Glass Nirvana ?

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cavedweller

cavedweller

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Dec 5, 2018
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Mobile, Alabama, United States
Buying various FT airgun platforms, is very easy... I'm up to 12. Currently they are all <20 FPE:
FX Dreamline custom FT rigs, FX GRS Crown custom FT rig, BSA Goldstar SE, Custom Marauder, Daystate Hunstman classic, Daystate Revere, Daystate Redwolf, Daystate Tsar, Steyr Hunting Challenge FT, RAW TM1000... The rifles share (all of them) a much better degree of accuracy than (me the shooter). Moving on -

BUT

What is most challenging (besides doing standers or kneelers) is finding the "RIGHT SCOPE" the ONE scope, that provides the right amount of easily understandable information that logically transfers that info onto my dope chart then into my head, then most important of all, accurate visual translation when I'm doing my holdovers...

What the heck?

My current inventory of optics includes: US Optics, Element Nexus, SWFA, Hawke, Athalon, Arken, Sightron, and even a couple of March scopes and quite frankly, all of them have their strong points
some are SFP, second focal plane
some are FFP, first focal plane
The reticle choices... my oh my...!
Where is the one scope with the right reticle to provide the best information that translates "super simple and visually" into my holdovers?
Where is the one scope that will rule them all?
 
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wildcj5 said:
What class are you shooting? Most people I know shooting the March and Sightron scopes are not using holdover but are clicking. Most of my ft rigs are older and have simple duplex reticles.
Click to expand...
Hunter Class at this point.... getting hit by a car 15 years ago has impaired some function.
 
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cavedweller said:
Buying various FT airgun platforms, is very easy... I'm up to 12. Currently they are all <20 FPE:
FX Dreamline custom FT rigs, FX GRS Crown custom FT rig, BSA Goldstar SE, Daystate Hunstman classic, Daystate Revere, Daystate Redwolf, Daystate Tsar, Steyr Hunting Challenge FT, RAW TM1000... The rifles share (all of them) a much better degree of accuracy than (me the shooter). Moving on -

BUT

What is most challenging (besides doing standers or kneelers) is finding the "RIGHT SCOPE" the ONE scope, that provides the right amount of easily understandable information that logically transfers that info onto my dope chart then into my head, then most important of all, accurate visual translation when I'm doing my holdovers...

What the heck?

My current inventory of optics includes: SWFA, Hawke, Athalon, Arken, Sightron, and even a couple of March scopes and quite frankly, all of them have their strong points
some are SFP, second focal plane
some are FFP, first focal plane
The reticle choices... my oh my...!
Where is the one scope with the right reticle to provide the best information that translates "super simple and visually" into my holdovers?
Where is the one scope that will rule them all?
Click to expand...
I have been considering trying one more optic: https://us.hawkeoptics.com/frontier-34-ffp-3-18x50-mil-pro-ext.html
but quite frankly, once i find the "one" it seems silly to have a variety of optics that just confuse the brain, even with a dope chart in hand.
 
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cavedweller said:
I have been considering trying one more optic: https://us.hawkeoptics.com/frontier-34-ffp-3-18x50-mil-pro-ext.html
but quite frankly, once i find the "one" it seems silly to have a variety of optics that just confuse the brain, even with a dope chart in hand.
Click to expand...
If you are allowed to click for elevation you can get a custom elevation knob. Tape the knob and mark range dope on the knob. Makes it simple. Range the target, say 30 yards, turn the elevation knob to 30 and shoot.if your scope has an elevation stop this is great. Zero is all the way down on the stop and everything else is up.
 
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My collection kinda mirrors yours. When I shot HFT, I used a RAW HM1000 and a Hawke Sidewinder 6-24 with the 20X 1/2 mildot reticle. Of all the scopes I've owned including other Hawkes, Sightrons, Arkens, Athlons, Aztecs, UTG, blah,, blah, blah, I liked the Sidewinder best because it ranged well and it's reticle suited me best for holdover. Ya, maybe the optics weren't as good as the top drawer stuff, but so what. It got the job done. Now for BR? Sightron 10-50 all the way with either the fine cross hair with dot or MOA-2 reticle. I've looked through some of my friend's March and Nightforce scopes and didn't like them either for the tight eyebox or funky reticle.

Now, after sifting through my other scope collection for general shooting, my latest acquisition is an Athlon Heras 6-24 SFP ( I don't like FFP scopes, but you can get one of these too). I really like this above the Midas-Tac, Helos, Arkens. It's only downside is the 32 oz weight. I think, for each of us, there is no one scope that does it all. That's why we buy so many.
 
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Have not really look seriously into hunter glass but been thinking about it and here are some of my thoughts.

1. Ranging: arguably the most important feature, bigger the objective lens the shallower depth of field so definitely get 56mm objective scopes to help with ranging at 16x
1.1 Parallax: some scopes have very short travel between 10-55 yards which makes ranging very hard
2. Reticle: Christmas tree reticle is my personal choice for hold over because of all the reference points, obviously don't want obstructive but personal preference
3. FFP or SFP: Unless the reticle is true at 16x I would go FFP so the references will be accurate, you can write down on a card for SFP but too PIA

In short, try 56mm objective length scopes with 16x marking, FFP, Christmas tree reticle and parallax wheel with long travel between 10-55 yards. Shockingly my lowly Element helix does remarkably well at ranging! It has VERY long travel between 10-55 yards, the longest I've ever seen on any scope.
 
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After using many brands and types of riflescopes over a 50 year period, then doing more differing types of competitions with them in the last 23 years, I've settled on what I prefer.

For most every type of shooting, including FT, I prefer to use;
FFP
Mostly 10Y close focus for airguns but 25Y minimum focus for the other rifles.
Mil tree reticles having .2 mill hashes. Predominantly Athlon's APRS6.
Mil turrets with 10 mil's per revolution.
.1 mil clicks.
A Zero stop.
And Illumination.

For specifically Benchrest I wouldn't mind SFP of 40x or more magnification and a simple reticle. That'd probably be a March HM 10-60.
For small game hunting at medium distances a SFP lightweight scope would suffice. This would be a Athlon Heras 2-12.
 
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steve123 said:
After using many brands and types of riflescopes over a 50 year period, then doing more differing types of competitions with them in the last 23 years, I've settled on what I prefer.

For most every type of shooting, including FT, I prefer to use;
FFP
Mostly 10Y close focus for airguns but 25Y minimum focus for the other rifles.
Mil tree reticles having .2 mill hashes. Predominantly Athlon's APRS6.
Mil turrets with 10 mil's per revolution.
.1 mil clicks.
A Zero stop.
And Illumination.

For specifically Benchrest I wouldn't mind SFP of 40x or more magnification and a simple reticle. That'd probably be a March HM 10-60.
For small game hunting at medium distances a SFP lightweight scope would suffice. This would be a Athlon Heras 2-12.
Click to expand...
AF71A025-DE59-457A-99CD-5336BF2A6323_1_105_c.jpeg

would this work?
 
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I saw those 80 X scopes, did not go down well for this zoom whore ( i pretty much always shoot at full magnification )
But i think 30 X maybe 34 X will be fine for my needs, and that is just seeing the hole a .177 make at 100 M

But when Lakshmi finally bless me with a little Lotto money, well lets just say i do not intend to die with any money in the bank.
Or die in a country that only allow me to shoot .177, O hell no this grumpy Dans is setting sail with a little lotto money.
 
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cavedweller said:
seems like a high end bench rest gun... not FT in my thinking.
Click to expand...

Usually the higher the magnification the more precise it is to range with.

If in Hunter division you'd have to leave it on 16x to range with so I don't know if the March 8-80 will have any advantage over other scopes.

The one 8-80 I looked through was not impressive at higher magnification, kinda dim and not the best IQ at 80x.

I had a Pentax PF100 spotting scope that topped out at 72x and even it struggled at higher magnification, I liked it best around 35x.

But March has a new 8-80 coming out with HM glass that will pull off higher magnification better than the older 8-80.

I'd still pick the March HM 10-60 over the 8-80 because its 6x mag ratio so its less compromised optically.
 
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qball said:
Where you shoot can you use more than 16x? And can you dial? Here in the USA, when shooting HFT we can't use higher than 16x and dial so the scope requirements are totally different. I assume you can use higher mag and dial since you are looking at 60-80x.
Click to expand...
I'm in the USA and shooting hunter class FT so correctly stated nothing above 16 power and i can't touch the reticles for windage or elevation, only the ranging wheel. I think what i'm tryin to narrow down is which "scope" provides the simplest reticle for accurate holdovers. Pretty sure FFP and a Christmas tree reticle work best for me but, MIL, MRAD, MOA ? egads. Currently i'm thinking this Hawk is the way to go:

Frontier 34 FFP SF ZS 5–30x56 SF FFP Mil Pro Ext. (30x​

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09T4GHSCW/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A22K21MLXSBN85&psc=1
 
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The tricky part of FFP is reticle shrinks when in lower zoom so reticle design/thickness is very important because if you have a very high magnification FFP at 16x the reticle might be too thin. Sadly there is no way to know besides checking out scopes yourself. Personally I wouldn't go above 20-25x at max so I can see the reticle clearly at 16, and illuminated reticles feature would be highly recommended.

That hawk seems way over prices for what you get at 1300 bones if you ask me. Check out vector optics especially when they go on sale. Or element titan with dirty reticle is very good for the money, it has the bonus of long parallax wheel travel like all other element scopes made with airgun in mind.
 
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