I think I have known this for years, but I re-afirmed it within the last week. NEVER buy a really inexpensive scope without having looked through it and fiddled with the exact one you are purchasing, in advance.

A fellow forum member and I have been looking around to see if we could find any really cheap (under $100) scopes out there that are reliable and useful for the average hunting rifle.

I would have to say that our results so far, in my view, are "NO".

For example, having read an online review, we decided to try the Optronix line. They promised, among other things for their 3x9x40 scopes: fully coated lenses (all lenses), 3-1/2" eye relief, a choice of a mil-dot reticule or a "duplex" style, an illuminated reticule if desired, and a full warranty good for life, even if the damage to the scope was because you ran over it with your pickup.

B.S.

The other forum member ordered one of the 3-9 variable, illuminated reticule scopes, which he put on his .243 I believe. His is apparently an okay scope...with brightness pretty much on a par with a Leupold VX-II. I don't know how much if any shooting he has done with it so far, but he has reported no problems with it to me.

I ordered one of the standard 3x9x40 models to try, with mil-dot reticule. It arrived yesterday. I will not even waste my time putting it on a rifle.

First off, the 3.5" eye relief does not exist at any power setting I can find. At 3-X the eye relief is more like 2-1/4" from the rim of the ocular housing, which would likely be the first part of the scope to hit one's eye. At 9-X, I make the eye-relief to be more like 1-1/2".

Even if my measurements were both short by as much as 1/2", those figures would be nowhere near the advertised specs.

Second, the mil-dot reticule is a joke! It is basically a Dual-X reticule, with an under-what-I-consider-standard spacing between the heavy vertical and horizontal bars. On the finer (but still somewhat coarse) crosshairs one can barely make out very slight bulges in the reticule. They surely cannot be considered visible dots, and are FAR too indistinct to aim at anything with, at any power or distance.

Further, with this particular example, it is impossible to focus the eyepiece so as to make visible the "little lumps" on both the horizontal and vertical crosshairs at the same time.

Now, to light transmission...I have personally got a half-dozen older Weaver scopes...that is, from 40 to over 50 years old, that are significantly brighter!! This is the darkest scope of more than 5/8" tube diameter that I have ever looked through. The whole image is like looking through 1950's L.A. smog, except the colours are badly reproduced too.

That's especially hard to take when one realizes that the objective lens(es) on this Optronics scope are supposedly larger than those on the Weavers, and my original Weavers didn't claim any coatings on any of the lenses.

To add insult to injury, this Optronics scope came with a $10 instant rebate sticker on the box...which expired many, many months ago.

The final straw is the printed material which accompanied the scope. It explicitly states that there is a lifetime guarantee for the original owner of the scope, limited to having registered the warranty, AND covering ONLY parts and original workmanship. Everything after that is specifically excluded.

So, back to the first line. Ifyou decide to buy a scope for under $100 for any purpose whatsoever, I strongly urge you to not do it through the mail or online. Go find a store with several ecxamples of what you are considering, and look through the scopes. Try adjusting them for focus, power, image quality and eye-relief. If you find one you are willing to pay real cash money for, buy that exact one, not some other one in an unopened box.

Or, maybe better yet, just save your money until you can get something with a good rep and a real warranty.

We are going to continue testing cheapo scopes. We'll let you know what we find, as we find it.

But always remember, no matter what elese we find, one of the first things NOT paid for in manufacturing cheapo scopes is Quality
Control. So,even if scope number 000122 is a semingly good working piece of goods, scope #'s 000121 and 000123 may very well be trash.

Anyway, that's how I view it right now.

Best wishes all....AC

My Dad used to tell me if money is an issue, "get a cheaper rifle and get a good scope." For the most part, I have found this to be true.
I know several people that have said buying a more expensive scope is not worth it, but while they are on their second and third scopes for a given rifle, I still have the originals on mine. Over the years in the field I have seen freinds with scopes you couldn't see through when in cold weather, as well as others constantly needing to be 'sighted/zeroed in' again and again, etc.; usually discovered at the worst time too.
I think it pays in the long run to get a decent scope and not have to worry about it again myself.

My rule, learned long ago, is never buy a cheap scope. It will just end up pissing you off in the long run, and cost you more when you throw it away and buy the one you wanted to start with. There are a lot of good scopes in the $200-$250 range, however.

quote:

Originally posted by jstevens:
My rule, learned long ago, is never buy a cheap scope. It will just end up pissing you off in the long run, and cost you more when you throw it away and buy the one you wanted to start with. There are a lot of good scopes in the $200-$250 range, however.

I agree with you. All my life I have used scopes which were at least medium priced and up...Such as Zeiss, Fecker, Litschert, Unertl, Leupold, Kahles, Meopta, etc.

However, I have also occasionally found some good, work-a-day scopes in different eras of time, for use on loaners, mil-surps, "truck guns", and the like. In the 1950's, through the 1970's, Weaver made an awfully lot of those in El Paso.

These days, the markets appear more volatile and less dependable to me. A fair number of scope-makers are not really makers at all, but they do resemble real rip-off artists in many instances. Either they are selling decent scopes at gourmet prices, or they are selling pure crap at what a decent scope should cost. In many of the makes these days there seems to be a lot more hype than substance.

So, another forum member here started looking to see if there was anything out there akin to the Weavers of the 1960's. I thought that was an interesting idea to research, so I joined him in his eforts.

All I can say, so far (and we are barely into this, as we are not rich, either of us) is that if there is a 21st Century equivalent of the old Weavers, in terms of quality received for money spent, I have not yet seen it.

Some of the cheap stuff appears as if it might be marginally adequate, but the scopes vary so much between supposedly identical pieces of a given brand, line, and price level, that I can only advise: "IF for some reason you decide to buy a cheap scope for ANY purpose, don't do it until you have actually looked through the exact one you are going to get. Then do NOT let anyone substitute another, even though supposedly identical, for it."

But generally, I like the guide-line which goes..."Buy the best, and only cry once."

BTW, I expect we will start finding better results once we get at or slightly above the $200-per-scope mark.

A.C., "A great rifle with a junk scope is STILL JUNK!!"!!!!
I have seen exactly what you describe in scopes of the same model varying from one example to another(BSA 3x9's when the first came out stands out in my mind..........first 3 were great and then 4 out of the next 5 were returned for refunds!!) NIKON seems to be doing the best job of QUALITY optics at affordable prices these days!! Awaiting your tests on them! GHD

The Sightron S1 3X9 scopes can be bought for around $110.00. Mines pretty decent, it's held up on a 308 Stevens with plenty of warm 175 gr. loads down the tube.

AC,

I've had good luck with current Weaver scopes. I have a couple of $120 Weavers on 22Rimfire rifles and they serve me well. I did buy a 4x Weaver for a 30-30 my son has, but don't have any feedback on how it is performing. It was cheap, maybe $140.

Don

The biggest problems with "cheap" scopes is in the manufacturer's attempt to build the variable power mechanism. Putting this rather sophisticated camming system into cheap scope typically exceeds the technological/price point capability of the manufacturer, resulting in an inablity to hold zero and focus, and also a tendancy to leak.

On the other hand, almost anyone seems to be able to build a reasonably serviceable fixed power scope. Even the little Chinese cheapies built for the SKS that I've seen seem to be functional. The lesson I've learned is that you should never buy a "cheap" variable of any kind, but that an equally cheap fixed scope is usually functional. The problem is, marketing being what it is, few makers even bother to offer a fixed power scope any more.

I usually buy good optics, recently on another Forum someone recomended a Weaver Grand Slam 4.75X 40mm obj. on sale at Natchez for 150 dollars. This is usually a 250 dollar scope, so i figured what the hell and bought one. Well it is a great buy for the money! Light weight, good clear optics, nice finish, and very good click adjustments. The 4.75 X is just about good for most hunting and all i can say is im very pleased with it so far.

Natchez always seems to have some good scope prices, thats a deal on a 4.75 GS.. I bought one of the discounted Browning scopes from them, nice glass and well built.

I've been looking at the 3X9X50 30MM tube 3200 Bushnell they have marked down also.

My advice, NEVER buy a cheap scope.
Better to have a Leupold fixed 4 power, than a cheap variable.

I agree with most of what is said in the above posts, but since I work part time behind a gun counter, I see an awful lot of people who cannot afford over $100 scopes.
I've bought a bunch over the last few years and put them through their paces. They are not 4200's, Zeis, Kahles, or Swaro's. But, for less than $100 some of them are not bad; they are not great; they are not real durable, but on groundhog or whitetail rifles, they work.
I tell people that you pay for three things in a rifle scope, glass, coatings and construction, and you get what you pay for. With the lowest prices, you get the least of each. As prices go up, you get a little more of each. At the low prices, you get poorer glass and plastic, fewer coatings and plastic insides.
Some are pure junk. I am surprised at how clear and bright some of the less expensive scopes are for the money. I am also surprised at how waterproof they are. Some have really surprised me in how precisely they respond to moving the point of impact. Few have the advertised eye relief, but they do work for light recoil rifles. Few have stood up to my Whelen with 250 grain loads. But after all, I doubt they were designed for that.
With all that said, I don't use them for serious hunting.
Bfly

Another scope i just purchased is a Zeiss classic 1.1-4X 24T with a #4 reticle its a demo so i got it for 799 dollars instead of 999 and all i can say is WOW!!! Its the clearest scope i have ever looked through, and should be great at twilight with that #4 reticle. Now i just have to figure out whether its going on my 35 Whelen or .358 win....

I have a couple of 3X9X40 Bushnell Trophy scopes, used for deer hunting and paper punching. I think it would take a lot of money to do much better. My BIL has a new 300 dollar scope from Nikon, we honestly can't discern a difference in performance as to low light, etc. I've not had any regrets on build quality. I don't hunt big game in Alaska, that's about what it would take for me to "need" more scope.

Cheap scopes are ok if:
1) no high cost targets
2) no big recoil
3) no rain
4) no high magnification
5) no low contrast targets
6) no changing adjustments


For 10 years I was happy with my 4X $40 Simmons scope on my 10/22 for shooting squirrels on green grass on nice days. Happy, until I was shooting them in the brown dirt clods, and I could see them in the expensive binoculars, but not in the rifle scope until they moved.

Some real P.O.S. cheap scopes I have wasted time on:
4x12x40AO B&L [now a Bushnell 3200 model] $250
Tasco World Class Plus 10x40x50 $200
Super Sniper 20X $300

Don't waste your time like I did.

Who first said,

"Don't buy optics packaged in a bubble pack hanging on an endcap display rack."

Cheap scopes are for air rifles and 22's. I would have to agree that your better off buying better glass and a cheaper rifle. But where does good Start.....

As for a $100 dollar scopes, folks would be much better waiting a bit longer, saving an additional $100 and buying a Leupold VXI 3-9x40. Nothing worse than having a scope fog, mechanism break, or be so unusable at last light you have to give up while the sun is still visible.

Some of my best hunts have been at the last 15 minutes of low light... I can't remeber if I have ever shot anything between the hours of 10 and 6.

John

Good seems to start at $199.00 for a 3x9 nowadays. Might find a closeout at $150.00.

You can get some very nice 4x straight power scopes for reasonable money $200.- $300. fgulla picked up the 4.75 GS for $150.00 quite a deal.

The cheapest $99.00 scopes I own ( kept ) are the closeout Simmons 44mag 6.5x20's on pair of 223 Stevens and a new Cabelas tactical 3X9. I would'nt put them on anything bigger than 223. After that it's Wevers,Nikons,FFII's 3200's,VXII's. still fairly cheap scopes compared to whats out there. None over $450.00

Also having a cheap scope fail hunting groundhogs 20 minutes from home is alot different than having one fail when hunting big game, or traveling many miles for your hunt

I've been most impressed with the 6x18 Nikon Buckmasters for affordable varmint rifle scopes. If for some reason I'd travel for a costly hunt I believe I'd purchase VXIII, Burris Sig.or 4200 and Definetly have good irons on the rifle that are sighted in for the load.

There are only two cheap($100 or less) scopes that have proven themselves to me:

Simmons Aetec 2.8-10x44($100 at Walmart red tag sale years ago)
Nikon Prostaff 2-7x32(I paid $100 for one and $89 for another) both have been great on shotguns and the recoil is very stout on both my turkey gun and my slug gun.

Those two and a Simmons Whitetail Expedition are about the only trustworthy cheap scopes I've been around. Just about every cheap scope I've owned other than those mentioned above has been less than desirable and only trust worthy on a rimfire.

Good Luck

Reloader

ever seen a tasco titan?
how about a simmons master series scope?
the best value in scopes is a heavily worn leupold w/ a broken reticle.

When places like samplelist.com sell refurbed Nikon Prostaffs for $100, it's hard to buy the other cheap stuff.

But I've been impressed with the Simmons I've had. Got a couple from used or package gun purchases and they have been amazing scopes for the $$$.

LWD