My little brother has a CZ 550 American and he put a Simmons Atec 2.8x10 scope on it. The first one went south on him in the first 15 shots out of the rifle. Simmons replaced the scope with an exact model. I told my brother to shoot it at least 50 times with full-power loads to see if it will hold up. My question is, would this be an acceptable number of shots to see if a scope will stand up, or should he give it more, or less? Thanks for any replies ... Tom Purdom

An old sailors axiom about 'when to reef is when you first think of it'.

Since there is a concern then fit the rifle with a back up scope or always have a back up rifle at hand. Even with some premium scope it might go bad.

As to that Aetec I have one on a 22 WRM now but it was on a 300 WM and the eye relief is kind of short and the tube also so that I had to fit an extension ring for the M70.

It is a very good scope for the money and compares with the Leu's in terms of optics which is faint praise.

Hello,
Not sure what you paid for the CZ, but hundreds no doubt, and to scope the rifle, would put the very best my budget would permit. If not a budget issue, put a Leupold on it and carry on.

I lived, hunted, guided, explored, etc. in Alaska for some years and would see more than a few hunters coming from the lower 48 with a rifle in those days costing a couple thousand dollars and more and lo and behold, had a Tasco scope mtd on the rifle. Airfare, hunt fees, 6-900 per day, 10 days minimum, extra expenses, couple evenings in the Bush Company 1 or 2 and you are already into some bucks and use a cheap scope??? Just never made much sense to me to do that. Sure that CZ is a good rifle and would suggest a scope equal to the rifle in quality and performance. Just a suggestion.

A few years ago while visiting Bass Pro in Springfield,MO a customer came to the in store range complaining about a bushnell scope that was blurry he was sent upstairs to get another for his $1000 rifle the scope was one of the cheapest made by bushnell and this guy was booked on a special(expensive) hunt,I wanted to say something but chose not to he was dumb enough to agree to another cheapie so be it.

Tom,

I've seen some great & not so great scope failures in my day; mostly when you need the scope the most, like getting set up for a shot at game and noticing the recticle has come unraveled!

I've one Simmons and it's performed well on a rifle (.22-250 Rem, so recoil isn't much of an issue) for the past 8 years. They make an O.K. product IMO.

Back to your question though, will the Simmons take the thumping from a 9.3x62? Probably without any hickups providing the scope mounts, rings & scope are mounted properly and an intregal part of the shooting platform.

I've seen all sorts of variations on this theme, misaligned mounts, loose screws (mounts & rings), wrong bits & pieces mixed up together, objective lenses touching the barrel, you name it, then the shooter wonders why the scope tube was bent, squashed, slides back & forth in the rings, etc. and the scope went south with the first coupla shots.

Normally you'll know real quick if there is something amiss with the mounts or scope. Like the supposedly soldered-on German Claw Mounts that sent an expensive German scope (with the mounts attached) right over top of the shooter's head on the FIRST shot.

A few years ago I was in a bear camp in Alberta about 150 miles from the nearest settlement. When we all went to check the zero on our rifles, a hapless guy shooting a Browning BAR .270 had the entire objective bell of his scope fall off on the first shot. The scope was a Simmons. The trip had cost the would-be hunter around $3,000 at that point. At least he saved the cost of tipping the guide

As others have stated, "saving" money with a cheap scope is the worst place to short-change yourself. There are certainly numerous good scopes on the market, but if in doubt and stretched for cash, you can buy a brand new Leupold VX-I for less than $200, and its reliablility will be unquestioned.

I have an atec on a .338WM and have shot 500 rounds with this scope with zero problems or movement in zero. Maybe you just got a bad one?

And I've had a 2.8x10 atec on a 338-06 Ackley Improved since the semi-custom gun was built in '98. I normally shoot 225 and some 250 grain bullets. I worked up a suitable load for an african safari. I can't say how many hundreds of full power rounds went through this rifle, but I can say the Simmons scope never failed. Not yet anyway.

Model 2101 made in Phillipines.

Just my opinion, but I think how carefully and precisely the mounts and rings are installed are at least as important as the manufacturing quality of ANY scope.

A constant torque (bending) of a scope tube in any direction (more than one is possible) isn't beneficial for a piece of machinery that wasn't designed for it.

irwin

I appreciate all the responses. The CZ 550 is one my brother was wanting for quite some time. A fellow I knew in Grants bought a CZ 550 in 9.3x62, never shot the thing and then had to get rid of it to pay for car repairs. He was going to take to a hock shop for $215. I had $350 saved for a project, but it went for the rifle and the thing came home with me. Duffy repaid me for the rifle and then slapped the Atec on it. I told him that he should get a Leupold Varix-1 in 2x7, but he went with the Atec. Go figure. Hell, this second one may hold up. I hope it does. I had one of the el cheapo Simmons Whitetail Classic in 6.5x20x50 on my CZ 527 in .223 for a few years. It held up well with no problems, but that monster objective lens looked like a television set mounted on top of that petite little rig. I recently purchased a 7x21x40 Bushnell 3200 Elite from The Optic Zone for a price I simply could not pass up and it sure looks a hell of a lot better, the rifle I mean. Anyway, thanks for the replies folks, they are appreciated. Tom Purdom

I'll second the Optic Zone and the VX I 2-7.

quote:

Originally posted by driver:
Hello,
Not sure what you paid for the CZ, but hundreds no doubt, and to scope the rifle, would put the very best my budget would permit. If not a budget issue, put a Leupold on it and carry on.

I lived, hunted, guided, explored, etc. in Alaska for some years and would see more than a few hunters coming from the lower 48 with a rifle in those days costing a couple thousand dollars and more and lo and behold, had a Tasco scope mtd on the rifle. Airfare, hunt fees, 6-900 per day, 10 days minimum, extra expenses, couple evenings in the Bush Company 1 or 2 and you are already into some bucks and use a cheap scope??? Just never made much sense to me to do that. Sure that CZ is a good rifle and would suggest a scope equal to the rifle in quality and performance. Just a suggestion.

Indeed. There are so few guns that are so lousy they can't be trusted to deliver the bullet right in 95% of all hunting situations, but bad optics can (or often will) ruin the whole hunt.

For stalkers, for example, the best time of the day is at dusk or dawn. That's when the deer are moving around. With a great scope you can get 20 minutes more hunt in the evening compared to what you can get with a good scope (for example Zeiss 3-12x56 versus Leupold 3-9x50) and these puny 20 minutes doubles the chance to bag a deer, at least in Sweden where I hunt.

My father once told me to shop for the optics and the mounts and use the change to buy the gun Well, sons do seldom follow their father's advice but there is no shortage of German Zeiss scopes in my gun cabinet.

An Aetec is a darn stout scope but, one every now and again is going to fail just like Leupie, Zeiss, Burris, etc....

I've put many full house loads through a rifle w/ an Aetec on it and it has never lost zero. Put quite a few 250 grainers throught it at around 2500-2700 fps and a pile of 250s at around 2400fps.

Simmons made too many cheap scope lines that failed miserably and gave them a bad wrap BUT, the Whitetail Expedition and the Aetec were darn good scopes. I personally wouldn't trust any of the other cheapie Simmons scopes.

Good Luck

Reloader

I don't know about a cheap Aetec, but my Simmons Expedition is working great on my .300 Weatherby