Handgun with scope, just handled my first

Depends on the scope,

Scopes and other optics become more appealing when you get north of 55 years.
....as I recently discovered.

We always used Burris scopes mostly on ruger revolvers and Remington xp100 or savage striker

I'm not a fan of Simmons, and you need a long eye relief or extended eye relief scope to use it properly on a handgun.

A lot of the cheaper scopes or higher power scopes have a very unforgiving eye box. For a rimfire revolver I'd use a red dot as irons have gotten blurry.

FlSwampRat said:

Oh, it's definitely a pistol scope with long eye relief. Thing is, if your wrist cocked the least bit off line the image totally disappeared. Might be good for shooting from a rest, but I'll stick to my open irons.

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those Simmons pistol scopes actually are pretty decent. I've used one on my long buckmark quite a bit. Rested that guns good out to 200yds (as far as I've been able to shoot it) on bowling pin size targets.
On my 5.5" barrel I run a Burris ff3, and I run the same on my CanikTp9sfx. I've never been able to see irons worth a damn, even peeps, so I've always shot optics if some sort on anything not a shotgun.
The only iron sighted guns I've got are my .44s, and while I'm pretty good with those, every once in a while I'll still shoot the wrong blob, or get my sights miss aligned/out of focus and be a few feet off at the 100yds I usually plink at.
Unfortunately Ive got long enough arms I still haven't found a pistol scope with enough relief to allow me to extend my arms as far as I'd like, so haven't tried one on a revolver yet. looking at getting dot mounts.

I hate scopes on handguns an like open sights when I can see them in good light,that,s not very often.red dots for me as I need not any power so I can yank the trigger as I wobble across the target.i have a couple Leupold an only use them testing loads from a bench.

That's because they take practice to get accustomed to. Nobody just picks one up for the first time and blasts away willy nilly. Just as no one picks up a handgun for the first time and cuts out the bullseye at 25yds. I've got a bunch of scoped handguns and that number is ever growing. They effectively extend your range and shooting light. As posted above, they also work better when your eyesight starts to fail you.

I have a Leupold pistol scope on a Super Redhawk. I like it fine. No eye relief problems.

It's the nature of handgun scopes and something you practice/train for.

I don't think I could even deal with a scope on anything I own.

I shot a contender once, but it was rifle caliber anyway.

I am putting a red dot on a pistol and that's pushing the envelope here..
Just too old and blind not to do something!

I just gave that exact simmons to a buddy of mine for his sbh hunter in .44 a few weeks ago. First time I've seen it in a year or so because it ended up in my loose drill bit box some how.
It feels fine on his big heavy revolver, much as it did on my 10" buckmark, but it's just a tad short on eye relief, which makes shooting off hand a little difficult for me. Rested, it's amazing comfortable (something I didn't do with the buck mark much), and I had little issue shooting much smaller groups much farther out than I can with my regular SBH and opens.
Honestly off hand, I was more accurate but slower than I am with my sbh. It just didn't feel real great.

I'd just rather use a rifle, if the range is far enough out that you need a scope for a pistol.

FlSwampRat said:

We have one out for sale, first handgun I ever handled with a scope. Seems to be very picky about the angle you use to peer through the scope, if you're off axis a little bit it goes black. Is this something you get used to or is it something maybe unique to the Simmons scope on the revolver?

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In that respect it is no different than any sights. To see through them properly they have to be lined up correctly. It never occurred to me that this is a problem. It of course take more effort than a rifle scope.

FlSwampRat said:

With non optic sights you know when you're close to on target, with this scope the slightest off axis and it was just black.

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Practice grasshopper, practice.

I see pistol scopes more and more in my future. I've had double cataract surgery already and between that and having to flip back and forth with reading glasses to even see my front sight I'm thinking single reticle type of sight is going to be easier for me. The downside is of course the bulk it adds to the pistol and having to align the scope tube to the line of sight which is probably a lot slower than irons. Once I'm fully retired I see myself in my backyard range just punching holes in paper anyway, so scoping a pistol won't be too much of an inconvenience.

FlSwampRat said:

With non optic sights you know when you're close to on target, with this scope the slightest off axis and it was just black.

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I have no experience with Simmons pistol scopes. I have a Leupold on my .44.

FlSwampRat said:

We have one out for sale, first handgun I ever handled with a scope. Seems to be very picky about the angle you use to peer through the scope, if you're off axis a little bit it goes black. Is this something you get used to or is it something maybe unique to the Simmons scope on the revolver?

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Possibly too much power or simply not set correctly for the way you shoot/hold your handguns.

I have run a couple of scopes and managed to break the one on my 44....on the last shot while zeroing....didnt know it was broke till I pulled up on a deer.

I prefer reddots on my 22s, seems as if no matter where the dot falls within the eye piece itll hit.

First generation TC in .22 Hornet. I believe I bought it in the mid-seventies. The scope is a Bushnell Magnum Phantom, nothing fancy by today's standards, but it dispatched plenty of groundhogs.