TargetTalk

Hi

I'm looking at buying a better spotting scope. I coach and shoot Air Rifle, I shoot Bullseye Pistol and I'm looking at shooting Highpower. Is there a single scope that will work for this group? Am I better off to buy an Air Rifle / Bullseye Scope and a separate Highpower spotting scope? I currently have an old Bushnell 25x or 15x I forgot which one.

Thanks

Mike
Wichita KS

Mike: I will take a stab at this. I personally think the best all around scope is the champions choice scope (about $230). This was discontinued but is now available again. The only down side to this scope is that it has somewhat short eye relief and is not so good with glasses. The only other scopes I would look at are Kowas. The 50mm is a good scope for air but not so good outdoors. Some people use them ok outdoors but I have a hard time seeing bullet holes with them at 50yds while I can see them plenty fine with my old B&L 20x. I also have a Kowa 60mm (611 I think) with a 27x eyepece. This bugger is super nice and clear for outdoors but I can't see a whole 10bull air rifle target so it is not so good for air. Probably would be ok with the 20x eyepiece. Most of the highpower shooters seem to use the Kowa 82mm scopes but they are big and having it get knocked over at a junior practice would bad for your blood pressure (the blood pressure part also goes for the kowa 60mm and 66mm scopes). You might consider keeping the old bushnell for indoors and get a 66 or 82mm kowa for outdoors. Those old bushnell scopes are really well made scopes.

You can browse around the birdwatching sites for reviews of decent scopes, Takahashi, Leica, Swarovski, Nikon, Kowa etc. Check google out for the price on the nikon, this are extreme value for the price. A variable eyepiece should do all you want to do, but check the price of the eyepiece on the different scopes, if cost is no object the ED scopes give amazing detail.

You didn't mention budget. Budget is very important.

The new, smaller Kowa's are good scopes. They are compact in size, have decent optics. are toally waterproof and are priced right.

The Kowa 821M is "THE" scope used by high power competitors. Most use the LER eyepiece but the wide angle is also a one good to have.

Personally, I have the Kowa 20-60X zoom eyepiece and find its versatility outweighs any potential negatives.

The older Kowa TSN-1 is also a great scope but it's not waterproof. They are no longer made but are available used. There is also a company making a knock-off of the TSN-1 because demand is high and Kowa discontinued making them.

Any one of these scopes will resolve holes in paper at 200 yards. The 821M might even extend that out ot 300 yards. 10 m, 50 m, 100 yards should be a piece of cake. Mirage, poor lighting adversely affect resolving power but I regularly use my Kowa out to 300 yd. 600 yards is just too far to reliably resolve holes in the black.

Then there is the Leica and the Swarovski,...

mikeschroeder wrote:Hi

I'm looking at buying a better spotting scope. I coach and shoot Air Rifle, I shoot Bullseye Pistol and I'm looking at shooting Highpower. Is there a single scope that will work for this group? Am I better off to buy an Air Rifle / Bullseye Scope and a separate Highpower spotting scope? I currently have an old Bushnell 25x or 15x I forgot which one.

Thanks

Mike
Wichita KS

I would't trade my Swarovski for anything.... over kill on Air pistol and I use a Bushnell Space Master for that and Bullseye.

The better the scope the better your eye relief and brightness I've found and now that I wear glasses eye relief is a very imortant factor.