Hi
does anyone owned or tried a pentax riflescope? if so please tell me about it.
regards
yes

I tested one scope from each of their four lines last summer, and wrote it up for 24 Hr Campfire. Check the Optics Forum there and search for "box of scopes" with user name HunterJim (there are two parts: part 1 and part 2 ).

jim

I bought a Gameseeker earlier this year and stuck it on a NEF Handi rifle. Of course there is better glass out there, but in that price range it's a super scope. The image is decent, eye relief adequate and it's easy to get a sight picture when you raise the rifle. I would buy another if I needed it.

Terry

hi
thanks for replies
what i am concerned about is if the scope can mange recoil from a 9,3x62 rifle or a 300 magnum.
sorry i coulden't find your article i 24 hours jim. if you have tested these scopes for recoil proof then please tell me your opinion about them.
regards
yes

I am pretty sure that the Lightseeker line is a relabeled Burris.
I've had good success with the FFII and Signature.
Very solid rep and cust service for a cleaning was prompt and no-charge.
I'd buy one.
I like the price of the Gameseeker, but would not expect Burris quality.

yes,

I shot them on a pair of rifles: a 6.5-'06 and a .280 Rem. Some recoil there, but not in the .300 win or 9.3 class.

I asked a Pentax contact for a scope to try on a .375 Ruger to see how it held up, but I don't have the scope yet.

jim

yes,

I had some trouble finding those posts too, but here they are...jim

------------------
Friends,

After the Box of Scopes arrived from Rick Bin, I admit to staring at the scopes after unpacking and wondering just what I was going to do to "test" these test items. And before I figured it out, Doug from Cameraland asked if he could add another scope line to the test. I said "Sure", without really thinking about it.

Then I looked at the items some more. I was a military operational tester once upon a former life, so I had a flock of options from that experience to consider. The military does no end of testing to determine operational effectiveness and operational suitability: I know how to design such tests. Of course I no longer have the staff of technicians and analysts to do all the real work while I directed the trigger be pulled, and then wrote the report.

I finally decided that I would just pretend these were my scopes, and go ahead and mount and use them as I normally would. I have two matching rifles that I know will shoot well -- a Rem M721 .280 Rem and a Rem M700 6.5-'06. Both use the same model McMillan synthetic stock, both are pillar bedded with Marine Tex in benchrest fashion of when they were built. The .280 has a Douglas XX heavy sporter barrel (think Sendero), while the 6.5-'06 has a Shilen barrel of normal hunting contour. Both rifles will shoot under .5 minute of angle. I often compare one scope with another before mounting either on a rifle, so I decided to do a one on one shoot-off of the scopes.

I have been using a Pentax SLR camera with their Super Takumar lenses since I bought them in Japan in '68. They were my introduction to modern coated lenses (I had been using a German view finder camera with plain lenses before).

I also had two additional new in the box scopes sitting next to the Box of Scopes, so I got the idea of doing a round-robin test of the Pentax items by comparing each scope to another in an actual hunting scenario. The other scopes would give additional comparison yardstick. I chose San Diego's Rose Canyon as my site mostly because I could go there without too much trouble, and the view is gorgeous. I don't see deer there anymore, but I do see coyote from time to time.

I decided to run my initial comparison in bright daylight. Then I would re-do the comparison at the end of the day. Second reason for the canyon site was my step-daughter kept me supplied with diet Root Beers.

The daylight test was very similar to hunting conditions in Africa where if anything you have more light than you can use. The end of day test was a typical North America situation for our crepuscular game.

My test items were the following six scopes: Pentax Gameseeker 3-9x40, which is marked Made in the Philippines, the lens coatings have a definite reddish cast, street price is $98.95, the ocular is a cone of slow taper, the objective bell is also a cone shape; Pentax Pioneer 3-9X40, marked China, the lens coating is reddish, street price is $179.95, the ocular is a cone with fast taper, the objective is also a cone; Pentax Whitetails Unlimited 3-9X40marked Made in USA, the lens coating is green, street price is $298.95, the ocular is a fast taper cone, the objective is a parabolic shape; Pentax LightSeeker 3-9X40 marked Made in USA, the lens coating is green, the street price is $418.95, the ocular is another parabolic, the objective is also parabolic shape; Leupold VXIII 3.5-10X40, the lens coating is light greenish-purple, the street price is $469.95, the ocular is a cone, the objective is also a cone; and Zeiss Victory Diavari 1.5-6X42 T*, marked Made in Germany, the lens coating is light purple, the street price is $1,399.95, the ocular is a fast taper cone and the objective is another cone with relatively fast taper (this is a 30 mm tube scope).

I identified several sites looking into the canyon. I chose my Site 2, Site 3 and Site 4 (from near to far) because I could pretend there was a deer in the brush at each location. The test was to score a "win" for a scope if I judged the scope view was "better", and a "tie" is I could not call a clear winner. I hand-held both scopes together, and alternated looking from one to the other to call the result. For each pair I recorded W (win)or T (tie) at Sites 2,3 & 4. Finally I tabulated the number of wins for each scope, first doing the test around noon, and second in the last hour of the day. I set each scope at 6X because I frequently use this setting when hunting such country, and that would keep the power setting the same for all six scopes.
Abbreviations are Z = Zeiss, GS = Gameseeker, P = Pioneer, L = Leupold, WU = Whitetail Unlimited, LS = Lightseeker

The pairings were Z vs LS, L vs LS, L vs WU, Z vs WU, Z vs P, L vs P, L vs GS, Z vs GS, Z vs L, GS vs P, GS vs WU, GS vs LS, LS vs WU, LS vs P, and LS vs GS

Win Results for Run1 (bright light) was: Zeiss 14, Leupold 2, Pentax Whitetail Unlimited 8, Pentax Pioneer 4, Pentax Lightseeker 7, Pentax Gameseeker 1

I re-did the test protocol during the last hour before sundown. The Win Results for Run2 (dim light) was: Zeiss 11, Leupold 3, Pentax Whitetail Unlimited 1, Pentax Pioneer 2, Pentax Lightseekeer 8, Pentax Gameseeker 0.

The summed Win Results for both Runs was: Zeiss 25, Leupold 5, Pentax Whitetail Unlimited 9, Pentax Pioneer 6, Pentax Lightseekeer 15, Pentax Gameseeker 1.

Finally I watched the sun vanish from the west-view of the canyon, and viewed Site 2 every 5 minutes with all six scopes, and noted when I could no longer resolve my pretend deer (actually a dark section of trunk under the target bush).

Legal sunset was 7:59 p local, and from 7:40p Site 2 was in the shade (the terminator had passed). From 7:55 I noted the sun was down from my vantage point. At 8:00p the Gameseeker was out, meaning I could not see my target. At 8:05p the Pioneer was out. At 8:12 the Whitetail Unlimited was out. At 8:14 p the Lightseeker and the Leupold were both out. At 8:17p the Zeiss was out. At 8:19p my Swarovski EL 8.5X42 binocular was out, and I called it a day.

Comments

The boxes that the Pentax scope come in are different for each scope line, and the physical shape of each scope is different too (that is why I remarked on the objective and ocular bell shapes in the item description). They don't look like brothers in design. Curious

All of the scopes performed during the bright light test, and every scope won at least one test.

The Zeiss was the King of Light of course. It was interesting that only my Swarovski binocular "worked" later than it could. I tried this test with the Swaros and a Schnidt & Bender 1.5-6X40 scope from a deer blind in Sask as the sun left the land, and those two tied in that test.

The Lightseeker compared very favorably with the Leupold scope, a known standard. The Whitetail Unlimited did well too, and the Pioneer was not that far behind.

Finally you can see that more money in optics means you can use them longer after dark.

jim

Next time: Shooting results
_________________________
I thought about what to do for range testing with these scopes. In the end I decided to just mount them, and then sight them in as I would do for the typical hunting scope. I will leave other testers to check out what ever else they like. Accordingly, I got my Remington long-action battery out of the safe, and got to it.



I mounted the Pentax Gameseeker on my Rem M721 .280 Rem. (Doug from Camera Land sent this scope along to be tested with the three other Pentax lines sent by Rick Bin.) The rifle has a heavy Douglas XX air-gauged custom barrel, pillar bedding, McMillan synthetic stock and is converted to single shot – think Sendero. The bolt now has a M700 bolt handle, and the rifle has a Canjar trigger. It is a below half-minute rifle with the loads I developed for it. Rick sent me a pair of Talley rings, and I mounted the scope with those.

With the length of the action there is little choice about where to put the scope. I noted that this scope power ring interferes with the tip of the bolt handle if power is set to about 3.75X or below.

I didn’t have any target ammunition loaded, so I bought two boxes of Federal Vital Shok with the Nosler AccuBond 160 grain bullets (and the only choice at the store).

At the range I fired four 3-shot groups, and moved the point of impact after each group. I kept horizontal and vertical corrections separate. The first group was 6†low; I went up 32 clicks and ended up 3†high. I went down 16 clicks and ended up 2.25†low. I went up 8 clicks, and ended up about 1†low. Measuring the movement of group center I got .25†per click, .30†per click and .16†per click average values. There is some “click hysteresis†going from up to down and back, but these numbers are for the mythical group center (not bullet holes). There was just a tad of left/right movement of the group center when moving the elevation setting.

I was on the paper with the first shot: the scope was at center of adjustment range according to the instructions. I did not bore sight, so the mechanical things were obviously all very close.

The eye relief at 9X is not overly generous; I noticed the scope tapping my shooting glasses on one shot.

With the alternate aim wires the scope looks “busy†when you bring it up. I usually don’t use this type of reticle, but I want to give it a try hunting this fall.

I was shooting in an indoor 100 yard range that is not strongly lit. The good news is there is no wind effect at the target.

I next mounted the Pentax Pioneer on my Rem M700 6.5-’06. This rifle has a sporter contour Shilen custom barrel, and is pillar bedded in a McMillan synthetic stock. This rifle has a Remington trigger modified by Neil Jones, and set to 40 oz pull weight (for hunting). This rifle will also shoot under a half-minute for three shots. I built these rifles together: one for hunting (the 6.5-’06) and one for metallic silhouette (the .280 Rem). My idea was to practice with a rifle very like my hunting rifle.

My ammunition is hand-loaded: 120 gr Nosler Solid Base bullets with 50.0 gr IMR 4831.

I was way off the paper for the first shot, so I bore-sighted the rifle, and held way low and left on the white paper backer, to start making holes in the backer. Shot #2 was on the paper, and I then adjusted the scope to move point of impact alternately down and to the left. I made separate adjustments to see what value the scope changes made in point of impact shift on the paper.

Moving groups on the paper, 24 clicks down moved group center 5.25†down and 1.25†right, for .22†per click down and .01†per click right. 32 clicks left moved the group center 11.5†left and 1†down, for a result of .36†per click left and .03†per click down. I came back 20 clicks right for 5†right and 3/8†down, for a result of .25†per click right and .02†per click down. The final adjustment was 10 clicks left which moved the group 1.25†left and 3/8†up, for a result of .125†per click left and .04†per click up. Obviously there is some motion coupled into the other adjustment direction, but the amount is small.

The adjustments are intended to be quarter-minute, and the knobs have provision for using your fingers. They are hard to turn, so I used a nickel in the coin slot to do the adjusting. The “clicks†are audible and have a positive feel.

I next mounted the Pentax Whitatail Unlimited scope on the Rem M700 6.5-’06 with a new white backer and target. I was just at the edge of the paper on the left margin with the first shot. 40 clicks to the right produced 12.5†of point of impact change to the right without any vertical change. The average was .3â€/click. I next dialed in 24 clicks down, and got 8†change in the point of impact, again .3â€/click. This scope also has provision on the adjustment for finger use, but they were initially too stiff, so I used a coin in the coin slot. The vertical adjustment was much easier to operate than the horizontal.

Finally I mounted the Pentax Lightseeker on the Rem M721 .280 Rem, and put up a new backer and target. From bore-sighting I could see that the point of impact would be to the left, but I tried a shot anyway. I was just off the paper, so I cranked in 24 clicks right, and was on the paper for the second shot. I dialed in 48 clicks of right adjustment, and got 13.75†of right group point of impact change. The average value was .28â€/click with no vertical change. I was too far to the right, so I put in 20 clicks of left adjustment and moved the group 4.5â€, and a .22â€/click average. The adjusters on this scope also are grooved to grab with the fingers, but I again used a coin. The other scopes have an arrow marked on the side of the adjuster, but this scope has the arrows marked on the tops of the turrets. The same part is used for each turret, so they are marked UP/R ->.

The adjustments on the Whitetail Unlimited and the Lightseeker were more “honest†than the Gameseeker and the Pioneer, as they only moved the point of impact in one dimension at a time.
_________________________

Well, The way their warranty reads it'll cost you shipping + 19.95 to either get it fixed or replaced if it breaks.

This is from the Pentax sport optics website:

Sport Optic "Worry-Free" Warranty



The PENTAX “Worry Free†Warranty is available on all PENTAX Sport Optics products purchased in the United States, on or after March 1, 2006, from an authorized PENTAX sport optics dealer.



Pentax Sport Optic products are of the highest optical and mechanical quality. If your Pentax Binocular, Spotting Scope or Riflescope purchased in the USA from an authorized Pentax Sport Optics dealer requires repair, Pentax will repair or replace it to the original purchaser (even if damaged by fault) for a charge of $19.95, to cover handling and return shipping.* This warranty does not cover cosmetic damage, theft or loss. (Replacement may be with comparable model at Pentax's discretion if the original model is no longer available.)



*Applies only to unmodified equipment or product with modifications performed by authorized PENTAX repair personnel.

I like the part that says (even if damaged by fault).

I've had a Pentax Lightseeker 3x9x43 for years, it's the best scope I own. Better than Nikon, Leupold, or Bushnell Elite, the only scope I've seen that was better was a Swarovoski at 4 times the price.