't like:

1. Bushnell Nitro and Forge-reticles too thick

2. Athlon Ares-heavy, crude and thick reticles

3. Vortex: parallax focus limited to 50 or some at 25 yards. Reticles way to busy, as are many upper end scopes.

4. Optisan: not too bad




 
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At airgun distances, great glass isn't required, nor can it even be fully appreciated. Agree with poster above re: Midas Tac. While an Ares ETR is better, and a Cronus better still, I doubt you could tell at 100 yards. If you plan to share the optic with a firearm shooting 1K yards, the consideration set is different, and the extra money might be worth it. Athlon warranty is great, value is there, and there is a used market for when you decide to upgrade. Also, given their stellar warranty, I'd look for used and save some bucks.
 
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Hi guys, I've been kicking around ideas for scopes lately since cancelling an order due to long wait times I've come up with these ideas and want your respected and informed opinions! I've narrowed it down to these few: Bushnell match pro 6-24x50, the Athlon Ares btr gen2 2.5-15x50 aplr4, the Athlon Ares etr 3-18x50 uhd aplr6, and the Delta javelin 4.5-30x56. Glass quality is my #1 priority, I want this thing to wow me every time I look through it. It's going to be going on a bullpup that's going to see long distance fieldwork in very windy conditions. My benchmarks right now are a crimson trace 2 series 4-16, an Athlon Argos gen2 6-24, and a Bushnell nitro 2.5-10 ffp also for background info and comparison. Also, if there are any standouts I'm not mentioning in my "choices" I'd love to hear about them too. Thanks guys!

-Jake Kingsley
Click to expand...

I understand by your reticle choice you are looking at a SFP?. You mention a ffp Bushnell nitro. Are you moving to one or the other? For me, I am looking at criteria that suits my style of shooting disciplines; FFP, weight, mechanical quality (RTZ), IQ, DOF, Eye Box and warranty, so YMMV. I see you have a bullpup and want to shoot "long distances" (please define distance) in the wind.

I have owned the big brother to the Bushnell Match Pro, the Forge, it was a fantastic scope and at the $525 ($899) I purchased it for was a steal. If the Match Pro has similar quality for the $499 price it will be a contender for the price. I own an Ares ETR 4.5-30x56 and ordered an Ares BTR to compare and for the price the BTR was very impressive indeed. I have heard the BTR 2.5-15x50 is stellar. I tested a Crimson Trace 5 series and sent it right back due to hardware quality and the glass, even though Japanese, was just OK as compared. Warranty possibilities on the 4 scopes you mentioned will go hands down to the Athlons and Bushnell. The Delta would be a crap shoot, nuf said. I must say your zoom range is all over the place for "long Distance" and we have no idea what caliber you are shooting. Given your parameters and new scope selections my gut would say that keeping close to your current scope budget and considering the value of the 4 scopes you listed I would place them in this order from best glass/mechanicals for my money on down as this was a #1 priority for you. As you know all our eyes are very different.

  • Bushnell
  • Ares BTR
  • Ares ETR
  • Delta

JMOO. Enjoy your search.



Patrick


 
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IMHO the G2 Cronus 4.5-29x56 should absolutely be considered! It's just too good of a scope not to have if you can afford it and if you don't need 10Y focus. I've owned 5 Ares BTR's and they fall way behind this Cronus G2. I also had an ETR but it isn't far behind this G2 Cronus. I like the Cronus glass better.

I shot with mine last Saturday for a couple hours on a EFT course, and then with my March HM 5-42x56 "which is a $4200 retail scope" both for the same amount of time on the same course, and It's VERY VERY hard to tell any difference. If I was blindfolded and I hadn't felt the controls of either of these scopes beforehand I might even choose the Cronus because of how incredibly distinct the turrets are. 

APRS6 reticle is simply awesome.

Sorry but if you want to be WOW'ed with riflescope glass there are only a few scopes on the market that do this IMHO, March HM SFP, Swaro X5 SFP, Tangent Theta, ZCO, S&B not far behind. All are Tier 1 scopes. That X5 5-25x56 my friend has is the best glass I've seen in a riflescope to date.
 
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^I would agree if going out to distance (500 or more yards min) - I ripped apart the NX8 in another thread for being crap, but it really is moot when talking about airgun distances. I have a ZCO, and it is much better than my XTR3 (current favorite), but I just don't need the extra optical performance, even beyond 2K yards. At 100 yds, there is absolutely no condition where the expensive scope can make the shot that the value scope can't. If I didn't have a bunch of scopes to scavenge from firearms, I doubt I'd spend more than 1K on an airgun scope, and probably more like 500 bucks.
 
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Scope preferences. One of the most subjective topics that can be discussed, IMO. But IMO, Hawke scopes are very good-I have several in service, especially the Sidewinder series, and I like most everything about them. Another brand that has worked well for me is Primary Arms. Certainly other good scopes are available, and excellent scopes are available if one elects to "stretch out" a bit as to cost. One of the most "all relative" topics possible IMO and I view the vast majority of topics as "all relative"
 
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^I would agree if going out to distance (500 or more yards min) - I ripped apart the NX8 in another thread for being crap, but it really is moot when talking about airgun distances. I have a ZCO, and it is much better than my XTR3 (current favorite), but I just don't need the extra optical performance, even beyond 2K yards. At 100 yds, there is absolutely no condition where the expensive scope can make the shot that the value scope can't. If I didn't have a bunch of scopes to scavenge from firearms, I doubt I'd spend more than 1K on an airgun scope, and probably more like 500 bucks.
Click to expand...

Oh sure, and not disagreeing BTW. The target will be hit with whatever scope the target can be seen with as long as it's working okay. I think we've all done that with super cheap scopes before. It's the pleasure, durability, dependability, etc, derived from the higher end riflescopes that I personally like, not that it's needed to hit something with an airgun. Most of the scopes that I've owned didn't turn my crank for many reasons, not that they wouldn't work for the task.

On the other hand some of us shoot ELR with air rifles too and it helps if the level of scope used tracks correctly vs being pretty far off which I've had happen with some kinda crappy scopes. Also usually the better scopes offer more elevation travel. 

Thankfully even some of the less expensive scopes nowadays are decent and these live on my rifles I deem more suitable for them, because I'm sure not going to afford $$$$ level scopes on all those rifles!

Scavenging - Ha, my S&B's have been on my FT air rifles, 22rf's, precision centerfire rifles, and my bigger ELR centerfire. 
 
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One thing to add- stick with well known, respected brand optics such as those you appear to have chosen. They will, hopefully, still be there when/if you need a warranty repair. On this, I speak from experience.

Almost a decade ago I bought a pair of Zen-Ray ZRS HD binoculars. They were/are excellent for what I paid. (There was an equivalent/identical version from Vortex at the time, as well.)

I had a problem with the eyecups, about a year in. I sent them in for warranty repair, and it took forever (I waited over four months, before I called.) I got the impression, when I called about them, that this was a one man mom-and-pop shop.

Fast forward to 2018, and Zen Ray is gone! Poof! Bust. That lifetime warranty? It was only good for the life of the LLC.

I often read a great deal of buzz on this site, as well as many others, about the latest, greatest scope by an unknown maker. There is always someone writing about how one cannot go wrong- it has a lifetime warranty.

I say, remember Zen-Ray?




 
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