Ask owners of Discovery scopes what they think of theirs maybe. They have a line of FFP scopes that won't break the bank and are supposed to be quite good for the price.You can also talk to Wesbob at AirGun Archery Fun. He's in Canada and a member here. https://airgunarcheryfun.ca/discovery-scopes/
IMHO, you are asking for the upper end of a rifle scope - really high magnification, long adjustment range, FFP, IR, big objective, really big adjustment range, low weight, AND you want good glass. To put this in terms of a camera lens, you are asking for a big adjustment range, low fixed f-stop, good glass (Think AF-S NIKKOR 180-400mm f/4E TC1.4 FL ED VR a lens that has a list price north of $12K new). In terms of a rifle scope think Vortex RAZOR® HD AMG® 6-24X50 FFP a scope that has a list price north of $3.5K. Now you are asking for something to do the same thing for less than 5% of the cost. Do you think you might be hoping for too much? do you think you could come up with a new telephoto lens with good glass same specs for %5 the cost of the Nikkor?Hey, if you find these, let me know, I want to buy some and then get stock in the company. FWIW, the next scope that I get for an air rifle (assuming I get a rifle .177) will be a high quality 10X with nice turrets, low weight.
My problem is I want Dom Perignon on a Pabst Blue Ribbon budget, I suppose.I see what you all are saying and I really am expecting too much. I discount certain features like FFP and IR as being things that in my mind shouldn't cost much to produce so I assumed there could be some good scopes out there with good features at a reasonable price- there are third party and even lower range camera lenses thar have 80-90% the image quality of glass MUCH more expensive and that's what I was hoping to find, the odd diamond in the rough. But, it probably doesn't exist, as there are obvious trade offs. My other issue is that I now need 3 or 4 scopes on that Pabst budget, lol. I'm thinking my best bet is to give up the FFP and IR for a more standard scope with better glass. I bought this lens because it had all the features I wanted at a price I could afford, but I can live without large objectives and zoom range from what I was seeing testing the scopes I have, only needs to go up to 12-16. So, if the hammers scope is any indication, I can get by with a 4-12x. That hammers, btw, is kinda that diamond in the rough optically- it's far clearer thoughout the zoom range with minimal barrel distortion, than I was expecting for a scope I gave $60 for on ebay. It's not a Nikon or Zeiss scope, by any means, but it really is far better than I expected it to be. But, that's the trade off- no FFP, no IR, no side parallax. So, where I stand- I was looking to get into PCPs without much expense when I realized that, as with all things, good and acceptable guns don't come cheap. So, I sold off my last hobby- drones- to have the capital to buy what I wanted and of course I've blown right through all that so I don't have a whole lot left to spend for optics for it all. Main objective is pesting, varminting and hunting with a lot of plinking and backyard paper punching for fun.Guns are:1- Benjamin Akela .222- Hatsan Vectis .223- Xisico Sentry 705 .254- Benjamin Bulldog .357, modifed by Pitbull Airguns into Megapitbull.Vectis is a factory refurb and Bulldog was second hand. The small calibers will be for small animals and targets out to 100 yds at most, I figure, mostly much closer. Bulldog will be primarily for hunting varmint up to deer within 100 yds. I may work on trying to reach out further for target shooting but i don't know if these will have humane knock down power for 1 shot kills much further than that. I like the looks of that Bushnell Nitro, but was really hoping to a top zoom of somewhere between 12-16.-Michael
I think you're expecting too much for two hundred dollars. Half decent FFP start $600 $700. I spent 500 on a vortex 6-24x50 HS-T that normal retail was 650. It's SFP non illuminated and its about as good as you gonna find at 500 bucks. A lot of people like the swfa stuff but unless you get the HD glass you're going to be disappointed in the clarity in the higher magnification models. I had one and returned it. They're customer service is fantastic. There's a new guy on here that seems to be up on bargain air gun optics. I'm sure he will have some good suggestions.Good luck to you.
Quote from: Bayman on March 21, 2021, 11:59:02 PMI think you're expecting too much for two hundred dollars. Half decent FFP start $600 $700. I spent 500 on a vortex 6-24x50 HS-T that normal retail was 650. It's SFP non illuminated and its about as good as you gonna find at 500 bucks. A lot of people like the swfa stuff but unless you get the HD glass you're going to be disappointed in the clarity in the higher magnification models. I had one and returned it. They're customer service is fantastic. There's a new guy on here that seems to be up on bargain air gun optics. I'm sure he will have some good suggestions.Good luck to you.I have a FFP athlon scope 6-24x50 that I think it pretty nice and under 300, no I have never "looked" thru 1k+ dollar glass but it checked all the boxes and seems clear to my old eyes. So there is good scopes under 300 and I'd put this athlon up against that vortex all day.