I have a question, and by no means do I mean to insult anyone. I’m just curious.
Several of the scopes mentioned in this thread are crazy expensive. Like TT and ZCO.
Are scopes of that price/quality range really necessary for an air rifle? I mean WOW.
I’m not wealthy buy any means, my last ten years at work as a maintenance tech and then
fabricator, I pulled down 100K and the last three 140K (working a lot of OT) but at no time did I entertain stepping into that range of scopes. I did splurge once and got a Nightforce NXS I guess just because I could afford it, did I need a scope of that quality and price? Absolutely not. But it was cooler than sh!t on my Savage model 12 in an MDT chassis. It was stupid accurate, but I sold it.
I think it’s most of the time because folks can afford it. Justify it? Not so sure.
I read about what I think is a high majority of guys on the site that use, say, bottom third of price range of scopes and are very pleased.
If you can afford top tier scopes, COOL. But is it necessary? I’m thinking it is more like owning a Vette or Lambo, there’s that ego and pride of ownership. And that’s fine. I like cool factor in a lot of things.
I do remember one thing I read back when I was competing in high power service rifle. At the time M1A’s were the norm. The article was sort of budget/skill related. The author said “ A $3,000 rifle in the hands of a poor shooter is a $3,000 rifle in the hands of a poor shooter”.
To each his own. I have three Element scopes, an Aztec Emerald and an Athlon Talos. Sort of mid-range scopes.
I chose them for reliability, mostly knowing I could count on windage and elevation adjustments being true and repeatable. Glass clarity, sh!t, I’m not a military sniper, I shoot in broad daylight, sometimes in the woods where it’s not bright but adequate.
Again, not meaning to offend anyone. I used to work in a scuba store. Me and a co-worker referred to it as a “want” store, not a “need” store.