Spotting Scopes what to get?

[jungle_re]

Well a quick update on the Leupold Spotter. I was out with friends yesterday and individual 6.5mm bullet strikes on whitened steel plates were clearly visible at 550mtrs +. The day was mostly clear and bright with occasional cloudy spells but it made no difference, the strikes were still visible.

Bullet strikes on a sprayed steel target are a completely different prospect to holes in paper on a backing board.

[bradders]

Swaro hd for me, from range use, spotting deer, assesing roebucks to general family use. Its great.

 

Can't figure out what good that set up would be, especially if you try to use the scope while prone

[johngarnett]

Check out Kowa scopes too.

 

I use a 20 - 60 x 70 spotting scope for TR up to 1100yds. Can't see the holes but all else is way clear!

 

Polycarb body = light, flouride coating = excellent resolution, variable mag = useful for longer range BUT 60x magnifies the errors as well! Don't sneeze near it!

 

Aldi / Lidl specials will not cut it at 1000yds with a mirage or when high humidity and all is steamed up!!

JohnG

[Akeld]

Can't figure out what good that set up would be, especially if you try to use the scope while prone

 

One person shooting, one person spotting?

[shooter79]

I have one in the "for sale section", maybe worth looking at before spending mega money. Its served me well.

 

Carl.

[Foxshooter]

I have one of the Jordanian milsurp Leupolds and have found it very good. I'm not trying to see bullet holes at a mile so it seems good enough for my uses.

 

A big plus was the price. I certainly wouldn't have paid RRP for it and I want to keep both my kidneys!

 

Mark

[Orka Akinse]

I have one of the Jordanian milsurp Leupolds and have found it very good. I'm not trying to see bullet holes at a mile so it seems good enough for my uses.

 

A big plus was the price. I certainly wouldn't have paid RRP for it and I want to keep both my kidneys!

 

Mark

A missed opportunity is one of life's biggest regrets..... I had the chance to buy one and didn't have the cash. Now the price of one today would've bought three. I'm crying forever.....

[Offroad Gary]

Can't figure out what good that set up would be, especially if you try to use the scope while prone

Never tried to use it prone, why would you? Always stay on the gun and dont break position, seems to work best for me. It sits quite snugly in one of the window bags, could use it like that if needed or get a low tripod, the one in the picture is the carbon swarovski one, great when your carrying it stalking for a few hours.

[terryh]

Andy,

 

If you just want to 'check targets' then use shoot and see targets and a basic spotter like the Opticron or the Brian Fox offerings. Either will need a good stand otherwise your forever adjusting or wobbling

 

After this, as been said, you are moving up considerably cost wise.

 

For target work the Kowa is very nice. I had a different approach to John on set up, definitely a 45deg but with the 23x long eye relief eye piece as you do not need to be as precise with your head position simply roll your head down and to the left, but more importantly when shooting the FOV lets you see the targets either side of yours enabling you to see trends in actual shooting i.e. confirm your call on wind etc.

 

 

But we are all different!

 

I now use a Zeiss.

 

 

Being military based it is a straight eye piece, as it would not be used by the shooter, but is compact, FFP with a mil ret to match my shooting partner and my scopes.

 

 

Again using a suitable stand for either range or more mobile applications makes a lot of difference, bringing the straight eye piece to an accessible location. The small tripod shown is a Slik compact camera item, the larger item is the Bushnell unit supplied to the US military (not mine, just used)

 

Work out what you really need or want from the spotter set up. Have a look thru some if you can before expending serious amounts of beer tokens.

 

Terry

[jason66]

Leica APO televid with angled eyepiece mounted on a gitzo carbn tripod fixed 32 Eyepiece us my combo, forget all zoom eyepieces as they are all rubbish, in high quality glass you really do "get what you pay for".

[Strangely Brown]

forget all zoom eyepieces as they are all rubbish, in high quality glass you really do "get what you pay for".

 

I would disagree with that as regards to Swarovski, Zeiss and Leica.

Although your right regarding most other makes; a typical 20~60 zoon eyepiece will start to fall off in quality around the 40x area.

[terryh]

forget all zoom eyepieces as they are all rubbish, .

Jason,

 

Will gave to disagree on this 'bit', 20x - 60x gin clear on the Spotter 60.

 

T

[jason66]

Agreed the big four leica,swarov, zeiss, and nikon make reasonable zoom eyepieces but ficed msg are infinatly better optically, depth of field, clarity resolution and sharpness. My 20. Ultra wide eyepiece on leica 77 APOtelevid will easily out resolve yhe scope on 60 mag, so much light and definition is lost in magnification, my camers lenses cost three times the price of the lrica scope as the light transmission principle is even more pronounced !!!

[terryh]

Jason,

 

I'm not arguing that a fixed mag should be optically better but for me not as much use as the zoom. I can have the right amount of FOV for whatever distance and the zoom function allows you to find your target easier, then zoom in and use the mil ret more accurately.

 

When I shot just 'target' I used a fixed 23x LER lens. For UKD and portability the Spotter 60, for me, is far superior, compact, designed for purpose. Not like my Kowa, a 'twitchers' scope that just happens to be useful for shooting (not that there was anything wrong with the Kowa!)

 

Each to their own needs, on the same reasoning I would not consider a fixed mag scope on a rifle - caveat, I do not shoot 100/200yd benchrest but would probably use a 36x or similar fixed if I did.

 

Terry

[jason66]

Must admit iv heared good thingd about SaB zoom riflescopes, though mever actually lookes through one, iv used all top spotting scopes and I just dont like zooms, unfortunatly leica only comes with a zoom eyepiece now !! The field of view is poor and it drops off rotten after 40mag.im impressed with budget optics now though, ones iv tested have been fantastic for the money, binoculars, spotting scopes and rifle scopes, I would imagine the giant factories in korea that make everything from niteforce ti sightron to lower range zeiss ect are raking it in.i recently bought a MTC genesis scope for my rimmy and optically its superb, I was very impressed, its as clear as a NSX and a sightron I compared it against, having said that there the same thing made by the same people in the same factory presumably LOL

[Strangely Brown]

The optical trade could be labelled as incestuous!

 

A few years ago we did some research in the shop and found the same 8x42 binocular doing the rounds with 5 different names on it!

[jason66]

Ha ha I know exactly what you mean, many binoculars are exactly thw same just badged up differently, just visit the korean sweatshop and they will make you your very own range of scopes/binoculars wuth your own name on, irony being there exactly the same as the comp you will be trading against back home, funny thing is that I recon its actually the end consumer who is the winner, cheap optics were terrible 20 years ago today they are brilliant for the money, I have a pair of leica 8+42 high grade trinovids but its very hard to justify £1600 when 400 quid bins are virtually as good,

[taylor]

Vortex razor hd

Tested mine at the world champs in raton vs 2 diff kowas one was a hd top of the range and I couldn't tell the diffrence even the guy who owned the kowa thought the vortex was better at reading miradge

I got mine in the States cost about a grand with a tripod

[mo3]

Swaro hd for me, from range use, spotting deer, assesing roebucks to general family use. Its great.

 

what make is the tripod please

[CZ Varminter]

Swavorski

[Offroad Gary]

Swavorski

Correct! Its the carbon fibre one, solid as a rock, light as a feather

[CZ Varminter]

It's a nice spotting set up mate. I do need to invest in a decent tri pod but not wanting to pay obscene money. Will have a look and see how much. Weight isn't a huge issue, but obviously can be important sometimes. May I ask how much you paid for it?

[Offroad Gary]

Its a ct101 tripod with a fh101 head, paid £250 for it new in feb 2011 from uttings. Just checked the receipt in the box, pays to keep it all with high end optic stuff. Think they're a tad more than that now, circa £500 i think.

[Re-Pete]

Take a look at an Opticron HR66 GA ED with the SDL eyepiece..............mine will see 308 size holes easily at 600yds,

 

Cost £520 s/h from LCE.

 

H/man

[Strangely Brown]

Take a look at an Opticron HR66 GA ED with the SDL eyepiece..............mine will see 308 size holes easily at 600yds,

 

Cost £520 s/h from LCE.

 

H/man

 

Some nice people in LCE, I particularly like the older guy in the Salisbury branch................