Mine was a Burris 6x24 signature. Damn thing was back at the factory longer than I ever had it. Rotten paralax problems - could hold zero etc etc etc....

I eventually sold it to some joker and got another Leupold. Serves me right. Now I only have Leo's and a couple of good Weavers.

Bushnell 3-9. The adjustment ring froze on it, and when I put a little muscle into it, the tube bent. Also had a bad Tasco, three shots on a 300 in Mag and the elevation turret seized. - Dan

Every Weaver I ever owned--they all fogged up at the most inopportune time.

A Simmons 3x9 I bought at a gun show.

simmons 3-9.....junk

I had problems with several Bushnells and the problems the scope itself gave were slight in comparison to the problems I had getting any customer service from them. Tried ordering simple parts once---adjustment covers.Filled out ALL the information they wanted---serial number,country where made,model etc etc dont remember if my blood type included or not. Got wrong part. Then note correct part not available. After more correspondence got some used ones----at new price. Then a problem developed with scope so it was sent in. Returned with new adjustment covers(the ones not available)but still had a problem--the variable was froze up. The saga went on and on.

Burris Fullfield ll,opened the box when it arrived brand new and there were spots on the turret caps where the finish was already knocked to bare metal.Put it up to my eye and it was crisp and clear in the center of the lens and blurry and fuzzy out around the edges,tried the focus but no change.Cleaned the lenses carefully to see if it was oil or something on the lens but it was the way they were ground I guess.Classic fisheye effect.....put it back in the box and sent it back and never tried another Burris......this one was enough.

woods

This one is easy. T A S C O. Everyone was telling me how great they were. I bought one. That one was more than enough. Weaver went to pot as did Redfield. Now I use nothing but Burris and Leupold and have never had a problem with either that wasn't my fault. Both are great scopes with great warrantees. Lawdog

A looooong time ago, a bushnell with the "yardage" turrets. The turrets would just break off even with the scope tube. When I took the third one back, I asked for a refund and they told me, "No refund but they would replace the scope." I pitched a spit-slinging fit and swore to never buy another bushnell. (ROFLMAO, I'll bet they were inpressed)

Bushnell banner fixed 6X and Simmons 44 Mag 6X20X44, the Bushnell would not stay on zero and the half inch groups ended when I put on the Simmons. Only scopes I ever had a problem with. All the rest were (8)Leupolds and (2) Nikons, never a problem with any of them.

My worse scopes were two of Bushnell's Chinese gems. I had a Sportview 4x12 that didn't survive it's initial trip to the range. I sent it back and Bushnell sent me a new model Sportsman 4x12. It was just as bad, also going belly up in its first usage. I got a double vertical reticle, and lost most of my brightnes with the first shot.
I've had some good Bushnells over the years, but the moderately priced scopes from China just don't cut it. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

As much a fan of Leupold as I am, the absolute worst new scope I've had was a new VX2 4-12. The AO ring was loose and the thing was blurry. Seemed gritty when adjusting the power. I like all my other Leupolds, but that one went back and I got a Burris Fullfield II 4.5-14. Even the Bushnell Banner I got as a temp replacement while waiting for the Burris was much better quality than that POS VX2! I assume it just slipped through somehow, because I can't imagine Leupold knowingly allowing their name to go on something like that.

bushnell sportview 4-12.

clarity was terrible!!!

TASCO!!!!! Piece of $#@%.. I took it out on the weekend and once again it failed to hold POA. Worst thing about it is i just got it back from Tasco after they so called fixed the same problem! I'll stick with Leupold from now on

Burris signature 6x24.
Out of the box it had a black snow flake on the inside lens. Could live with it. 1st shot with a .300 Win Mag. the inside looked like a black snow blizzard. Sent it back. 6 weeks later it was returned. 3rd shot with the 300 mag and black snow flakes started to appeared on the inside lens.

Will I ever buy another Burris?
Not a chance.

I'll stick with Leupold. Maybe pricey but you get what you pay for.

Not this scope bashing stuff again, Well, I had to return 2 Redfields, one a 2x pistol scope, the other was a 13/4-5x rifle scope which was on my 6mm Auto, when I took the scope off I shook it and it made a noise inside, put it on a Browning stalker in 308 and it worked just fine, Burris is the only scope I buy now, haven't had any problems with the 7 I own now, and don't plan on it either, the chinese scopes got to be the worst scopes I've ever seen, stay away! Jay
JS/NH, Leupolds will break just as often as any other "quality" scope, that extra money you pay for Leupold is for the warranty coverage.

[ 09-21-2003, 18:41: Message edited by: Jay Gorski ]

Tasco World Class Plus 10x40x50 ~$250 @ SWFA
Two trips to the range,
Then 8 months in Florida,
Then it was replaced when I complained I had been waiting too long.
I didn't take it out of the box.
I sold the new one for $125.
I got a used 6.5x20x40 Leupold boosted to 13x40x40 for ~$550, and I am a happy camper.

I will never buy another Tasco, but the $37 4x36 Simmons on my 10/22 always works.

I think the key is to never screw on the knobs or have any recoil or be in the rain, and cheap scopes will last.

http://www.charm.net/~kmarsh/scope.html#todo

[ 09-23-2003, 08:47: Message edited by: Clark ]

Tasco, most expensive cheap scope I ever bought. The adjustments were the worst I have ever experienced. Scope now sits on a shelf - an expensive paper weight, essentially.
- mike

An old Tasco I bought at a gun show. Put it on my 10/22, zeroed it in, and then one day noticed the crosshairs were at a 45 degree angle. Funny thing it did seem to hold its zero (or a least close). Just couldn't adjust. Since it was used and I couldn't afford anything else, kept it on for a few years.

First and last Tasco I ever bought.

Mine was a weaver K4 the thing would not hold zero if you dipped it in cement. the scope is know on deer peak in the San Isabels in Colorado where I took it off the rifle and chucked it. I went to town bought a Leupold and have never looked back.

aaaah... the usual suspects. I guess we have all bought a scope based on the a) price b) looked good in the gunshop c) it was mounted on a good rifle. I no longer own any Tasco's. I have 2 weavers, a V16 on a .223 BSA varminter and its great, The others a V7 on a single shot russian thing. Hard to tell, but it seems to be OK. Ill probably move that to a 10/22 for bunny bashing.All my other scopes are Leo VX3's.

Im pleased to see no complaints on the Bushnell Elite 4200's ( unless you know better) as I was considering one for the next project rifle in 7mm rem mag. Big varmints, you understand.

Just for interest, a local gun shop is ceasing sales of leo VX1 scopes,'cos of the number of returns for repair. Simply isn't worth their while. VX2's seem OK and naturually VX3's are not a problem. They assure me that they get less complaints on Simmons! Is that 'cos the Simmons buyer knows no better?

Bushnell banner 2.5x, purchased in the 70's.
Perfect for my purpose; inexpensive, bright, compact, heavy x-hair. Would zero and group fine, as long as you had it out that session.
As soon as it was stored or transported, a zero shift of 4" at 50 yards was predictable - after I eventually realized what was going on.

And how many of you can say these "bad" scopes were mounted properly with correctly ALIGNED RINGS?

After reading all the responses to this thread one phrase comes to mind, "a big crapshoot."
I expected the complaints about the less expensive Tascos and Bushnells, but some of the others were a surprise. I hate to say it considering the exhorborant prices we're paying but you select wisely and hope the hell you're lucky as well. That's kind of sad, but I guess it's reality. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I've owned 3 redfields. All three fogged up.
I've owned several tasco's. A 1960's version that still works just fine. A 1990's version that won't hold zero on a centerfire, but is fine on a 22. Image quality sucks on all of them.
I own several Bushnell's. The 1970's one has clear optics but friction adjustments. the 2003 vintage one has click adjustments but lesser image quality.
I bought a simmons for one of my 22's, and it wouldn't hold zero. It got replaced with a bushnell.
I also bought a Nikon when they first started actively marketing them in this country in I think 1988 or 89. Great scope. Great image quality, repeatable click adjustments. I bought another based on the performance of this one. The newer ones, while still on par with leupold, are not as good as the early ones.

I have a couple Leupolds and IMHO they aren't any better than the Nikons, in fact, if I'm going on a "money" hunt. The Nikons are on my rifles and I take a Leupold as a backup.

absolutely the best, clearest scope I have ever owned was a Unertl BV-20 super grade with Posa-mounts and external adjustments. It is the only scope I'm sorry I parted with.

About 3 years ago I bought a Redfield 3-9x40 that had no objective adjustment and had about 12" of parallax at 100 yards. It went right back. Got a Bushnell 3-9x42 that's worked beautifully since. Got a "package" rifle with a Simmons 8-Point 3-9x40 that's given no problems. Recently I bought a Tasco 6-18x42 with target knobs and asjustable objective. The ranges on the objective turned out to have no relationship to the range of parallax correction. It wasn't corrected anywhere. It got better as it was adjusted toward "infinity" but still had about a 2" radius of parallax at 200 yards. It got replaced by another that I haven't had a chance to check out yet. Hope this one works. I suppose I'm a slow learner about cheap scopes.

Bought a Nikko-Stirling Platinum 3.5-10x40 to put on my 7mm08 Silhouette rifle so a friend could come hunting with me. The little plastic POS elevation adjuster stripped out at the back while I was boresighting it on the kitchen table. Seems it hadn't been tightened properly at the factory and the plastic just burred over. It appears to be working OK now though, he shot a few pigs with the rifle.

Broken before I had finished mounting it - great value!!!

Got to try out my replacement cheapo Tasco today. This one seems to be working fine. So far.

BSA catseye

BSA Contender 8-32 power. Holds zero, but when you crank up the power it's like I'm looking through water. It came with the gun, but will be replaced very soon.

It's hilarious to read all of the posts about these god-awful scopes. Wouldn't it be nice if the manufacturers did as well?

For the money i would have to say Leupold. But have hade a lot of trouble out of Tascos. But you can get good ones and bad ones in all of them no matter what you by never did have a drope of trouble out of a Burris but the next one i might be a bad one who knows. I have 6 Burris and one Leupold like them all.

I had a friend tell me some years ago to buy only the Tasco's that are made in Japan. I followed that advice and have been quite happy with them. I have 5 of them, mostly 6x18 and 6x24. They are mostly on my range guns, nothing larger than 6mm Rem. My last 2 Bushnells, made in China, have been pitiful and can't take any degre of recoil. They are Sportsman and Sportview models. I have older Bushnells that were made elsewhere, and they are excellent. It's still a crapshoot though. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I recently purchased a NEF 223. I also purchased a new Bushnell Scopechief 3-9x40. I have fired about 100 rounds thru this rifle and the scope has performed flawlessly. It will shoot less than 1 inch at 100yds. What more could you want for coyotes. I am extremely happy with this combo...I love this gun !! NOW.....I have to get my first coyote here in Wisconsin. Wish me luck.

Tasco 3x9 power would not hold zero.
Bushnell 3x9 power it was new mounted on gun took 3 shots and the front lens fell out.

Well, I've had cheap Tasco's, Bushnells, and the like and yes they suck. What do you expect for $50?

Out of my more expensive scopes - I'd have to say the worst one I've had was a Leupold Vari X III 1.75x6. It didn't even make it though the first box of shells in my .45-70 before it came unglued.

I thought that this tread was very interesting to read. Yes some people have had more problems with a particular brand than others, but one thing is, that every brand has had or will have a scope fail. Just something to think about.

I think if we all spent the 25 bucks to have a scope mounted properly ie with correct fitting screwdrivers to proper torque and had the rings lapped in, that half of these problems would disapear. Of course that wont help with turrets coming off and such.

Millett buck gold 3-9x44
piece of shit blury as hell & wont focus propley.

Should have bought another Leupold

BSA and Simmons in that order