Spotting Scopes, on the cheap

[WhoKnowsWho]

This should be a trademarked line "I never looked at spotting scopes until I needed one" Well, now I need one after my trip to the rifle range. My 9x variable unmounted rifle scope just wasn't cutting it!

So what should I get for less than $100 or so? No farther than 200 yards, 99% of the time 100 yards since that is the farthest range in town.

Local sportings good place has a Winchester with a 50mm objective, 249 retail on sale for $99. Should I buy now and not look back? Or spend $50-$60 for a BSA/Bushnell/Tasco scope with a 50mm objective.

It's pretty dry here, but hot. And I will probably be using Shoot-n-C along with the scope.

Or should I try ebay, like this Sakar ($329) with a 60mm obj http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3611958879&category=31715 which is almost over for $89 now. Too many options.

 

[MarineTech]

When it comes to spotting scopes, magnification is not necessarily the primary factor. Optical clarity is. All the magnification in the world is not going to help you if everything is a blur.

Unless you're going to be shooting 600 yard matches, you can probably give the big money Kowa, Zeiss, and Leupold scopes a miss. However, the sub $100 scopes are probably going to be next to useless when you do go to 200 yards. I've owned both an 8-32X50 Tasco and a 10-45X50 Winchester. Both were marginally effective at 100 yards, and pretty much useless at 200.

Bit the bullet and bought one of the Leupold Wind River Sequoia 15-45x60 scopes for about $220. Worth every penny. I can see .223 hits clearly at 200 yards now and it's still decent at 300. It was definately worth the extra $100.

I can't comment on the Sakar optics. I've never heard of the company before this post.

 

[Gary H]

Quality optics come at a price. Go for smaller objective, but good optics. Not great for sunrise and sunset, but should do. You might look for a previous generation used Kowa. Birding websites have good information regarding spotting scopes.

http://betterviewdesired.com/

http://www.birdwatching.com/optics.html

 

[Steve Smith]

There is a recent thread on this in the Comp forum.

 

[nemesis]

There is no simple solution. Cheap scopes are cheap scopes. Good optics are what you need but you pay for what you get.

 

[E357]

If your going to be using Shoot-N-C targets any spotting scope will do, until you learn more about them. You might even look for a pawn-shop small telescope. At 100 yards I can see .22 holes in paper with a 25x 50mm scope and a 32x BSA rifle scope; not as well as the higher end spotting scopes, But I don't mind leaving them in the hot/damp trunk all summer long either.

For 200 yards a few times a year - use the Shoot-N-C and save a few hundred.

When I shoot against dark steel plates or swingers - I paint them with Krylon Fluorescent Orange and you can see the hits a long way off.

Elliot

 

[Guyon]

I went with a cheap Tasco for around $30. Like MarineTech says, it works okay at around 100 yards. Beyond that, forget it. Works for me though since my range only has 50 and 100 yard targets. I do use light-colored (white) targets with clear grid lines. I wouldn't want to try and pick out holes in a darker target with this scope. Maybe at 50, but not at 100.

Really depends on how often you shoot in my book. I mainly just sight in various rifles before hunting seasons. I don't do a lot of target shooting.