Is there anything worse than a scope gone bad??

J

JasonYuke

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Well it pays to buy good optics no let me rephrase that it pays to buy great optics, in this game at range is there any thing more disharting than to find out it was the optics after you busted your ***** working on cases and seatring depth to take it out to the range with good ammo you made and load development fine tuning to find out after each shot that your scope has gone south, Thats it for the cheep stuff for me leason learned you get what you pay for and why put a 300$ scope on a 2000$ gun? beats me,but I did
sorry for the rant guys but if anyone reads this in the game of long range accuracy buy quality optics, this is not new news but I tried a cheep one that made me look stupid at the range today and it was not fun!
Other than the elite 3200 ( cheep but effective ) dont bother with anything less and think better yet, for me Leupold, S&B or nightforce is next!
 
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JasonYuke:

We see this all the time in the ORA where we shoot at ranges up to 900 meters. Lots and lots of newbs show up only to be disappointed once we start moving backwards away from the target, as the day progresses and ranges get farther.

Like you said, the serious applications need serious glass. I leave my cheapie Tasco-like scopes for .22LR and hunting varmints like gophers and earthpigs.

Cheers,
Barney
 
I rebarrelled and stocked up a precision rifle for a friend. He had a decent fixed power Leupold to use on it. When it came time for the bases and rings, I asked him if he wanted quality, or second rate (he can be a bit frugal). He said second rate was good enough. Then he found out he had no left hand windage left at 800 after zeroing. The mounts were quickly replaced with decent ones. While I do not own one, the 3200 10x40 is reputed to be the best buy in a lower priced target scope. The Weaver KT-15 is also useful. If you can find one, an older steel tubed T series Weaver is worth consideration.
 
If I were to put aq serious targert rifle together I would not get a 3200 for it.
They are decent , yes, but why spend a pile of cash on the rest of the rifle and stop at the glass?

I use nothing bu IOR now for my scopes.

Absolutely the best ( and ugliest!) precision scope on the market IMHO!!:D
Cat
 
I have been down that path too. It was put to me... Would you put "motomaster" tires on a Ferrari?

Bases, Rings and scopes must be the best you can afford. Nothing more of a pyss-off. I shot embarassingly bad im my first ever UIT match and found the problem was in the crappy scope I had thrown on.

Sorry to hear you have learned the hard way, but you are in really good company!
 
Maybe because I am in the business but I hear all brands crap the sheets. Buying a big dollar scope does not seem to be a guarantee of a good scope. I know of ALL brands that have gone bad, with the exception of the US. The best I have found looks to be the US optics with external adjustments for about $3000. Wish I could.
 
tiriaq said:
If you can find one, an older steel tubed T series Weaver is worth consideration.
Click to expand...


Actually the current T series is an excellent choice.
 
I doubt it... A bad scope can take some time to find...

A friend spent a LOT of time, over a hundred rounds of ammo and a bunch of money on mounts trying to "zero" a rifle and scope. Only to find the wouldn't shoot no matter what he did.

We found the scope had the problem when we mounted it on a known good rifle and had the same wandering zero problem.

Don't remember what the scope was now, but it was a decent, but older one that evidently was suffering its age, or some abuse in its past.

Sure was a pain.
 
I dunno. Maybe I just lucked out, but I put a Tasco 8-32x44 Varmint scope on my 204 to test the 'cheap scopes suck' myth. It was ~$200, has AO, 1/8 MOA target knobs and 1/8 MOA reticle.

POI is the exact same at any magnification. Score one for the cheapie.

Knobs are extremely responsive. Adjust 8 clicks to the right, and POI is an inch the the right. 3 more consecutive shots to the same POI. Same for elevation.

Functionally, this scope is extremely accurate, and works well.

Problems: nothing major. NOT a robust scope. I dropped the rifle (in it's padded case) a foot, and the zero slipped 5 inches. Zero moves after a few hours on washboard gravel roads. I would NOT recommend this on a heavy recoiling gun. Fit 'n finish is garbage. Zero changes with temperature and elevation (but all scopes to, to an extent) It's cheaply built, and it feels like it. Image quality is not so great, noticable chromatic aberration, and not as sharp or bright as it could be, but works OK for punching paper, or popping gophers.

So bottom line - you get what you pay for. BUT there is such a thing as too much quality. For my 204 - I just don't need additional robustness. Once I get to the gopher patch, I re-zero the gun, then pop gophers all day long.

There's 'good' and then there's 'good enough'
 
You can purchase a scope checker by hood. Essentially it is a platform that enables you to mount two scopes side by side. The test is to compare the test scope against a good reference scope. Both scopes are mounted on a plate and then on the rifle. The good scope is aligned vertically with the barrel while the test scope is off set. Both scopes are set up with the same point of aim. With an accurate rifle you can tell if the test scope is shifting point of aim when it does not return to the same point of aim after firing a group. BR guns well bagged are ideal for this testing. I have seen the new Leupold 40x shift as much as 1/8" @ 100 yards. Ouch....
 
Although I love my Leupold Vari-X III 3.5-10X40 tactical, it has been on 4 rifles now, the best scope I have owned bar none, hands down was US Optics ST-10 with A/O, it was out of this world, and if the guy who bought the rifle it was on was not so serious about wanting the whole package, I would have kept that scope, but I have to say, the Bushnell 10X is fantastic, it must be if it is one of two scopes that Barrett calls "factory installed scopes", but Jason you are 100% correct, it pays to buy a good product, my Vari-X III is now 12 years old and still going stong after 4 rifles and lots of shooting.
 
Prosper, believe me I'm not a fan of spending money and agree there's good and good enough.

But each of us defines where that line lies for use... For me that means a zero that doesn't need re-zeroing everytime I take the rifle and scope out.
 
I totally agree with Ian when he says that all scopes can have problems but when you get into the upper range scopes there is greater confidence in the product you are using which I think you can't put a price on.

I own two NF 5.5-22x56s, Luppy MK4 6.5-20x50, two Luppy 3-10x40s and a B&L elite 4000 and with some sort of luck I have never had a scope problem, however my brother has twice with his Luppys. Problems were fixed in a very timely manner but it took away from his confidence in the scopes, so he sold them and bought new ones.

Ivo
 
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