I've always had a soft spot for Realist scopes - the ones I've owned have all worked well. ANyone else have any experience with them?

Darn near forgot about these! A local gunshop sold a bunch of those when I was young(er). My dad had a couple and they seemed to be pretty good at the time - late 60's, early 70's? I think I still have one someplace. They were pretty good at the time but I don't think they compare to the better scopes available today.

A blast from the past!

I don't think I ever saw an in-the-flesh Realist, but they were advertised heavily for a period of time and touted as having a lot of bells and whistles, which probably turned away the more savvy buyers. I think they had some kind of range-finding feature and maybe a pop up post (like the Bushnell Command Post), or maybe they offered a lighted reticle? Anyway, they were a little too cheesy to last.

I had several Realist scopes for a short while. I found them inferior in almost every way to the other genuinely useful scopes of the day, and got rid of them all. I'd take a B&L, Redfield, Kollmorgan Bear Cub, Leupold/Stevens, or even a Weaver over them any day.