Christensen Optics

[grumpy]

Has anyone had any experience with these? They "look" nice. http://www.christensenoptics.com/

I like to buy from local companies vs the made in China stuff...but I have no proof of origin on these. Seems like a fair price if they are as good as they claim.

[freonr22]

they dont indicate the reticle...

[Stringer]

You should call them and see what they say about country of origin.

From the looks of this: http://www.bigcountrydistributors.co...ologinside.jpg they are most likely a generic scope from a Chinese factory that just puts a brand name on it.

[grumpy]

I called the number today. Sounds like he runs it out of his house. The 3x9 has a standard crosshair. The higher end models have mil-dot. He was adamant that his chinese mfd scopes were of the same quality as scopes 3x the price. He said some parts were sourced in Japan, but the assembly and remaining parts were made in China. I highly doubt he did any engineering for these whatsoever. I'm pretty sure they are just a generic from a factory as previously mentioned. Having said that, some Chinese factories make nice stuff and I'm not sure how the quality compares. I found someone who has one out here so I'm going to go mount one up and see how it compares to other $100 scopes. Maybe it's a good find...maybe not.

[Stringer]

The turrets and AO look like similar to some offerings from Hawke Optics. I have read that Hawke is pretty good for a chicom scope. Ilya Lushkin (of kitchentableoptics) was the one who pointed out that Hawke isn't half bad, and his reviews are expertly done. If Christensens do come from the same factory, it may be worth checking out. Not all chicom scopes are bad. Mueller, for example, has some decent ones, although their better ones are made in Japan.

[grumpy]

Well, I picked up the 3x9x50 from a relative out here. I really wanted to hate it...but I can't find anything wrong with it and I took it home with me. Pretty solid build, nice seams, solid clicks on the turrets, zoom is smooth and tight, eye relief is nice, and the glass is clear. My only gripe is that it only comes with a standard crosshair on the entry level scope. Probably not a bad buy for $100 bucks. They claim it performs at the level of a $300 scope. So I guess the logical thing for me to do is put it on my wife's 30-06 to replace a junky tasco and get a $300 scope on my 7mm and see which one bags the first elk this winter

After staring through it for 10 min or so I think parallax is pretty good too. I can get the crosshair off the target plane under 20 feet or so depending on magnification, not bad by any means. I'll go beat on it and report back if anyone is interested. I think a hundred rounds or so of 200-400 yard shots with the 30-06 and getting toted around in a soft case will flush out any problems.