Advice on bino's and peep sights please

[Jeffery8mm]

Good evening!! I am in need of some guidance on 2 things I am about to purchase.

1. First up, I am in need of a decent pair of Binoculars for my 8 year old daughter. Here are the 2 main things they will be used for.
Bird watching. We have a feeder set up outside the living room window. She is VERY interested in birds. She did a 4H project on backyard birds and won First place!! The distance to the feeder is about 30 feet.
The second thing they will be used for is in her 4H shooting sports. She is competing in 8-9 year old Air Rifle. I am her coach and spot all her targets for her. I need a pair of binos to to see the pellet hole in the target. If all the hits are in the black, it is hard to see them with the naked eye. [ my naked eye anyway:shock:]
She is shooting 10 meters so once again about 33 feet.
The budget is not unlimited!!!!!! I am hoping to get something around 30 to 40 bucks. Small enough to fit in the range bag. Any advice is appreciated. If you have a pair you dont use, please let me know as we may can work out a trade or outright buy.

Next.
We are shooting a Daisy 953 target pellet rifle. Single pump. GREAT rifle. As of now she is shooting open sights. Averaging a score of 120 to 150. Her first competition this weekend she shot a 174 with open sights. Alot of the other kids had peep sights. Is this an advantage?? She place 5th out of 23. High score was a 221 with peeps. Daisy offers a peep sight for this rifle, around 50 bucks. [gonna have as much as a good 22 in this air rifle:bigsmyl2:]
Any advice/wisdom on this subject is also greatly appreciated. Any offers of peeps will be entertained!!!!!!
Thanks guys! Will post pics of the shoot later
Jeff

ps; Her pellets count her as a lead shooter too!!!!

[iron mule]

hey jeffery did she shoot at the smith county shoot saturday/// my boy shot the 22 course there and came in 3rd in his division//////// send me the info on the peep sights and i'll see what the whole sale price is for you and i may have a set of the looking glasses here don't knoe for sure on that my boy likes to use them and you know how kids are never put anything back where it belongs but i'll look and see if i can find them
mule

[Jeffery8mm]

We did shoot at Smith Co!! That was a nice match!! Good facilities. Wish I coulda looked you up! Congrats to your son. The 22 matches were tough!! Lots of shooters there. You going to the Biloxi match?? We will be there.
Jeff.

[iron mule]

yes it was a tough match i believe that they had about 60 shooters there for the 22s// yes we are going to the biloxi shoot we will be with the jones county crowd look for the boy with the broke foot thats my son /// smith county does have a nice set up and some very nice people running and attending the shoot wish we had more like them around//////// we are gonna have the ms state cowboy chamionship match this coming weekend in mendenhall come on out and check us out
mule

ps if i can find the stuff i'll bring it to biloxi

[Jeffery8mm]

See you on the coast!! Gonna call Daisy about a peep tomorrow!!
I will let you know if I get some Binocs.
Jeff

[Lee]

PM sent..............Lee

[44mag1]

as far as binos go, I would rather cry once at the high price of good ones then cry every time I use poor ones

[Blacksmith]

Jeffery
The Daisy 953 aperture sights are OK but not very robust. Williams makes a better grade sight that will fit however be sure to check the rules your daughter is competing under to make sure what you buy is legal. If it is three position air rifle under the auspices of the CMP then the Daisy’s are legal but the Williams sight is not. Precision Air Rifle rules are different.


4.2.8 Sights
Only sights manufactured for and sold with Sporter air rifles are permitted. Sights not manufactured specifically for an approved Sporter air rifle (see Rule 4.2.8) are not permitted. Sights for the Daisy M753/M887 air rifle (El Gamo-type) may be used on M853/953/M888 air rifles.

The El Gamo-type sights are better than the 953’s. Precision Air Rifle rules are different.

Be sure to check the CMP web sight for more information. Click on the Coaching Resources link for help in your coaching and click the Three-Position Air Rifle link for the rule book and other information. Also read the electronic back issues of On The Mark magazine for lots of helpful information.

Blacksmith

[August]

very happy with my Pentax binoculars.

[steg]

Just going thru a Harbor Freight catalog I got in the mail Friday, and I came across a pair of
10X25 binoculars, 29.99 after mail in rebate 39.99 to start, the rebates are a pain but they do give you your rebate. They also have a digital camera in them with 8 MB memory, whatever that means. If your interested go to the site and check them out, I've dealt with them before and their products have always been as they claimed, although I've never purchased optics before.

HEARTLANDAMERICA.COM

Item No. J4-59974 shipping is free on this item too.................................steg

[winelover]

#1 RULE IN OPTICS---you get what you pay for!

Winelover

[gnoahhh]

Rule #2 in optics: See Rule #1

[Jeffery8mm]

Thanks for all the wisdom guys. Got a little help via pm also. This is a great bunch of folks.
Jeff

[Jeffery8mm]

Blacksmith, she is competing in Jr 8-9 sporter. She is able to shoot from a bag rest. No magnifying sights allowed. The sights you mention are ok.
JEff

[Char-Gar]

In the Days of Yore, I tried to scrimp and bought cheap binos. I went through three different paid in 20 years and we never happy with any of them. In 1985 I bought a pair of 8X30 high end Ziess glasses. There is no comparison between a quality glass and a cheap glass. I won't every have to buy another set and even used my Ziess binos are worth three times what I paid for them.

There are cheap glasses and good glasses and never the twain shall meet!

[snake river marksman]

Tips for buying Bino's:
1: Xs don't mean nearly as much as resolution. They need to be clear from edge to edge. I can see more with my 8x Bruntons, than I can with my 15x K marts.
2: Light and color transmission are more important than Xs. Especially for bird watching.
3: An excellent warranty means a lot. Especially when the user is going to be an adolescent.
While your daughter may only be birding in the backyard at 30ft right now, she will likely move up to full outdoor birding in the near future.
My own particular glasses are Brunton 8x eterna's but Pentax, Nikon, and Leupold, all offer glasses of about equal quality with about equal warranty, for about the same price. Roughly $300. I never believed I really needed to spend that much on glasses, but once I did I realized how wrong I had been.

[fourarmed]

Some Bino guidelines:
Good porro prism binos are cheaper than good roof prism models.
Don't waste your money on cheap mini binos.
Don't buy variable power or high magnification binos.
Don't buy the fixed focus models for birding or other short range use.

[steg]

I agree with rule no1 and rule no2, personally I wouldn't buy them, but he did ask on the cheap, so I just gave him something to look at, and decide on his own. The good part about that company is if you aren't satisfied you can send them back. personally I own a pair of Zeiss 12X50 that I bought in Germany, and thhey are clear as a bell edge to edge top to bottom.........................................ste g