Recommend a 45* Spotting Scope

[fourarmed]

My old Bushnell 45* Spacemaster has been blown over on concrete firing lines a few too many times, and I am looking for a replacement. My requirements are pretty basic: 45* angled eyepiece, and 60mm objective. I am also not overawed by zoom eyepieces, but would go that way if that is all that is available. If you have one you like that is currently available, I would like to hear about it. Price is a consideration.

[Jon K]

60mm is OK.....but 80/82mm is better.

KOWA + 27x LER... Thats my vote.

nuff said....let the scope speak for itself....go look at one.

Jon

[btroj]

60mm is OK.....but 80/82mm is better.

KOWA + 27x LER... Thats my vote.

nuff said....let the scope speak for itself....go look at one.

Jon

Yep, that is whati have. It works like a charm, will never need another scope.

[sagamore-one]

I got a Konus 20 to 60 by 100mm on sale at Optics planet under $300 and it has impressed everyone who has looked through it, even me.

[Dan Cash]

A big plus on the KONUS. The KOWa IS GREAT BUT NOT $700+ better than the KONUS.

[Jon K]

FYI...
Variable power eyepieces tend to cloud up as the magnification is increased...especially @ longer distances.

Jon

[MajorDude]

I've got the Kowa 82 with 27 LER too! I can see .22 holes at 200 yards under the right conditions.You spend a bit up front, but probably will never be sorry. If you think they're expensive, price a Swarovski!

[sagamore-one]

The Konus is on sale at Midway USA this month. $287
I can clearly see 22 rimfire holes at 200 with my Konus. Maybe I got a "good" one.
yes... we shoot a rimfire match at 200 yards here in Indiana.

[Shiloh]

Kowa 660.

I can see 200 yard .30 cal holes on most days but .22 caliber holes are tough to see.

That is where the 82mm objective lens shines.

Shiloh

[405]

fourarmed,
Most of the locals I know who shoot competition have gone with the Konus 100mm and a "clamp on the bench" rig.... so the gusty winds won't be so much of a problem.

When those scopes first showed up a couple of years ago I didn't bother looking thru one when folks at the range began dragging them out. I just looked at the massive beasts and was impressed, not to mention the massive hype the owners were giving the scope.:)

Here's the oops- last year I finally looked thru a friend's and was not impressed :( I guess the "get what you pay for" saying still holds. Little wonder at only $300. Not to say they are bad, but compared to the high dollar, high quality glass, which I don't have and can't afford, they were a little disappointing.

It would sure help the decision process if you could do a side by side ocmparison with other types.

[Artful]

I use a CAT scope (celestron C90) I can see 22's (depending upon the light at 200 also, and it's configurable as a 1000mm telephoto on my camera. due to the folded ligh path of the mirrored design it's light weight and short but a little bulky around due to the 90mm open end. You can set up as straight or 45 or 90 veing angle. If your looking for a bench spotting scope it does as does most of the astro telescope/spotting scopes - but if price and size were no object I'd want a Unertal Team scope - man that sucker was great!

[lead-1]

I personally don't have a spotting scope although I need one. Several months back I went to Dunham's Sports at a mall and they had one of these on the counter and I was suprised at how well it worked for an inexpensive unit.
I could actually read the price tags on shoes at the other end of the store and it was on sale for less than $100.

http://buytoolbestsale.com/barska-blackhawk-20-60x60-angled-spotting-scope

[fourarmed]

Thanks for all the comments, guys. This scope will be used almost exclusively for handgun silhouette shooting, so tripod mount is pretty much required, and weight and bulk are considerations. Likewise, the ability to resolve a gnat's a$$ half a mile away at midnight is not really necessary, and 15x is about what I like, so the large objective lenses mainly add weight and sail area.

[Artful]

I personally don't have a spotting scope although I need one. Several months back I went to Dunham's Sports at a mall and they had one of these on the counter and I was suprised at how well it worked for an inexpensive unit.
I could actually read the price tags on shoes at the other end of the store and it was on sale for less than $100.

http://buytoolbestsale.com/barska-blackhawk-20-60x60-angled-spotting-scope

I'm currently running a BARSKA Scope on my long range 243. It's not a night force but you can see pretty good thru it - I should have thought of them...
300 Meter
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/rowdyfisk/Payson%20June%2011/0611111401.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v355/rowdyfisk/Payson%20June%2011/0611111403.jpg

[Artful]

Thanks for all the comments, guys. This scope will be used almost exclusively for handgun silhouette shooting, so tripod mount is pretty much required, and weight and bulk are considerations. Likewise, the ability to resolve a gnat's a$$ half a mile away at midnight is not really necessary, and 15x is about what I like, so the large objective lenses mainly add weight and sail area.

I used my C90 on a Movie Camera Tripod when I was doing handgun sillywet you can pic the eye piece to cover the field of view you need to see - used a 50 cal ammo box with extra ammo for weight and slung it to Tripod to keep it still in the wind - never had it fall over. Use the Movie camera tripod as it was tall enough to use for Sky watching as well with me (6'2") standing up looking up vertacally. And it's much more solid built that some the still camera stuff I had prevously owned. If you decide to look at Barska you may want to have the store let you look thru a couple of them to compare - I had also bought a small Binocular from Barska brand thru Big 5 - and I took 3 that they had in stock out in turn to the parking lot and look down the way - one showup up much better than the others.

[RU shooter]

Another vote for the inexpensive Konus, I bought one about 5 yrs ago as my first scope for HP and has served me well its the 20-60x 80mm ,Clear enought for what I paid for it and has withstood a few blow overs on some windy days without damage.

[c3d4b2]

At Camp Perry Champions Choice has had a stand set up outside with the different spotting scopes to look through. I spent some time one day looking through them and came to the conclusions:

You get what you pay for
At the low end of the price scale, there is a marked improvement of image quality per price increase
At the high end of the price scale, there is less improvement of image quality per price increase


One of my shooting comrades has a Champions Choice scopes that have a decent reputation. It may be worth your time to investigate them.
http://www.champchoice.com/cat-Spotting_Scopes-585.aspx

Also.......

When I first got my Kowa, I was disappointed the first time I used it. I had heard great things about seeing .22 holes at 200 & 300 yards and I was not seeing the holes at 200 yards. I started talking to the other shooters in the pits and everyone was having the same problem. Since then
I have looked through several spotting scopes at numerous ranges (the search for the holly grail?). The environmental and lighting conditions play a big part in seeing the bullet holes. At some ranges it is a struggle to see the holes on a good day due to the lighting. At other ranges it depends on the conditions. At one range the sun is behind the targets and you can see light coming through the holes....

[David2011]

I have a Barska 20-60X. It works OK at lower power, up to about 30X which is adequate for 100 yards; stretching it at 200 unless you're shooting .30 cal or larger. It's not really useful at 300 yards. The contrast and resolution go to pot.

David

[appleseedgunsmith]

I have a gordon/harbor freight 20-60x60. I was at the tusco buffalo shoot this past weekend and got to use their 600yd range to get sight settings. The gentleman who helped me had a kowa. I believe the discontinued tsn-821 model. The weather was perfect. 70 deg. No humidity. The range is dead flat and in a quarry surrounded by hills.what litttle wind we had came straight down the lanes to the targets. My gordon easily picked up mirage and focus was nearly as clear, if slightly darker straw/yellow. I could see screws in the target frame with both scopes and target #'s were easily readable by both. The only real drawback was NO eye relief on the gordon. I can't say about its weatherproof qualities. For 39 bux it will work in bpcr to the 500 easily!

[dnmccoy]

Konus 80mm has served me well in Highpower competition and I would recomend them to anyone

[sundog]

I too, use a Konus for High Power competition. Good optics.

[mjac]

How is the eye relief on these Konus spotting scopes? I wear glasses and would prefer not to remove them to look though a spotting scopes or am I just wishing?

[Jon K]

Long eye relief...you can't beat the Kowa LER eyepiece whether using 60 or 80mm. Longest eye reilef available.

As the old saying goes "You can't beat good ground glass"

Jon

[mjac]

Longest eye relief available.

and that would be how many mm?

[Jon K]

mjac,

Kowa 25x LER TE-20H eye relief= 32.0mm
for TSN-770 and TSN-880 scopes.

Great for those w/glasses.
Safety Glasses required for Spotter in matches.

Jon

[Nobade]

Big fan of Celestron here. I have the straight 80mm and it's all I need for pistol and highpower silhouette. The ED glass one is better but mine was $150 and the ED is $500. You can usually get them for a good price at Optics Planet. So far everyone who has looked through it has been impressed, and especially so when they find out how cheap they are.

If I had the bucks and needed one, the new Vortex spotter is impressive. Side by side with a Zeiss, the Vortex was way better. But the price on either of those is way higher, so I'm sticking to my cheap Chinese glass for now. Plus I didn't cry when it blew over and got a crack in it.

[mjac]

mjac,

Kowa 25x LER TE-20H eye relief= 32.0mm
for TSN-770 and TSN-880 scopes.

Great for those w/glasses.
Safety Glasses required for Spotter in matches.

Jon


Thank you. I had been looking for that info. I guess in the wrong spots.

[ROGER4314]

I competed in 200 and 600 yard NRA competition for years so I could justify the expense of a Kowa 821 with 20-60 variable eyepiece. The eyepiece alone is about $300. It was a butt load of money but the optics were very clear and I used it a lot.

Sometimes, however a huge objective lens and large field of view can be a disadvantage! It was distracting to see 1-2 targets on each side of my target! As some other posts stated, as the magnification (power) was cranked up, the image got darker. High power is not always an advantage, either as a high power setting gets too dark to see bullet holes.

There was one thing that hasn't been mentioned before. The paint on my Kowa 821 housing became soft and sticky. It rubbed off on everything that it touched. I called Kowa and they said they had heard of that happening before so they told me to send it in. The scope was about 15 years old so I was concerned about the cost. The housing was replaced with a newer model, all optics were cleaned and they returned it with a zero balance due! That's what you get when you buy quality!

The Kowa scope was big and bulky so I bought the Harbor Freight spotting scope. It is a 45 degree scope with lens caps, rotating base so you can adjust the right angle and variable 20-60 power. When I shoot matches where spotters are used to mark impacts, I use the HF scope. For range practice where I need to see bullet holes, I use the Kowa.

Flash