We like a lot of things in a scope. Optical quality like clarity and brightness, broad and high power ranges, great side focus, audible and tactile clicks in the turret knobs, great tracking, fancy reticles, and more. But if we forget all of that and concentrate on only one thing, that being ability to stand up to repeated heavy spring piston recoil, what would you say is the toughest scope out there?
Toughest Springer Scope, Bar None
- Thread starter sjs
- Start date
Most mid range scopes these days will handle reasonably powered springers especially ones that have proper fitting guides and seals installed. Athlon, Vortex, etc.
As far as scopes that just won't seem to die go, I have 3. All are UTGs that have gone from a Gamo Magnum to D350 and a 56. So far all 3 hold zero and all are over 5 years old. They aren't great scopes by any means but the glass is good enough to see my targets and the turrets track well enough that I can get them zeroed.
If you are looking for a nice springer scope for that new 97K of yours Midway has the Athlon Argos on sale for $299. You should be very happy with that one.
As far as scopes that just won't seem to die go, I have 3. All are UTGs that have gone from a Gamo Magnum to D350 and a 56. So far all 3 hold zero and all are over 5 years old. They aren't great scopes by any means but the glass is good enough to see my targets and the turrets track well enough that I can get them zeroed.
If you are looking for a nice springer scope for that new 97K of yours Midway has the Athlon Argos on sale for $299. You should be very happy with that one.
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Another vote for Hawke. Great glass and reticle. A large amount of adjustment in both turrets. Excellent warranty and replacement.
Optisan CP 3-12x32 is also a great compact scope. Smaller than a Hawke and made for springers.
Optisan CP 3-12x32 is also a great compact scope. Smaller than a Hawke and made for springers.
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I've got a Hawke 2-7 AO on my HW98, and a Hawke 4x AO on my Diana 48. A UTG 3-9 Bug Buster on my HW50S. All three are holding up well. Good budget glass.
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I had nothing but trouble with UTGs upto 2016 when I went Hawke. I probably have bought close to two dozen since. Nine on springers the rest are backups bought on sale or on powder burners . I've used their warranty a few times and they've always been good. The biggest killer of all springer scopes is barrel droop. Which might have killed some of my UTGs. Fix any droop and any scope will last longer. I've got one shop mule 3-9x40 AO Vantage that won't die no matter what springer I put it on. That's even after it rolled off my bench and hit the cement floor.
I'd stay away from the Vantage SF line the glass is terrible on some of them. The regular Vantage is better. The Airmax glass is notably better than that.
I'd stay away from the Vantage SF line the glass is terrible on some of them. The regular Vantage is better. The Airmax glass is notably better than that.
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Can you explain? I can see where that if you have excessive droop you may max out your elevation turrets beyond normal and then perhaps that stress coupled with the recoil may damage a scope, but as long as I've been in this game, I've never heard of barrel droop breaking springer scopes.
Thanks
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When the elevation is close to maxed out the spring that holds the erector tube position slackens. The erector tube holds the reticle. The spring holds the erector tube. Recoil causes the erector tube not to return to zero because the spring doesn't have full pressure.
Also the recoil can cause an elevated erector tube to rub or bounce against the ID of the outer scope body. This can knock the reticle loose or fill the scope with aluminum dust.
Scopes should always be run as close to optical center as possible. ESPECIALLY on springers. If you need more than one full rotation of adjustment on either turret at thirty yards you need to address your barrel angles. That's whether up, down, left or right. 30 mm tubes are more forgiving because they have more room for adjustment. It's why they're used for extended range shooting.
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Ron,
I appreciate your clear explanation.
And you're probably right with the principle — that scopes should not be used at close-to-maximum or minimum elevation adjustment.
After you posted the illustration from the PrecisionRifleBlog.com, though, I felt like offering an exception clause to that principle (no, I'm not a lawyer...!
).From reading that very PrecisionRifleBlog.com I come away with the impression that there are many shooters who use their scopes far off the optical center — far down toward the minimum, or far up toward the maximum elevation adjustment.
And they do so on heavy recoiling firearms when they make their 1000-yard and mile long shots.
➠ So, this principle or this requirement to not get close to the extreme ends of the turret adjustments must apply in general to
▪ cheaper scopes
▪ scopes with capped turrets (which is the manufacturer's way of telling the user that these aren't made for dialing, "just set and forget, use your reticle")
▪ scopes from manufacturers who have a history of poor turrets (Leupold, if I understand correctly)
Of course, you can always play it safe. But is that necessary? ➔
The author of the PRS blog above, a competition shooter, is a science nut at heart, he goes bananas with testing and demanding top performance from his gear and himself. And he non-chalantly tells how he has only a handful of clicks left on the bottom end of his elevation turret (thanks to canted rails and mounts). He goes on to survey in detail all the gear that will allow you to do the same — and to explain that this is what you need to do in order to dial the elevation needed for those extreme long range shots.
➠ Well, I have been following his advice.
My $200 to $500 scopes — all with exposed turrets
— are generally far toward the bottom end of the adjustment. And for some of my longer ranges with low powered guns, I have come close to the top end of the adjustment. The only scope that failed me when doing this was a $100 scope.
(Of course, I'm not saying there is a guarantee that "no scope above $XXX will get their erector knocked out when maxed out" — scopes fail all the time — warranties are there for a reason. All I'm doing is I'm following the lead of the PRS shooters and their blog that surveys their practices since years.)
Matthias
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OK... that makes sense. Really appreciate the very detailed and clear explanation. Fortunately for me, I resisted calling BS simply because I'd never heard of it. Good thing, too! Proves that there is always more to learn! Thank you, sir
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Well your shooting from a bench so who cares how big or heavy it is as long as you can still fit your fingers in to load a pellet. I put a Hawke AMX 30 WA SF 10 X 44 illuminated reticle on my HW97K. That illuminated reticle helps in some situations. I like BKL rings but I think you'll find that SportsMatch is favored more here among the AGN members.
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You are correct on all accounts. I was trying to keep it simple assuming we were addressing popular priced springer scopes.Ron,
I appreciate your clear explanation.
And you're probably right with the principle — that scopes should not be used at close-to-maximum or minimum elevation adjustment.
After you posted the illustration from the PrecisionRifleBlog.com, though, I felt like offering an exception clause to that principle (no, I'm not a lawyer...!
From reading that very PrecisionRifleBlog.com I come away with the impression that there are many shooters who use their scopes far off the optical center — far down toward the minimum, or far up toward the maximum elevation adjustment.
And they do so on heavy recoiling firearms when they make their 1000-yard and mile long shots.
➠ So, this principle or this requirement to not get close to the extreme ends of the turret adjustments must apply in general to
▪ cheaper scopes
▪ scopes with capped turrets (which is the manufacturer's way of telling the user that these aren't made for dialing, "just set and forget, use your reticle")
▪ scopes from manufacturers who have a history of poor turrets (Leupold, if I understand correctly)
Of course, you can always play it safe. But is that necessary? ➔
The author of the PRS blog above, a competition shooter, is a science nut at heart, he goes bananas with testing and demanding top performance from his gear and himself. And he non-chalantly tells how he has only a handful of clicks left on the bottom end of his elevation turret (thanks to canted rails and mounts). He goes on to survey in detail all the gear that will allow you to do the same — and to explain that this is what you need to do in order to dial the elevation needed for those extreme long range shots.
➠ Well, I have been following his advice.
My $200 to $500 scopes — all with exposed turrets
The only scope that failed me when doing this was a $100 scope.
(Of course, I'm not saying there is a guarantee that "no scope above $XXX will get their erector knocked out when maxed out" — scopes fail all the time — warranties are there for a reason. All I'm doing is I'm following the lead of the PRS shooters and their blog that surveys their practices since years.)
Matthias
Scopes used on PRS shooting are not commonly used on your average springer. Other than the fixed power SWFA, decent PRS scopes generally cost $700 or more. Sometimes you can find them a little cheaper on sale. Typically good PRS scopes cost $1000+. They can go way up from there. Part of that cost is because they're built like tanks and made to run up and down their adjustments. I believe some of them run double return springs.
Any event I know you know what you're talking about. I was just trying to keep this simple and applicable to springers.
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SWFA SS10x42 rear focus. I had numerous scope failures on springers from several brands. I switched to SWFA SS 10x42 rear focus and haven’t looked back, with ZERO failures.
I have 3 of them and just bought an SWFA SS 12x42 rear focus.
Great advice above regarding optical centering. I use compensated and/or adjustable mounts on all of my springers and dial things in as close to optical center as possible at 30 yards. Some of my previous scope failures were due to running conventional mounts and dialing the scope for POI at 30-yards. They hold for awhile but risk failure or drifting POI as time goes by.
Steve
I have 3 of them and just bought an SWFA SS 12x42 rear focus.
Great advice above regarding optical centering. I use compensated and/or adjustable mounts on all of my springers and dial things in as close to optical center as possible at 30 yards. Some of my previous scope failures were due to running conventional mounts and dialing the scope for POI at 30-yards. They hold for awhile but risk failure or drifting POI as time goes by.
Steve
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