Need beginner spotting scope

[Hawk45]

The one thing I don't have yet is a spotting scope. I am working with 10x scopes so seeing holes at 300 is pretty hard. I usually will not be shooting over 300 but may shoot to 600 every so often. What do you recommend with a max ceiling of $500? I use shoot'n'see targets,floresent yellow holes on black background on hit) so should make easier than just paper hits.

I'm not trying to be unrealistic and understand that even high price/quality optics have hard time at 600yds but just looking for decent beginner so I don't have to keep waiting to walk every 10 shots and upsetting the other guys shooting shorter ranges. Though I don't mind the exercise.

Thanks,
Hawk

 

[chuckw2]

Hawk,
I have a Kowa TSN-821 with the 27xler eyepiece and it works great for my purpose of seeing the target spotters at 600 and 1000 yards. It enables me to see several targets at a time, so I can tell if there is a shift in the wind. It is easy to read the mirage with this scope as well. I have not ever been able to see bullet holes at 600 and 1000 yards with any scope. I used to have a variable power eyepiece for this scope, but sold it because it did not have enough eye relief for me to use it with my shooting glasses.

I have a friend that is using a Nikon Earth and Sky scope at 100 and 200 yard targets and it seems like a lot of bang for the buck.

Look at http://betterviewdesired.com it has several nice write ups on scopes.

Check out Eagle Optics also.

Ebay would be the first place I would look once you have decided on the brand.

Good luck,
Chuck

 

[chuckw2]

Hawk,
If you haven't bought a spotting scope yet. Go to Jim Owens site, Jarheadtop.com. He has a nice entry level scope.

I bought my Kowa from him.

Chuck

 

[Caduceus]

I shot a high power match on Saturday and two guys at the club had these bargain priced Konus scopes which are available from Jim Owens,see post above this one). I use a Leupold Gold Ring 20-40x60 spotting scope with a straight eyepiece. We set the two of them up side by side for a direct comparison. Light conditions were very poor. It snowed throughout most of the match. Our range only goes to 100yds so I couldn't make a long range comparison but could certainly comment on low light performance.

As much as it hurt my pride to admit it, the sub-$200 Konus had a CLEARLY SUPERIOR image to the Leupold which cost 4 times as much. When both were set at 40x magnification, not only was the image brighter and clearer on the Konus but it also had additional zoom power,up to 60x) to spare. At 60x in the Konus,max) vs 40x in the Leupold,max), the images were of similar brightness but the resolving capability of the Konus was miles ahead. I know the Leupold isn't a Swarovski or Zeiss but until now, I'd considered it to be a pretty darn good scope.

I was really surprised. That Konus scope appears to be a real bargain. Since I want a scope with an angled eyepiece for high-power, I'll almost certainly buy one in the near future.

 

[carlsdad]

My daughter is the marksman,actually Expert) in our family, I just follow along with the checkbook, but anyway, she was able to use one of Jim Owens' scopes that was donated to our state junior team last year so I wasn't forced to pony up for a scope right away, the Konus scope was entirely adequate for high power, up to and including 3 days at 1000 yards. I was recently able to upgrade to a Kowa 821 with the 27 LER, but the scope from Jim Owens and the "Camp Perry Retired Marines" was an excellent scope for the job/price. Thank you and OOH RAH Jim Owens and the other no loner on active duty Marines that donated the scopes for our juniors.

 

[chet]

About the Konus spotting scope model 7120 20-60x 80mm I ordered one the other day and got it today, didn't look thru it yet, will check it out tomorrow, I noticed the picture on one of the web pages shot it to be blue in color, I got mine today and it is green are there any difference besides the color. new model or older one

thanks
Chet

 

[crabbies3]

after many years i need a new scope who handels this konus tks for your time Don

 

[chet]

Sir

I orded one on Sunday from Adorama in NY,169.00). had it within 48hrs to PA, It is a nice scope, was going to go with the Celestron Ultima 80, it is the EXACT same internals as the Konus, the Celestron was $10 cheaper and has a Lifetime warranty vs The Konus at 1 or 2 years, But the main reason I went with the Konus is that is can be rotated on a band type mount. better for us guys who shoot prone. with the Celestron the scope cannot be rotated, the eyepc is vertical.

Chet