Recommend a cheap 'Spotting Scope' ?

[SJgunguy24]

I bought a Barska, it's garbage. You'll get better glass with an inexpensive binoculars than with an inexpensive spotting scope.
Oh Henry, Randall has forgotten more about longrange accuarcy and rifle shooting then you may ever learn. He knows his sh*t and I take his advice into strong consideration.

I've seen 900$ rifles with 3000$ glass, your gun might be able to shoot tight groups, but will your glass let you see it clearly.

[RogueSniper]

Simmons are inexpensive, plain and simple. But it works! I originally was going to get a Konus but opted to save my pennies on ammo!

I found a pic online for him to peruse:


If you're putting a scope on a good rifle or even an "okay" rifle, don't skimp on the glass. If all you want is plinking fun, go cheap but good quality. Scope: Mueller APV

I also wanted to say that I used my CHEAP Simmons scope to take these photos.
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...highlight=moon

Not bad for a cheap spotting scope.

[ar15barrels]

I also wanted to say that I used my CHEAP Simmons scope to take these photos.
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...highlight=moon

Not bad for a cheap spotting scope.

That picture shows HUGE chromatic aberration.
Look at where the black and white meet.
You see that blue ghosting from 12 to 4?
That's loss of resolution.

Did I ever mention my day job is at an optical company?
When measuring resolution, we always use charts with hard black/white edges because it lets you see what glass is really doing.
Using that low contrast surface of the moon in that picture tells you almost nothing.
You can get a picture like that with a piece of photosensetive film inside a cardboard box, a pinhole in the box and NO GLASS at all!

The chromatic abberation at the edge shows us the limit of the resolution.
In that picture, the edge is fuzzy all the way around.
Higher quality optics would show a MUCH sharper edge of the moon in that same picture.

[RogueSniper]

Randall,
I don't doubt you for a moment that the resolution is crap I think I took at least 20 shots of the moon using a digital camera pointing into the ocular piece of a inexpensive spotting scope. Plus, at that resolution, every little bitty shake and shutter screwed up the focus. I always thought that funny blue line was suppose to be there. Time to pull out my old National Geographics to see what I'm missing.

Did I ever mention my day job is at an optical company?

Is there anything you DON'T do? I bet you were a medic in a former life, too!

I'll have take a check of the moon with my Konus to see what I'm missing with that Simmons.

[ar15barrels]

Is there anything you DON'T do? I bet you were a medic in a former life, too!

I don't do blood.
I once passed out in the ER when the triage nurse pulled the bandage off my finger and it started spurting blood again.

[pontiacpratt]

my $.02:
75x zoom with a 70mm objective lens

[ocabj]

That picture shows HUGE chromatic aberration.
Look at where the black and white meet.
You see that blue ghosting from 12 to 4?
That's loss of resolution.

In his defense, there is the possibility that some of the CA was coming off the camera lens itself.

The only way to get a true photographic sample of the image through the spotting scope would be to use an SLR body without a lens attached/inbetween the camera and the spotting scope.

[ar15barrels]

my $.02:
75x zoom with a 70mm objective lens

Anything above about 40x is useless due to mirage unless you are shooting on a polar ice cap.

[ar15barrels]

In his defense, there is the possibility that some of the CA was coming off the camera lens itself.

Of course.

[Federalist]

I bought that Barska through Optics Planet about a year ago (before Big 5 starting running their sales on it). I paid $89 with free shipping.

I use it mostly out to 100 yards with .22lr and out to 200 yards with .223. For me, the magnification is very good, and the clarity is good. I agree that it is not a great spotting scope out there, but for the money, it does exactly what I want. YMMV

[mydogsmonkey]

can anyone compare the konus 80 to this celestron?

http://www.opticsplanet.net/celestron-ultima-80-straight-spotting-scope.html

i've heard good things about em, was also in the market for a decent spotting scope

[xxdabroxx]

Get a better gun?

It makes me feel better knowing that even Randall's 10/22 has a flyer!

Look up alpen optics http://www.alpenoptics.com/

I looked through one of their spotting scopes at last years international ag show. They were pretty clear for the price.

[ar15barrels]

It makes me feel better knowing that even Randall's 10/22 has a flyer!

Coldbore shots almost always go high.

[zman]

How about this Winchester 12-50x50 Compact Spotting Scope at Cabelas for $89 on sale (Reg $149). It's $118 at Walmart.com and $109 at Opticsplanet.com. It has decent reviews on all sites. I like that it's compact and has the added accessories below.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0027670712049a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH_all&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&Ntt=Winchester+12-50x50+Spotting+Scope+&Ntk=Product_liberal&sort=all&_D:sort=+&_requestid=76473&_D:hasJS=+&N=0&Nty=1&hasJS=true&_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/search/search-box.jsp.form1&_dyncharset=ISO-8859-1

[xxdabroxx]

Coldbore shots almost always go high.

i think we need barrel warming blankets, kinda like these: