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I have a SWFA SS 16x & 10x.

Yes they're durable.
The fact that springers were known to kill scopes were due to 2 main reasons.
1. Older scopes didn't all have etched glass reticles. Older scopes used thin wire. 

2. Older scopes lenses weren't reinforced both sides of lenses. They were only set to stand up to rear recoiling rifles.
Springers recoil forward, back, and least, torque wind of spring. 


Decent glass. Not perfect top tier but very good. Very nice fine reticle. 


My only point to OP for FT is SWFA SS 16x & 20x have very small exit pupil. Tight eye box. Also as mentioned rear focus isn't ideal for FT. I personally would go for a 3-15 HD SF SFWA if wanting that brand for FT. 
Also if minimum focus is a concern the 16x isn't going to do well where the 3-15 would allow 10yrd focus on 3x. 

I have a 4.5-27 Midas Tac Athlon I have for sale but people passed on it because it only focuses at 10 yards on 4.5x & down to 30 yards on 27x, 100 yard parallax. Fine for my usage of 100 yard zero for slug shooters. I just would prefer a APRL6 over APRL1 as the finer center dot of the 6 beats the crosshair of the 1 when shooting for groups at 3-400

https://www.swfa.com/swfa-ss-3-15x42-tactical-rifle-scope-3.html


 
Hawke Sidewinder is a good popular field target scope. Lots of guys use the 8-32 at 16x for hunter class, and it gives you the option of trying WFTF in the future. I prefer front focus, and use a Leupold 6.5-20 on my WFTF class HW97 rifle, and Vortex Crossfire II 4-16 50mm on my RWS 48 and SIG ASP 20 for hunter class. I have a few of the SWFA SS fixed power 20x, they do not range very well past 40 yards with the rear focus, and I expect the 16x would be worse. The MOA reticle is great for bracketing for range and the clicks are solid and repeatable though.