Help with spotting scopes please

[jefats]

Kind of a newbie here. I'm in the market for a good spotting scope, one that won't fuzz up at the higher powers. Actually, I'd like a fixed power in the 25-30 range just to elimenate the variable dialing. However, I'm not ruling out a variable. What I want is to be able to see small holes at the 300-400 yard ranges.

I'd appreciate comments, experiences, recommendations etc

Thanks

 

[Klong]

It takes very expensive scopes and little or no mirage to see little hole at those distances. I have a top of the line Kowa and in Texas summer heat it is very difficult to see 223 holes at 300. If you have a light colored target you can see some, but if mirage is heavy, forget it!

 

[DaveWhite]

with optics you really need to get the best you can afford, or you will end up buying twice. try to gete as large an objective as you can for the money and don't be afraid to look at as many scopes as you can get your hands on.

If you buy cheap glass, you will likely replace it later. Tough to justify $1K for a good scope and stand if you do not have the cash, if you do, the large Kowas are very good, but I know some people quite pleased with the Leupold for <300 yard work.

Best scopes out there are probably the Swarovski or the Leicas. They are pricey, but you will most likely find them unrivaled.

 

[fdshuster]

As mentioned, no matter how high the quality (and cost) of the spotting scope, you are at the mercy of the mirage, but you should still buy the best that you can afford. I have the Nikon Fieldscope, 82mm with the 25-75x eyepiece, but seldom need to go above 40 or 45x. I do prefer the adjustable eyepiece since it's so easy to dial down to 25x find the very small tgt. at 4 or 500 meters, then crank it up to the highest power needed and usable. Can't do that with a fixed power, the same reason I prefer the variable rifle scopes. Under mirage conditions, depending on the severity, a plain white or beige target paper with a small aiming point ( the small repair dots that come with the Shoot-N-See tgts are a good choice) is my best solution. Black scoring rings, numbers, etc. only make it more difficult to spot the shot holes. Very frustrating, a waste of time & ammunition when you cannot find your shot hole & have no idea how to adjust your scope. Later when seeing the tgt. up close, you then discover that the shot hole(s) you could not find were there, but could not be seen in the black.

 

[HPMike800]

If a fixed power scope is not a problem, Kowa makes Long Eye Relief (LER) eyepieces. They are a nice feature, popular among Highpower shooters.

 

[in2deep]

I think a typical 20-60 power is more practical even though the fixed focal lengths can have a bit better picture. Some days it's nice to crank up the power before the mirage gets up.
That being said I bought a used Kowa 821 from an ex-birder on Ebay and couldn't be happier and it and came with an unusual 50X WIDE fixed eyepiece and I find that it works great and could even see 6mm holes in the black at 550 yards one morning before the mirage built up. Being a wide angle you can see others targets at the same time and I can watch6 gongs across at our local match.
You can spend a couple grand on optics but when mirage kicks up they are all compromised and often to the point of being unusable so don't set yourself up and be disappointed when those heat waves blur your fancy glass.