Optics, sell 3 bullpups & drop the cash on great optics

Take a look at the 10-50x Sightron scopes.

If you are looking at something like a March (10-80x) then the Sightron would be considered a ‘budget’ scope at around $1300.

They (Sightron) do perhaps have the best illuminated reticle on the market (a tiny red dot at the center of the cross hairs).

If you are considering a March remember to set about $500 aside for the 35mm scope rings. 😉

Reading through this thread, some of you guys have serious glasses on your AG.

100% agreed with you on the “slim down the collection to your favorites and put the best optics possible on those favorites.” I did just that starting last year on both my powder burners and air rifles and haven’t regretted the decision one bit!

If you want lightweight, good glass, and the kicker, 10-15Y parallax, all in one package… that makes things really tough. Every scope seems to be a compromise in one way or another and I’ve yet to find a “perfect” scope in all aspects and doubt there ever will be one. Disclaimer up front: I am heavily biased towards scopes with matching units on the reticles & knobs and also FFP so that’s where my recommendations lie. No SFP scopes and and no scopes with mil reticles and MOA knobs need apply!

Based on your criteria a March 3-24 x 42 is probably a good option and the first that came to my mind. The March scopes have great turrets, very good glass, 10Y parallax, and are small and light, but also have their own issues related to their small & compact design (tight eyebox especially at higher magnification, somewhat picky parallax setting & depth of field.) They’re probably the only thing out there though that meets all your criteria. I don’t particularly care for any of March’s reticles but that’s a user preference. They just released a 3-24 x 50 that is supposedly better in the tight eyebox department compared to the 3-24 x 42 but I haven’t got a chance to try a 3-24 x 50 yet. I sold my 3-24 x 42 a while back partly because of the eyebox issue but mostly because of the reticle– just couldn’t stand it, I’m spoiled by the H2CMR reticles in all my S&Bs.

As suggested, the SWFA 3-15 FFP is a good little scope that meets most of your requirements (lightweight, 6Y parallax) except for the “good glass” part– I’ve had one and say they have OK glass. Usable, but not great. The glass quality is a step up from Hawke and the like but it certainly won’t wow you… but won’t prevent you from making a shot either. For the price it offers a combination of features that nobody else really offers.

The Bushnell 3-12 x 44 FFP G2DMR is another good option– pretty good glass (much better than the SWFA 3-15), the G2DMR is a great reticle, it’s relatively small & light, and has 10Y parallax. I’ve had 4 of them over the last few years. Only things I didn’t particularly care for is the eyebox gets a little tight up around 11-12x and I would strongly prefer a 10 mil elevation knob. I’d also have preferred a 3-15 magnification range.

While on the Bushnell 3-12 subject, the just released Bushnell 3-12 x 44 LRHS looked like it was going to fix everything I didn’t like about the 3-12 x 44 FFP; 10 mil elevation knob with zero stop and even better glass. It was also supposed to come with 7Y parallax per the published specs so overall it looked to be a great scope for rimfire & air rifle use. Unfortunately when the two I preordered arrived they had 50Y minimum parallax instead of the advertised 7Y parallax; 50Y minimum parallax is totally not ideal for air rifle use (which is why I bought them) so I got rid of them. Very disappointing because other than that the scopes were great– very good glass, very good feeling elevation knob, great reticle. Still pissed I wasted money on those because of the screwup between the published specs and what was actually delivered.

Another scope I’m waiting to try is the upcoming Steiner TX5I 3-15; 3-15 x 50, FFP, illuminated, choice of SCR or MSR reticles, double turn elevation knob with zero stop, 20Y parallax, same glass as the current MX series (so pretty darn good.) They shortened and lightened it substantially compared to the MX series 3-15. MSRP is $1700 so the street price should hopefully be about $1400 when they come out around September. Looking foward to these, if the production versions stay true to the preproduction versions Steiner has been having people play with at various matches I’ll be getting at least 2 of them. I’d prefer 10Y parallax for the rimfire & air rifle applications I have in mind but I can live with 20Y parallax.

Other options out there meet most but not all of your requirements…

Bushnell 6-24 FFP: Good glass, great reticle (G2DMR), decent size & weight, but 25Y minimum parallax. Also would strongly prefer a 10 mil elevation knob instead of the 5 mil. Still a good overall scope.

S&B 5-25: great scope; great glass, great turrets, lots of good reticles to choose from, 10Y parallax… but big, long, & heavy. Took one of mine off a powder burner and tried it on my Edgun but it overwhelmed the rifle and because of the length I couldn’t get it far forward enough on the rail for decent eye relief, it would need an extended mount.

S&B 12-50 FT, since it was mentioned by another poster above: it’s a great scope for FT but since you mention you hunt I wouldn’t want one on a hunting rifle– 12X on the low end results in a narrow FOV which can make it hard to find little critters in clutter. Also a big, long, and relatively heavy scope. The new Gen 2 version looks even better, the Gen 2 now has 7Y to inifinity parallax with a magnetically retained & quickly removable sidewheel plus a few new options & features. If I ever get serious into FT I’m sure I’ll end up with one, I won’t say no to another S&B in the safe…

S&B 3-20: I currently run one on my Edgun. Quite a bit shorter & lighter than a 5-25 so it fit the gun well, great glass & turrets, great reticle selection, but unfortunately the 3-20 loses the 10Y parallax capabilty of it’s larger 5-25 sibling and has to make do with 25Y parallax. Still, down on 3-5x it’s plenty clear and sharp to make the occasional close up pest shot at 5-15Y but I do find myself missing the 10Y parallax capability of the Bushnell 3-12 x 44 FFP I used to have on the rifle. Like most S&B’s it’s a little on the heavy side but again, always a compromise somewhere.

S&B also has a new 3-20 and 5-20 “ultrashort” models that would probably do well on an air rifle but they also have 25M minimum parallax.

Kahles 10-50: Kahles now offers a scope geared towards air rifle & FT use, the 10-50. Large parallax wheel, 8M-infinity parallax. If it’s anything like the Kahles K624i I briefly had I’d expect excellent glass & turrets. Unfortunately their reticle selections for this scope are a little odd and it’s fairly long and heavy.

The Leupold Mark 6 3-18 x 44 could be a neat little air rifle scope; good glass, very compact and light, decent reticle choices. Unfortunately 50Y minimum parallax so that’s the deal breaker IMO. Also, Leupold went insane on the pricing of the new version with the much nicer low profile turrets. The original version with the “squeeze to unlock” turrets were priced around $2100 but the turrets were far from my favorite. I was considering trying the new version on a powder burner with the low profile turrets but those models are about $3200… ouch. For that price I’ll get another S&B!

I’m sure there’s more scopes I’m missing but those options are the standouts to me for possible air rifle use in the “higher end” category. Once again I’ll state that if all optics manufacturers would include 10Y or 15Y minimum parallax on all of their scopes we’d have lots more options for rimfires and especially air rifles!

Another brand to mention, Delta Optical. I’ve never seen or used one but they’re built at Light Optical Works in Japan so chances are they deserve a look (LOW builds Bushnells higher end stuff, the SWFA SS lineup, etc.) Other users who have them seem to speak of them highly. Personally, until they offer a mil/mil/FFP version I’m not interested but their current product line looks promising and they are expanding that lineup. I believe the 4.5-30 has 25M parallax, not sure what the minimum parallax is on the 3-24.

Now for the summary… if you want to stay fairly reasonably priced and meet all your requirements of parallax/weight/glass I’d stick an SWFA 3-15 or Bushnell 3-12 x 44 FFP G2DMR on all the rifles, if you want to spend quite a bit more money I’d probably stick March 3-24’s up top. Regardless, I’d buy and test drive one before buying multiples of each model.

The Lelya, a 20+ fpe gun at best, might benefit from a better than average quality red dot scope. Otherwise, given what is an extended pistol platform, you are going to need a very compact scope. A large scope on that little tyke would look silly, and be a waste of glass. Not that it isn’t extremely accurate, but it’s limited range wouldn’t seem to benefit from a lot of magnification. Unless you are going to use it for target shooting…but that would seem to be a waste of it’s compactness and light weight.

I’ve owned both a 4X and 6X scope and they were very bright and clear, easy to focus, and suited the Prod they were mounted on to a “T”. The little Prod I would take on short strike missions, mostly snakes and critters that were stupid enough to stumble into one of my live traps. It made for a fast and quiet end to the little diggers and bite machines we have here in the woods. The neighbor lady next door, who watches every move I make, asked my wife if I “Humanely Relocated” them. “Of course!“, I replied. (right after I shot the little bastards in the head) “I take them to a nearby woods (the vacant wooded lot next door) and release them.” I didn’t mention they were too dead to scurry off into the woods, but why complicate a simple “Humane Release”. Technically, I did exactly what I said I did…and to my credit, I threw them as far into the woods as possible, so their chance of survival went from “None” to “Just about as close to damn near none as you can get.”

I also found the .22 caliber to be plenty of power for what I do. I did enjoy the .25, and it’s accurate hard hitting heavy pellet, but it was simply too long, too heavy.

Good luck with your search. I hope you find the right glass for each of your “keepers”. I’m very curious to find out what compact scope you find for the Lelya.

Hoot:

x3 for SWFA. The SWFA 3-15 is an amazing scope for the money.

The impossible quest we all make – the holy grail of scopes. When you find it let us know. I always want too much magnification to get very light not to mention side focus. I love the Sightron 10-50x60mm setup for FT but can’t justify $600 over the Hawkes. I am also spoiled on the Christmas tree ballistic reticles now for windage compared to the mil dots. S&B makes a dandy FT scope that has the best optics I have ever seen but it is $3500. 😯

I cant ever imagine parting with my skeleton Compact Cricket .177. 😮 It and my 30 cal std for larger critters are my main shooters. I just finished my 7th tin of 500 JSB 10.34s on the Baby Cricket. 😉 I have the scopes all set at 32x at this point. 15x? – no way.