Just ordered my first Edgun…say hi to the newb.
Hello Everyone!!!
This is my first post, but I have been reading and enjoying your posts for the last week or so. I just ordered my first Edgun from Tony! I have a .25 R3M Long coming with the next shipment (Nov. that’s all he said). Tony is not the most talkative of fellows, is he? It took me 2 weeks to finally decide what I wanted. I have to say this site has helped me with my decision tremendously. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge with me. I haven’t seen a more loyal and proud family of members towards any other gun, as much as the Edgun….that is what swayed me over.
Well, now that the gun is ordered its time for a scope. Well here goes…. I want a scope with a 5-6 times zoom range that’s great in low light, not too heavy, not too long, parallax adjustments from 10 yards to infinity, great eye relief, great tracking, durable, good warranty, and under $1000 bucks. lol
Well…I really do…but its not gonna happen. I have however narrowed my selection down to 7. A couple are over my budget (as there always will be) and the rest are in range. Can this great forum help me in: #1 selecting the one best for me #2 Put the 7 selections in an order from best choice to worst choice (if there is a worst…they’re all quite good im sure).
Info about me: live in Houston Texas. Lots of places to go and shoot…including back yard, thick wooded areas near subdivisions, short drive to the north, south, east, and west with acres upon acres of undeveloped land. Some of it is open, some is wooded (nice to have friends with acres and acres of land). Lots of plinking, hunting birds, squirrels, rabbits, coons, bobcats, and coyotes, as well as target shooting (outdoors and not at a range). No point in shooting anything under 15 yards…very interested in acquiring the skills to shoot beyond 125 yards. Mostly 25-100 yards. Oh, and I do lots and lots of night shooting. So a good low light scope is B I G ! !
I look forward to all comments from anyone that has something to say…but im also looking for replies from Zocoloco, Knifemaker, Ted, and Oldgoat. Ted….you’re my hero! Mr. EdgunUSA himself…What?!? jk 😆
Dr. Steele
All Replies
Hey Dr Steele and welcome. My first Edgun is in the same order (25 Long). Youll enjoy the forum, lots of good advice and help and good reading. Ive already got a Hawke Sidewinder to go on it.
Welcome to the forum.
What would be perfect would be a Delta importer to the US – maybe in Sweden. 😀 If the importer were here they would screw us badly on price.
I have a friend who has two Clearidge´s. Nice scopes but limited to a regular Mil.Dot reticle – like the Delta 6-24. LOW also does those Clearidges, BTW …
Must be the Narco’s I am taking. I thought maybe Dr. Steele = Tony. I think Vortex will mod the focus for a fee.
Clearridge (Japanese) are high quality like the Delta I think but not all of the options and models.
Forget those Vortex´s – they only focus down to 45-50 yards. There´s a new player in the optics game, Delta Optical. Japanese scopes made by Light Optical Works who does MANY oem scopes, among others better Bushnell´s and Sightron´s. I have two of them: Titanium 6-24×42 AO and their top-of-the-line 4.5-30×50. Both focus down to 10 yards. The first one costs around 550$ and the latter around 1100$ over here with the Swedish sales tax 25%.
Nice! A new guy to swear at. 😀
Forget those Vortex´s – they only focus down to 45-50 yards. There´s a new player in the optics game, Delta Optical. Japanese scopes made by Light Optical Works who does MANY oem scopes, among others better Bushnell´s and Sightron´s. I have two of them: Titanium 6-24×42 AO and their top-of-the-line 4.5-30×50. Both focus down to 10 yards. The first one costs around 550$ and the latter around 1100$ over here with the Swedish sales tax 25%.
Congrats.
These are the rings you want if you are getting a 30mm tubed scope.
Burris Signature Ring 30mm Extra High Matte Weaver #BU420585.
I’d lean towards milrad Super Sniper.
Hawke sidewinder with 1.2 mil reticle if not.
Congrats!
Hi Dr Steele, and welcome to the forum. Congratulations on your choice and pending arrival of the .25 R3M. Like you, I was peering over the fence for a few months before I joined. You will find this lot to be opinionated, informative and extremely helpful. There is probably no question that you can ask on this forum regarding air rifles that hasn’t been discussed multiple times and no questions regarding this sport, hobby and passion that’s a silly question. As you can tell, these guys come from all walks of life with experience and technical skills that will amaze you. Most of us have been shooting air rifle since we were kids and I for one realize that my knowledge base is just the tip of the iceberg compared to many members here. These guys will bring you up to speed quickly on this forum. Regarding scopes, I have several Bushnell 4200, several leupold air rifle scopes and several Hawk Sidewinder Tactical mildot scopes. All of the have great customer support. The Bushnells in my pinion have slightly better glass than the other two however I tend lean toward the Hawk Sidewinder Tacticals now because of price and quality. I have a few with 52 objectives and discovered I like the 42 objectives better they are all very good scopes but what it come down to is a matter of preference. So welcome again and with tongue in cheek I say enjoy your FIRST air rifle because the rest of us know that you have started down the dark path :8:
I posted a while back that my local camera shop that also sells some scopes tests the scopes and other equipment from time-to-time and the Hawke 8-32×56 nearly matched the Nikon Monarch 3s identically on clarity and brightness. They said on some of the other optical anomalies it beat the Monarch 3s. The Monarch 3’s run $700-800 so a $500 Hawke is a pretty good deal and has a much better reticle which sends it way over the top. The Leupold Var-IIIs are also about the equivalent of the top Hawkes on Optics with the latest versions. I have several of them on PBs. They are lighter. however, but just cant match that reticle on the Hawke. They said the Bushnell Elites are average in tests. The Leupold Mark 4s, Zeiss, and Sightron’s high-end models are great except for the price. Now with a $1k budget what the heck!
Tony – my order… I would add a few scopes like Sightron’s and S&B at the top. I guess it does kind of follow price. 🙂 Vortex btw are very good but not great IMO. I compared a Zeiss and a Viper next to each other and they weren’t really that close. Buy a Hwake instead and save your money.
Zeiss Conquest HD% 5-25x 50mm……………….$1149
Swarovski Z5 5-25xx 52mm……………………..$1649
Leupold VX-6 4-24x 52mm………………………$1499
Vortex Viper PST 6-24x 50mm………………….$949
Vortex Viper HS 6-24x 50mm……………………$899
Bushnell Elite 6500 4.5-30x 50mm……………..$789
Bushnell Elite Tactical ERS 4.5-30x 50mm……..$819
I have to agree with the Oldgoat. I like the Hawke scopes..just because of the wonderful reticle. The other scopes may have better optics..ect..ect..But they should, they cost more and you pay more for it. The Hawke is a nice scope and good enough for me.
However, I did make a mistake, I bought the 8x32x56mm version. You might as well call it a scope and spotter in one
Its a big clunky monster and there are few little things I don’t like about it.
1) It a big heavy scope
2) 8x min power…can’t focus under 10 yards
3) When shooting at pals house..he can’t see past 80-90 yards..contant pestering..”where did I hit, where did I hit”?
Unless you only want long range shooting then don’t get tied up in bigger is better (like I did)
I never shoot at 32x..always 10x or 20x..32x is used for long range spotting only, and not even for myself.
If I had it to do again…..
I think the little Hawke 6×24 or the 6.5×20 that oldgoat likes is the way to go.
Hello Dr. Steele
I have to agree with the Oldgoat. I like the Hawke scopes..just because of the wonderful reticle. The other scopes may have better optics..ect..ect..But they should, they cost more and you pay more for it. The Hawke is a nice scope and good enough for me.
However, I did make a mistake, I bought the 8x32x56mm version. You might as well call it a scope and spotter in one
Its a big clunky monster and there are few little things I don’t like about it.
1) It a big heavy scope
2) 8x min power…can’t focus under 10 yards
3) When shooting at pals house..he can’t see past 80-90 yards..contant pestering..”where did I hit, where did I hit”?
Unless you only want long range shooting then don’t get tied up in bigger is better (like I did)
I never shoot at 32x..always 10x or 20x..32x is used for long range spotting only, and not even for myself.
If I had it to do again…..
I think the little Hawke 6×24 or the 6.5×20 that oldgoat likes is the way to go.
Yes it’s me no question about it! 🙂
hi dr steele and welcome,,lots of good guys on here and a wealth of knowledge and information
rgds steve
No trial and error with the chair gun…. Put In your data sight in your machine at a given yard and enjoy. Takes away most of the guess work…. I too have a hawke 6.5x20x42 mildot and love it tried the bushnell. And sold it. I really like the hawke. May try a ziess or leupold someday..
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Thank you everyone for making me feel at home!
It looks like there is a general consensus for the dislike on the bushnells mostly due to the reticle. So they are out. Looks like I have a few new scopes to investigate so ill have to do some homework and ill narrow the list down and post back. I gotta admit the Hawke has to be on the list now….just no way around it. Seems like for air gunning the reticle is #1. Which makes me want to contact Vortex to see if I can get one of their great scopes calibrated lower then 50 yards parallax. If that happens, that’s a tough scope to beat. But I have to check out those deltas and clairedge scopes first.
I appreciate the wealth of info…more then you guys know.
Mad respect
Dr. Steele
I still gotta hear from knifemaker and Ted.