inexpensive scopes

[oconeedan]

Being an experience firearms enthusiast, but a novice air gunner, I am curious about the inexpensive scopes mentioned here.  On my powder burning firearms, I have come to appreciate good scopes...Bushnell Elite, Leupold, Minox.
I know that a spring air rifle can shake apart good scopes that aren't made to take the bidirectional pounding.
Which leads me to my question...
I see a lot of mention here about Leapers, BSA, and the many rifle branded scopes that come with air rifles such as Gamo, RWS, Centerpoint.  Of the inexpensive scopes, which ones have good optics, and can take the spring gun recoil?
I have a Nikko Stirling 4-12x42 that has held up to around 1000 rounds or so, so far.
Thanks in advance, Dan

[floydlong]

Hammers scopes are a great bargain. I have three of them. The glass is amazing for the price. I have two 3-9x32s and one 3-9x40. All are AO.  The 32s are $50 and the 40 is $60. I also have one Hawke Sport 4x32 AO and it also is a deal at $50. Can't go wrong with Hammers or Hawke.

[jus Tom]

Seems the rule of thumb "you get what you pay for" takes center stage. Scopes that come along with gun and scope package deals are usually, in my experience and from many other posting members, not of top quality and here again "usually" get recommended to be replaced.

As for optical quality, I wear corrective lenses and have a real tough time seeing open sights so all my guns, airguns and firearms, wear scopes. For my eyesight I've had the best outcome with Nikon scopes and I've owned more than a few other high(er) quality scopes and either sent them back or sold them.

I've only been a member here since earlier this year as I made my way into owning more than the one gun I had for many years (.177 GAMO hunter) and moved up to .22 and now own three with likely more in the future. I've upgraded every package scope that's come along.  I've had good luck with the BSA line of airgun scopes and own three of them but they don't measure up to the one Nikon EFR that I have.
I tried and returned a Hawke Sport AO model due to inability to get a good focus and I blamed it on my eyesight. I recently bought a Hawke Airmax EV for a probable future gun purchase and just looking through the Airmax it appears to have very near the optical quality of my Nikon EFR. Both of those scopes are in the $150/200 range which one would hope provide better outcome and longevity.

Now for a bit of "soap-boxing"..... Since getting into this shooting sport a bit more, I've felt that most of the optics manufacturers are MISSING out on market share as far as producing and offering spring airgun rated better quality scopes. I have no knowledge of what it takes as far as production costs to etch a reticle, which seems to be the reticle of choice (along with movement components) when it comes to sturdiness of spring gun quality, but it would be welcome to see airgun designated scopes offered by more of the major optics companies.....and let the prices fall where the may.

[nced]

Being an experience firearms enthusiast, but a novice air gunner, I am curious about the inexpensive scopes mentioned here.  On my powder burning firearms, I have come to appreciate good scopes...Bushnell Elite, Leupold, Minox.
I know that a spring air rifle can shake apart good scopes that aren't made to take the bidirectional pounding.
Which leads me to my question...
I see a lot of mention here about Leapers, BSA, and the many rifle branded scopes that come with air rifles such as Gamo, RWS, Centerpoint.  Of the inexpensive scopes, which ones have good optics, and can take the spring gun recoil?
I have a Nikko Stirling 4-12x42 that has held up to around 1000 rounds or so, so far.
Thanks in advance, Dan

For the cheap scopes I've found that my 4-16x40 Center Point Adventure Class works well as a backup scope for my field target matches on my .177 R9. Matter of fact, I was using it at the 2014 National Field Target competition at Heflin, AL. Being the only piston shooter I was in a class by myself (FT classes are divided between PCP and piston) I still shot a score that would have place about mid way in the PCP class for the two day 120 shot match. This is after my gun & scope fell off the cross sticks it was resting on and landed upside down on the concrete pad of the sightin range.....directly on the top turret. Took about 6 clicks of windage and elevation to rezero, but the scope did work well after the fall. A couple pics of the scope and R9 muzzle after the trip to the concrete........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Anywhoo....for less than $80 the optics are really very good. The only downside I found was that the scope is "heavy as a brick" and the field of view isn't very wide, but I can still see .177 cal pellet holes in a target at 50 yards with it and the mil-dots/crosshairs are a good weight for my shooting.

Since the National match I've retired the CenterPoint to "back-up status" and mounted a 3-12x50 Aeon scope which has a 30mm tube. The Aeon was bought from Wild West Airguns when it was on sale for about $220 with free shipping and I really do like this "monster (to me) size scope"! Previously I had a very nice $300 4-12x40 Vortex Diamondback with BDC reticle mounted which was a nice light scope with Japanese mechanics and optics assembled in the Philippines, however it was plagued by a lot of flare when sitting in the sun at a THAGC field target lane and aiming at a target in the shade. It seemed that the flare was coming from the eyepiece instead of the AO because shading the eyepiece would reduce the flare. Well.....so far, no matter where the sun is I'm getting no flare with the 3-12 Aeon. At the last THAGC match I shot the sightin range was actually facing the rising sun, yet I was still able to do my sight-in with the Aeon.

The large 3-12x50 Aeon mounted on my R9 with homemade side wheel from machined and glued ABS pipe fittings. The overall length of the scope with the mounted sun shade wouldn't allow the breaking of my R9 barrel if the eye relief was to my liking. My solution was to lathe cut about 1/2" from the sun shade and that worked a treat........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
I don't know what you consider "inexpensive" but this scope is currently selling for $265 which I think is pretty good!

[ancient1one]

Bushnell Elite will take moderate recoil. Hawke has the least costly and fastest warranty.
It somewhat depends on the springer in question, a well tuned TX isn't very hard on scopes, an R-7 is pretty mild, some of the newer hasten super magnuns and maybe the RWS48's are indeed hard on scopes. Very low cost scopes "my" advise is get the best warranty and hope for the best.
John

x2.. You can find a Hawke Sport HD AO for under $40. If it breaks you pay the shipping to Hawke everything else is covered. You can also upgrade when you ship it to Hawke. Ive done both, Hawke customer service is top notch. If the scope shows user abuse they will not warranty it.

Link: http://www.hawkeoptics.com/hawke-sport-hd-riflescopes.html

If you shop around you will find better prices than buying directly from Hawke.

[nced]

Bushnell Elite will take moderate recoil. Hawke has the least costly and fastest warranty.
It somewhat depends on the springer in question, a well tuned TX isn't very hard on scopes, an R-7 is pretty mild, some of the newer hasten super magnuns and maybe the RWS48's are indeed hard on scopes. Very low cost scopes "my" advise is get the best warranty and hope for the best.
John

x2.. You can find a Hawke Sport HD AO for under $40. If it breaks you pay the shipping to Hawke everything else is covered. You can also upgrade when you ship it to Hawke. Ive done both, Hawke customer service is top notch. If the scope shows user abuse they will not warranty it.

Link: http://www.hawkeoptics.com/hawke-sport-hd-riflescopes.html

If you shop around you will find better prices than buying directly from Hawke.

The issue with both Hawke Airmax scopes I owned was that they would shift the poi horizontally when focusing the AO. The first scope would shift the poi 1 1/2" to the left when focusing and aiming at 18 yards and then doing the same at 10 yards. Called "Mike" at Hawke and the scope was replaced under warranty. The replacement scope also shifted the poi laterally when focusing and shooting at both 18 yards and 10 yards, but not as bad as the first scope since the shift was only 5/8" to the right. I sent the replacement scope back to Hawke along with some extra coins and upgraded to the 4-12 Panorama. The Panorama was actually a pretty good scope that didn't poi shift by focusing, however the thing would sharply focus no closer than 12 yards at 12x even though there was a 10 yard etching on the AO. I sold the Panorama to a fellow that didn't need a 10 yard sharp focus and kinda gave up on the Hawkes. LOL...Hawke does have a great warranty though!

After my final Hawke scope fiasco I got a HW97 to tune and it had a 4-12x40 Hawke Airmax mounted, so just for grinns after the tune I did the "focus and shoot at 18 yards and then focus and shoot at 10 yards" to see if that scope "poi shifted". Sure enough it DID and here is a pic of the target shot.........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
LOL.....the poi shift was about 3/4" LATERALLY! Well.....three out of three Hawke Airmax scopes would shift the poi when focusing so "three strikes and you're out" for the lower priced Hawkes.....but the warranty is good  !

[Mark Land]

I have Sun Optics on all my guns.  My TF99and XS46U Gas Ram wear the Air-A Tac 3-9x50AO scope and my Logun Axsor PCP gun has the 4-16x50AO scope on it and they all have worked very well. I also have a TF38 with the Shorty Forty scope on it and shoots really nice.   No issues with POI shift and very clear scopes.  The AO will adjust down to 10yds with no problem and shoot very well off all my guns.  I do use droop mounts on all of the underlever guns and had no problem sighting in and adjusting the scopes on these. Check them out and you will not find a nicer or more friendly associate to talk with then Jim Gekeler at Sun Optics.

[oconeedan]

MARK, is that you? Small world!

Folks, here is a maximum bow fisher/hunter.

Thanks to all for the replies. 

[ToRmEnToR]

Center Point 4-16x40 AO IR, is IMO best bang for buck!!

[ancient1one]

Bushnell Elite will take moderate recoil. Hawke has the least costly and fastest warranty.
It somewhat depends on the springer in question, a well tuned TX isn't very hard on scopes, an R-7 is pretty mild, some of the newer hasten super magnuns and maybe the RWS48's are indeed hard on scopes. Very low cost scopes "my" advise is get the best warranty and hope for the best.
John

x2.. You can find a Hawke Sport HD AO for under $40. If it breaks you pay the shipping to Hawke everything else is covered. You can also upgrade when you ship it to Hawke. Ive done both, Hawke customer service is top notch. If the scope shows user abuse they will not warranty it.

Link: http://www.hawkeoptics.com/hawke-sport-hd-riflescopes.html

If you shop around you will find better prices than buying directly from Hawke.

The issue with both Hawke Airmax scopes I owned was that they would shift the poi horizontally when focusing the AO. The first scope would shift the poi 1 1/2" to the left when focusing and aiming at 18 yards and then doing the same at 10 yards. Called "Mike" at Hawke and the scope was replaced under warranty. The replacement scope also shifted the poi laterally when focusing and shooting at both 18 yards and 10 yards, but not as bad as the first scope since the shift was only 5/8" to the right. I sent the replacement scope back to Hawke along with some extra coins and upgraded to the 4-12 Panorama. The Panorama was actually a pretty good scope that didn't poi shift by focusing, however the thing would sharply focus no closer than 12 yards at 12x even though there was a 10 yard etching on the AO. I sold the Panorama to a fellow that didn't need a 10 yard sharp focus and kinda gave up on the Hawkes. LOL...Hawke does have a great warranty though!

After my final Hawke scope fiasco I got a HW97 to tune and it had a 4-12x40 Hawke Airmax mounted, so just for grinns after the tune I did the "focus and shoot at 18 yards and then focus and shoot at 10 yards" to see if that scope "poi shifted". Sure enough it DID and here is a pic of the target shot.........
Uploaded at Snapagogo.com
LOL.....the poi shift was about 3/4" LATERALLY! Well.....three out of three Hawke Airmax scopes would shift the poi when focusing so "three strikes and you're out" for the lower priced Hawkes.....but the warranty is good  !

I had the same problem with the Airmax and Hawke asked if I wanted it fixed. I upgraded to the Varmint for $40.

A Panorama 4-12 is on my Brocock. The Panorama is nice but overpriced IMO. Better than the Sport HD but not $125 better. I like the Varmint best out of the 6 Hawke models I have tried.

Off topic. I used your 100 targets per sheet today Ed, thanks for emailing them to me.