NC Star optics

cote_b

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Hi,

I may soon be in the market for an inexpensive red dot sight for my mini-14 to go with my choate folding stock. I noticed some on Marstars website called Nc Star optics, made in China I assume. I am interested in the one at the very bottom of the page ( item# NcS DDAB). Does anyone have any experience with that one specifcally or any other NC Star products? Any input is appreciated.

http://www.marstar.ca/ac-NcSTAR/Red-Dot.shtm
 
For the most part China's optics are not at all up the standards of their rifles. Optics are typically a very difficult thing to make and they aren't there yet. I would expect the fit and finish to be alright but I'd also expect it to fail in one way or another.

Best deal on an MRD that I have seen is the Burris fastfire.

Early on I baught cheaper optics without knowing what I was doing. Now I'm sold on quality glass.
 
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There very good for the price i have a few of them..also there range finder is great.and the mounts good also.. and good warrenty



hawkeye01
 
I don't own any, but I was able to inspect some of them and try some out last year when Marstar had a demo at a match.

Since this is a new product line, I can't say anything regarding durability, but the examples I fondled looked and felt pretty good.
 
NcStar et al

NcStar and other Chinese scopes are in my opinion ( and pardon the atrocious pun ) very much a case of "hit and miss". I have been very fortunate I guess in that I have owned several fake 'Bushnell' scopes a NcStar and a XDOptics and all have been quite good. My buddy has a ZOS which looks very much like a Leupold Mk IV Tactical and that is really quite nice. On all my PRC scopes the glass has been more than OK (but obviously not as good as a quality scope) and I haven't experienced problems with the adjustments. But the "hit and miss" factor is out there as I have another buddy who has a PRC scope that is truly a POS - fogged after a few range trips and the adjustment turrets appear to be decorative only. On balance, I think the best advice is to buy a reasonably good scope ( say, a Falcon or Elite 3200 for example ) rather than run the risk of getting a dud one from the PRC. While I have been lucky with Chinese scopes there are plenty of people out there who have had bad experiences. I would however get a Chinese spotting scope as they seem to be all ok and, obviously, recoil isn't a factor with those.
 
I've got an NC Star long eye relief on my Garand on a scout mount. I've had it for about a year and it's seen a fair bit of use so far. I'm happy with it, holds zero, nice fine reticle and glass is actually a bit better than I expected. I'd probably buy another, actually.
 
Yes they are hit and miss. I've had 2 of them go south and that always sucks. I used a couple other Chicom optics that were alright. Then I baught a Leupold VX1 and won't go back. Decient optics are not cheap but they aren't easy to make either.
 
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NcStar and other Chinese scopes are in my opinion ( and pardon the atrocious pun ) very much a case of "hit and miss". I have been very fortunate I guess in that I have owned several fake 'Bushnell' scopes a NcStar and a XDOptics and all have been quite good. My buddy has a ZOS which looks very much like a Leupold Mk IV Tactical and that is really quite nice. On all my PRC scopes the glass has been more than OK (but obviously not as good as a quality scope) and I haven't experienced problems with the adjustments. But the "hit and miss" factor is out there as I have another buddy who has a PRC scope that is truly a POS - fogged after a few range trips and the adjustment turrets appear to be decorative only. On balance, I think the best advice is to buy a reasonably good scope ( say, a Falcon or Elite 3200 for example ) rather than run the risk of getting a dud one from the PRC. While I have been lucky with Chinese scopes there are plenty of people out there who have had bad experiences. I would however get a Chinese spotting scope as they seem to be all ok and, obviously, recoil isn't a factor with those.


I agree but then I don't know what's reasonable to pay for an holosight/ red dot, I've never bought one because I could never justify such high price for such a tiny unit
 
I've picked up a few of the 2 and 4x LER scopes from Marstar to try on a couple of my milsurps with scope mounts from Tradeex. I got them because it was really tiresome for me to shoot at 100m with my light cast bullet loads using the regular mauser sights, and a couple shooters on some milsurp forums found them durable enough with fullpower loads.

I haven't used them yet but hope to once the weather warms. Until I've got a reasonable amount of use out of them I'd be hesitant to vouch for their durability, and won't make them my go to gun for a distant hunting trip, relegating them to range use unless/until they've proven themselves reliable.

For more serious shooting, I think that I'll pick up a fixed 10X Bushnell 3200, which at somewhere between $200-250 will give the same performance of their more expensive models with variable magification. That or a Nikkon Pro-staff is the lower end of what I'd honestly feel comfortable with. Unfortunately, I cannot comment on the NC Star Red dot sight, but if you plan on using a Mini-14 for serious hunting and shooting, I'd personally feel uncomfortable with most PRC scopes.

With Regards,

Frank
 
I have a couple of NCStars and am happy with them. For the money they are decent, but will never compare with high quality optics.

If you are really picky, buy better than NCStar. Otherwise, go for it.
 
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