Found a NIB Tasco world class 1.5-4.5 pro shot reticle scope!!! BA1545X32

[Tripplebeards]

I had to run some errands yesterday and figured I would stop by the church store where I got my browning recurve a few months ago. Had fun looked around like I always did not expecting to find anything. Got my nephew a few stuffed animals like I always do and I found a cool looking cigar cutter. I don’t smoke, but I had to grab it figured it would come in handy for something even though I’m not in the mafia to remove fingers.Lol. As I was leaving, I always look in their little glass case to see what they think is worth money and have overpriced. I looked in the bottom and I saw a Tasco box. I thought it was a spotting scope. At first I know Tasco are economy made, but I always loved my Tasco optics when I was a kid and still do. Remember back in the 80s when my dad got me my first deer rifle and he wasn’t keen on optics and bought me what he could afford ended up with a 4X Tasco on my Remington 7600. Thing has taken many of deer. Trip back around 90 and bent the bell on my forehead when I fell. I took the optic off and bought my first Leupold and gave the scope to my cousin. He still uses it today for deer hunting. I bought a bunch of varmint 2.5-10 models a few years ago and still love those cheap things to death. Clearance for $25 shipped online. I should’ve bought cases of them. I have one on my piston driven air rifle with over 5000 rounds and it’s still going strong. I’ve had tons of PDP3 and 2 red dots over the decades as well. Still have a few.

Anyways, back to my story sorry for rambling….lol. So I looked through the case and tried to see what the optic was marked on the box figuring it was a 3 x 9 like they all are basically to my surprise it said 1.5 x 4.5. I got pretty excited, but I wasn’t holding my breath figuring maybe it’s not in the box or something else is in there or it’s all beat to snot. The gal got it out for me in the box was marked $24.50. I wasn’t expecting much but when I open the box, it was the correct scope and it was brand new and never used according to the gal at the church store. It looks like brand new, whether it was used or not. I was pretty excited because I always wanted one of these because it has the pro shot rectal in it and thought it would be a neat idea for turkey hunting. I figured that circle you could center the head to the wattles and give a bird the berries. The glass is crystal clear and it’s built like a tank and is heavy as one too. It’s not Japan. It’s a China made one, but I can tell you the quality is excellent in the glass is Stupid crystal clear on it. I’m sure lowlight it’s not going to be good as one of my optics that I paid 1 million times more for, but it sure seems like a pretty quality optic for what it is. If I remember right back in the day, they used to advertise these for muzzleloaders and shotguns for slug hunting? Also, I thought they use them for turkey hunting because of the circle to center a turkey head??? Anybody that has had these before did they remember how that pro shot reticle worked? Don’t remember if it was for rangefinding…. Which I’m guessing is what it was for to guess how far a deer was putting the circle on its back and its belly? I thought I remembered that they said they use the circle for turkey hunting too as I described. Directions are with it, but of course it has nothing about the pro shot practical talks about range finding with regular crosshairs. I haven’t decided 100% if I’m gonna use it for turkey hunting or just put it on one of the 22s that I restored last year. I was pretty excited either way and figured I had to share my great find. Anyone have one of these or had one to share thoughs? The box says 2003 so I would assume that was before they started calling them the “Bantam”. The ID is BA so it was probably coded as one. I might even put it on my Ruger 44 magnum carbine. Remember, they haven’t made these in about 15 years or so I’ll give or take a few years. I have to say I’m pretty impressed because most of their crosshairs in the more modern Tasco line up are super thick and these are not. If you google the picture of the pro shot reticle in the modern ones they’re thick in the circle is thick too. This is a lot finer crosshair reticle. I’ve always found through the years that some of their optics are winners and some of them I wouldn’t put on a red rider BB gun it just depends on what model it is it seems. I haven’t put it on anything to see if it adjust but it sure looks like a great economy optic.


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It may not as good of quality as the Japan made Tasco’s, or the really cool looking old school optics posted here …but I figured it was worth the post for a new optic made in 03’ still sitting in a box.

[racepres]

I like it lots!!! Tho I personally do Not prefer Matt blue for "looking at". I'm positive I too could find a Use for that one!!
BTW my Tasco Pistol scope has Taken much more than it's share of Abuse on a 10" 45 Win Mag Contender!!

[Tripplebeards]

Yeah, I figured this would make a really nice pistol optic too. I can’t remember which model it was, but I thought it was a 1.75 x 6 Tasco I had on my savage striker chambered in 7-08 when the Stryker first came to market. I had a custom brake put on it just like the factory savage that spun out on and off. I can’t believe they still won’t make brakes like that anyways the pistol was stolen out of my house shortly afterwards and I never did get it back along with my Colt Anaconda. I found fingerprints in the house and gave them a few names in one of them happen to be the guy that broke in my house and I still didn’t get them back. Apparently he sold them for drugs back in the 90s. Loser


I get a kick out of it because if you look at the box here it even shows a different looking thicker reticle circle. Mine circle looks a lot bigger in diameter and super thin. Some of the new marketed pro shot reticles have thick crosshairs going right to the circle with a thick circle as well. They must a juggled a lot of reticle variances back in the day. I had a 4x that had a 4A style reticle from around 95’. The reticle fell apart a couple years ago. lol. Too bad I read liked it. Was similar to a German style crosshair.

[marlinman93]

Pistol optics use very long eye relief, so it wont work on a rifle and a pistol, and needs to be one or the other. Tasco scopes have always been affordable, and the older scopes are very high quality. I haven't got any experience with any new Tasco scopes, but I've had one of their 6-24x Target scopes on my 700 VSF in .22-250 for decades and it's a wonderful scope. Taken thousands of varmints at ranges to over 400 yds. plus about 15 deer also. .22CF is legal for deer in my state and the .22-250 is deadly dropping deer at up to 400 yds. distances.
It appears your new Tasco has the instruction sheet, so I'd study that to determine how the reticle works. It doesn't look like it's got any special reticle to judge distance, or compensate for bullet drop? Just a heavier crosshair with thinner crosshair and circle at the center for fine crosshairs. All these more exotic crosshairs are available now due to them no longer being true crosshairs. They are etched into the glass now, so it allows for variances based on adjustments the scope makers choose depending on when they're made. So they may not change the box or instructions when they alter the etched crosshairs.

[Barry54]

What a great find! I too would have purchased a box full if I had known they were being discontinued. I’ve got a couple of the 2.5x10 mil-dot models. They are a great value!!

[Tripplebeards]

Yeah, those 2.5 x 10 mild dot varmint are my favorites! I still have one left new in a box that I’ll use for something. About three or four years ago they were selling them for $25 shipped discontinued from a couple of wholesalers. I bought four of the 6 x 24 varmint versions as well but they never would clearly focus pass about 12 or 14 X. I ended up selling them along time ago, the sportsman that replaced them with a plain old cross hair which is also now discontinued and long gone from just two or three years ago focuses clearly at 24 power and has a side focus adjustment like modern scopes instead of the front bell. The local gun shop sold me that long gone Tasco 1 7.5 x 6 decades ago to use on my pistol …with rifle style short short eye relief, but it worked just fine. You just had to get it close to your eyes. I am not a fan of pistol scopes or extended eye relief scopes for scout rifles. They can all go in the garbage as far as I’m concerned. I’ll take a zero magnification red dot over them all day long. Trying to find an animal in them with the small field of view from th.e optic being so far away from your eye… even at low power, is next to impossible for me unless im at 1X and then it looks like it’s 500 yards away when it’s 50. The instructions don't say anything about the pro shot reticle. Just how to range find with normal crosshairs with illustrations.

[Tripplebeards]

Was having fun looking at it again this morning and it seems like throughout the decades off offering it Tasco changed it up to a bantam logo and changed up the bell. The more modern ones have a gold ring on the front bell vs a silver. It’s definitely a better build quality than the more modern ones with a bantam logo on them. The bell on this one has a couple of “Cana lures” where the modern ones don’t. Also a silver ring vs a painted looking gold ring. The Tasco logo and numbers are gold, but the ring is silver. The glass seems a lot better than my 2.5-10 varmint models that I like a lot.



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[Tatume]

Nice find!

[beemer]

People can say what they want but I have had good service from some of the Tasco scopes I have. I have a Japanese made 3X9X40 that was on an Enfield for 30 years and I got it used. Rain, cold, snow, ice hanging off it, banged on tree stands, and dropped. Never fogged or lost zero, the optics finally turned dingy but it still worked. For the price I'll take another. There are a couple more around here, that were made in the Philippines that work well also. There are better scopes and I have a few but Tasco scopes did make some decent scopes.

[Tripplebeards]

Yep I love them for my rimfires, plinking, and target guns and pistols. I have way too many firearms to be able to afford to stick a high dollar optic on each one. The three shot, 100 yard cast bullet group i shot in my in my avatar, I used a, $25 shipped to my house, brand new Tasco Varmint scope, thick cross hairs with mil dots, in 2 1/2 x 10. They work just fine for what they are. I used a Japan 4x as my deer scope on my 30-06’ from the early eighties till 00’. I can’t even begin to tell you how many deer I took with it. Dragging out an eight point buck on the last season that I used it in the snow and I slipped down the ridge and hit my head with the optic and bent the bell really bad on my forehead. My head and my optic still worked. I took it off and bought a leupold vx11 to replace it. That expensive scope kept losing it zero throughout the decades and finally got it replaced a few years ago from after I sent it to them once and they told me there was nothing wrong with it. I gave that old Tasco to my cousin and he still hunts with it today and it still has never lost it zero or fogged. Unfortunately the new Chinese ones are not the same quality they still work good for what they are. I know if I put my eye too close to the eyeball weird things will go on with some of them. I can actually see the outside of the glass edge when doing so. No big deal.