Scope Quandary – please help
Hi
I’m loading up my new condor with some upgrades including a scope.
I have two scopes and I’m not sure which to keep, or to return both and get a better one. I mostly want light weight and optical quality.
I bought a pristine “blemished” Airforce 4-16 x 50 for about $109, half off. I also got a $90 UTG 3-9×32 bug buster. About 6 ounces lighter.
Which to keep? I am not so happy with the eye feel of the Airforce scope at 16 power. But at 9x on each there is of course little difference. I do like having twice the magnification, my wife said she likes the “long narrow one,” so this is a chance to please her by selecting the Airforce.
Which would you keep? Or ditch them both and get a better one?
Thanks
John
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Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
You should be able to adjust without the rings. If you get to the point where it is hard to turn the turret stop and try the rings.
Update…
After bore sighting it at 35 yards I find it 2.5 inches low and 1/2 inch right at 12 yards. (Shooting indoors until my shroud arrives from Tony.). Again this is within about 20 clicks up elevation and 20 clicks left, give or take.
Is this in range of final adjustment or do I need adjustable mounts?
Thanks,
John
That looks like a great set of mounts.
Will this cheaper set work ok?
http://www.pyramydair.com/s/a/Sportsmatch_30mm_Rings_High_Adjustable_9_5_11mm_Dovetail/3508
Is this high ring getting the scope too far off the barrel center? It weirds me out having a scope sitting 4 inches high off the barrel. Or is that no big deal?
Thanks for all of the great help from this forum.
Edit…. Bore sighting I can get the windage on target at 23 clicks left. About 45 yards on the scope marks. Is that ok without a wind age adjustment?
No, there are fully adjustable scope rings. Check out these, SportsMatch is well known for quality. Would accompany your Sidewinder quite nicely.
http://www.pyramydair.com/s/a/Sportsmatch_30mm_Rings_Fully_Adjustable_High_11mm_Dovetail/4353
I have FX No Limits rings because I’m not too worried about the few clicks of windage to get the gun zeroed but want the elevation turret centered for obvious reasons.
Edit: and personally, 64 clicks down to zero the gun would be too much for me, with the No Limits rings it takes me zero clicks down to zero the gun, a few clicks of windage though because nothing is perfect.
The Sidewinders have about 120ish clicks max up or down in elevation so you are using about half of the total to just zero the gun.
I don’t believe anyone makes mounts that are adjustable for windage. Your scope should have enough movement as it is right now to move to the correct aim point. Also, the horizontal point of impact should change when you shoot at different ranges. If it does, then your scope is not aligned properly with your barrel.
I finally got home to deal with the scope. Barrel sighting, it appears 3-4 inches or so high and maybe 2 inches right, give or take.
I realize barrel sighting is iffy, but I seem so have the aim point lined up pretty well in the center of the barrel, and the scope is definitely high. As much as 64 clicks down and 32 left will be required. Is that too much?
If required, do I need a mount that is adjustable for wind age and elevation? Or will just elevation do it?
Thanks
E
Zero’d at 35, u should be able to holdover to 75 easily, even at high magX, windage will hardly change, u can hold for wind with mildots. Hope this answer your ?’s
With the UTG bugbuster and one inch rings the scope was 6 inches low at 10 yards. (My basement limit.)
I understand it will be very low at 10 yards with a 1 inch ring and ~3 inches from rail to barrel. But I had to crank it nearly all the way up to get it 4 inches low.
My hope is to zero it out at 35 yards and be ready to hold over at longer ranges if needed. I doubt there will be many shooting opportunities at 100 yards. This is limited by the available shooting locations in my large metro area. About 75 is my current maximum goal.
Question…if the scope is dead on bullseye at 35 yards, it should be low of high at different ranges, but not one side or the other of the bullseye, correct?
Thanks again
On further thought, why should a scope need to be shimmed anyway? Doesn’t this mean something with the barrel is out of whack? If the rail is parallel and the rings are the same height, it seems like all would be well without having to make one ring higher than the other.
What gives?
Pellet drop is great at 100+ yds, if you like to dope the scope to zero at 100 plus yards and not use holdover, you’ll run out of scope elevation at the torrent.
Thanks for your suggestion.
On further thought, why should a scope need to be shimmed anyway? Doesn’t this mean something with the barrel is out of whack? If the rail is parallel and the rings are the same height, it seems like all would be well without having to make one ring higher than the other.
What gives?
You shim the rear ring to gain scope elevation, personally I don’t shim scopes, I did it once and it put the scope in a bind so bad it could be felt in the focus wheel and also the retical would get stuck when adjusting the turrents. I purchased the FX “No Limits” 30mm rings from AOA. Best rings I’ve ever bought. I can zero out to 150yards without maxing the scopes elevation out. They’re pricey but well worth it.
The AirForce and UTG are boxed and ready to return. I ended up wth a Hawke Sidewinder 6.5-20×42. I got medium rings.
When I installed the UTG I had to crank up the elevation a lot. Almost all the way.
When I install the sidewinder should I shim it right on the front from the start? Using the through-barrel bore sight method to get it close before tightening the rings?
If a front shim is a good place to start, what should I shim it with? A few small strips of aluminum foil layers? I want to figure out something that won’t compress or mess up the scope or rings.
Thanks,
E
I would keep the utg, or better yet return them both and buy a better utg or even a hawke. If you want to shoot past 40 yards I would definitely say send them both back and use the credit to buy a long range scope. I have some Simons scope on my condor ss, and have been using it out to 100 yards recently with no problem. The only complaint I have is I don’t have mildots on the reticle. I will probably upgrade to a hawke or utg scope this summer.
UTG / Leapers makes some pretty decent quality optics for the cost. I have them on a lot of my guns. I would lose the Air Force scope! Not very good quality according to the people I’ve spoken to who have had them.
Wildfire :5:
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Will this cheaper set work ok?
http://www.pyramydair.com/s/a/Sportsmatch_30mm_Rings_High_Adjustable_9_5_11mm_Dovetail/3508
Is this high ring getting the scope too far off the barrel center? It weirds me out having a scope sitting 4 inches high off the barrel. Or is that no big deal?
Thanks for all of the great help from this forum.
Edit…. Bore sighting I can get the windage on target at 23 clicks left. About 45 yards on the scope marks. Is that ok without a wind age adjustment?
Yeah those should be great rings. They do exactly as my FX No Limits rings, give a nice range of elevation adjustment. Reason I got my FX rings is because of price difference here in Canada. Plus Ted’s Holdover kinda sold me on them 😆
I’ve read that those SportsMatch rings let you make finer adjustments than with my FX rings.