About the scopes. Because I shoot offhand from the Weaver stance or modified version of it, the eye relief of most LER (long eye-relief) pistol scopes is
too long for me. I need pistol scopes with shorter eye relief than the vast majority of LER pistol scopes; that being not much more than 12". Problems are, you can't trust printed scope specifications, the eye relief changes with magnification adjustments on variable-magnification scopes, and I've found
actual eye reliefs vary even between
identical models! So I look through a lot of pistol scopes in retail stores and gun shows, but find very few that will work well for me.
My favorite variable pistol scope is the (no longer produced) 2.5-7X Thompson-Center pictured on the 1701P. The T/C is made in Japan, is excellent quality in all ways, and a bit smaller than other 2-7X pistol scopes. However, another identical model I bought has too-long ER to do me any good!
DOH! The Korean-made NcStar 2-7X on the AR6 is a bit longer and not as clear as the T/C, and the eye-relief definitely gets longer as magnification increases, but is nevertheless
just within my limits at 7X. And the NcStar cost all of $45 brand new! Since the NcStar and AR6 are both Korean made and a bit larger, it's a good match.
The 35 yard accuracy test (above) proved the T/C scope better able to draw a good bead on the small aiming circles, yet (again) the AR6 overcame that disadvantage to shoot slightly better average groups than the 1701P.
BTW, I have the same (too-long) eye-relief problems with most
fixed-magnification pistol scopes. For example, one of two identical 3X T/C pistol scopes works well for me, another definitely has a longer (actual) eye-relief.
The immensely-popular Leupold 2X pistol scope is excellent in every way and optically superior to any pistol scope I've used, but anemic in magnification for really precise accuracy work. That so, decades ago I bought one of Leupold's 4X pistol scopes and found it had a more distorted sight-picture... and too-long ER for me!
At this point it bears mentioning that many pistol scopes are set-up for correct parallax at 50 yards or farther, further complicating matters for relatively-short-range air pistol shooting. Kind of hard to shoot 1/2" groups at 25 yards if your scope's parallax is creating 1/2 to 3/4" parallax error. Sometimes parallax error can be reduced by adjusting the rear bell; but that also affects cross-hair and sight-picture focuses! It often becomes a matter of
compromise between focus and parallax error. Point is, pistol scopes are not ideal for
air pistol use, but
occasionally I can find one that works decently for
me. Results will most definitely vary between individuals (scopes and shooters), and specific applications.
Parallax error typically increases as ranges decrease; but parallax error is also much less obvious at lower magnifications than higher magnifications. Consequently (and happily), for shots inside 25 yards (where high-magnification isn't as necessary anyway), dialing down magnification will reduce parallax-error issues. Conversely, for long shots like 35-50 yards where higher magnification becomes more important, cranking up to full magnification creates less parallax issues than at short distances. Again, adjusting the rear focus-bell for different distances can minimize issues and maximize results, but is a pain in the ass.
Burris is the only scope manufacturer I know of that offers (or maybe
offered) adjustable-objective pistol scopes. I do have a 2-7X Burris A.O. pistol scope on my .221 Fireball Contender pistol, but don't know if it's still produced, am not sure it focuses well at short distances, and am not very impressed with it or other Burris scopes.
In closing, for MUCH pistol shooting 'short' of high-precision, long-range work, I'm a huge believer in non-magnifying red-dot optics. They completely eliminate ALL the focus and parallax issues I've been belly-aching about, and are shorter, lighter, and more durable than magnifying scopes, however are not conducive to shooting
tiny groups at l
ong ranges.
