What should i look for in a budget scope?

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Soapthecommy

Soapthecommy

Member
Dec 1, 2020
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South, Lebanon
Hello Everyone, Not really in the states myself, but i am getting a scope for my air rifle.. my budget is 50 to 100$ and the options here are limited, mostly chinese but they look ok. The discovery ones are over 200$ but i can't afford that right now. i got a quick look at the ones available in my budget and they are not plenty. the 100$ one looks like a 4-16x52. It's worth mentioning all of them are FFP. If you have any idea or suggestion to anything you think is useful please go ahead!
 
Soapthecommy said:
Hello Everyone, Not really in the states myself, but i am getting a scope for my air rifle.. my budget is 50 to 100$ and the options here are limited, mostly chinese but they look ok. The discovery ones are over 200$ but i can't afford that right now. i got a quick look at the ones available in my budget and they are not plenty. the 100$ one looks like a 4-16x52. It's worth mentioning all of them are FFP. If you have any idea or suggestion to anything you think is useful please go ahead!
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I believe those are answers you should have for yourself. When you are looking through an optic, what are you expecting to see through it? Are you wanting to see a 1-1 ratio where what you see outside the lens is exactly the same? Are you looking to have a zoomed in view? If so, how much of the target are you wanting to clearly see? How far are you looking to shoot? Do you care if it's a ffp (picture and reticle increases in size with zoom), or sfp (picture remains the same while reticle increases in size?
 
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Review past posts here about satisfaction & functionality of inexpensive scopes. Lots of good input. There are some really satisfactory, inexpensive scopes now that give some of the pricey ones a run for the money. If you could see fit to increase your budget by even another $50 your options will broaden & quality will jump another level. Watching the CLASSIFIEDS here is another way to get bang for the buck.
 
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Gerry52 said:
Review past posts here about satisfaction & functionality of inexpensive scopes. Lots of good input. There are some really satisfactory, inexpensive scopes now that give some of the pricey ones a run for the money. If you could see fit to increase your budget by even another $50 your options will broaden & quality will jump another level. Watching the CLASSIFIEDS here is another way to get bang for the buck.
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I'll check it out
 
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The feature to look for in any air rifle scope, Id say adjustable parallax is the most important. A normal scope is set at 50 or 100 yds and not really ideal for the closer ranges needed on an air gun. Glass quality and turret quality are going to be bad no matter what brand you pick in that price range. If you can save up a little more an Athlon Talos can be found for good prices sometimes used on ebay. I would forget FFP, those are more expensive to make well. That translates to better performance for your money on the cheap scopes if you can find a good SFP. Doe you have to have magnification? You can get some really solid red-dot sights in your budget.

Im not a fan of Hawke, but this is probably one of the cheapest scope I would ever consider buying myself. Lifetime warranty is going to be important on any scope in this price range.

www.pyramydair.com

Hawke 4X32 AO Sport HD Rifle Scope, Mil-Dot Reticle, 1/4 MOA, 1" Tube | Pyramyd AIR

We've got a great price on Hawke 4X32 AO Sport HD Rifle Scope, Mil-Dot Reticle, 1/4 MOA, 1" Tube at Pyramyd AIR. Shop where the experts do!
www.pyramydair.com
 
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104.00

S6 LPVO 1-6x24 SFP​

Very nice glass
OPSL33S61-6x24iFiberWebp3-616513_2000x.webp
 
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Soapthecommy said:
Hello Everyone, Not really in the states myself, but i am getting a scope for my air rifle.. my budget is 50 to 100$ and the options here are limited, mostly chinese but they look ok. The discovery ones are over 200$ but i can't afford that right now. i got a quick look at the ones available in my budget and they are not plenty. the 100$ one looks like a 4-16x52. It's worth mentioning all of them are FFP. If you have any idea or suggestion to anything you think is useful please go ahead!
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check out the lowest price Athlon SFP, maybe save up a bit more ? Athlon has a for life anything warrantee .And it works always .
 
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beerthief said:
check out the lowest price Athlon SFP, maybe save up a bit more ? Athlon has a for life anything warrantee .And it works always .
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@Soapthecommy I agree with Stan here in regards to warranty. Find a brand with the most generous and longest warranty you can. Chances are you’ll use it with some entry level and low budget scopes. Hawke, Athlon, and Vortex come to mind. I’m not sure about Arken and Discovery. You may also want to look into some Vector Optics scopes. I’m not sure how Vector warranties may differ between their lower and upper tier scopes. Once you find a brand with a decent reputation and stellar warranty start looking for features most important to you. Reviews on our forums can also be revealing of pros and cons.
 
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Ezana4CE said:
@Soapthecommy I agree with Stan here in regards to warranty. Find a brand with the most generous and longest warranty you can. Chances are you’ll use it with some entry level and low budget scopes. Hawke, Athlon, and Vortex come to mind. I’m not sure about Arken and Discovery. You may also want to look into some Vector Optics scopes. I’m not sure how Vector warranties may differ between their lower and upper tier scopes. Once you find a brand with a decent reputation and stellar warranty start looking for features most important to you. Reviews on our forums can also be revealing of pros and cons.
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Thank you for this, I may look into vector optics as these are available sub 200$ the only other brand was discovery. Lebanon doesn't offer much in terms of high end scopes or warranty wise I don't think I can get back to manufacturers easily. For now I'll go by a cheap scope then upgrade to vector or discovery in a couple of months.

Thanks all for trying to help :D

I should have my full PCP setup by Friday quite excited
 
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Soapthecommy said:
Thank you for this, I may look into vector optics as these are available sub 200$ the only other brand was discovery. Lebanon doesn't offer much in terms of high end scopes or warranty wise I don't think I can get back to manufacturers easily. For now I'll go by a cheap scope then upgrade to vector or discovery in a couple of months.

Thanks all for trying to help :D

I should have my full PCP setup by Friday quite excited
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Update, it came sooner today here is the initial photo, I found a decent scope to put on it

IMG-20250226-WA0128.jpeg


IMG-20250226-WA0126.jpeg
 
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I will
Ezana4CE said:
@Soapthecommy
Enjoy your rifle. What sort of PCP pump or fill source do you have? Is that a Center Point scope?
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I will use a tank from a gunshop at the moment but I might get a pump soon. The scope is a offbrand but significantly better than the cheaper stuff I found. 6-24x50 AOEG with a mildot reticle
 
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