Air rifle scope advice

[Tommyd345]

Hey all!

So I own a HW80K .22 , with a cheap and cheerful scope (which is now not holding any sort of zero!) so I was wondering with the vast experience you chaps have, if you could point me in a good direction. I'm not sure if the variable zoom, illuminated crosshairs, range finders are any good or worth the extra money? Also do I want a one piece scope mount or two?
I know the scopes need to be spring rated or something? I think that's what broke my last one!
It's mostly used for rabbits/pigeons (mmm rabbit stew).
Budget wise, I want to be less than 100 but I'm willing to pay more for a 'buy once' type of thing, good quality stuff
Thanks in advance!!

 

[RE8ELD0G]

Spend a bit more and get a decent scope, less than £100 puts you well in the lower end brackets for scopes.
I had a MTC Mamba lite and it was the best scope i ever had, and i had plenty of cheapy ones.
The glass is clear, it has a ballistic reticle is so much easier on the long distance shots.
You wont need a illuminated reticle for hunting, if its dark enough to need the illuminations on the usually its too dark to view through the scope properly.
And those range finding marking, they just generally suck.

 

[sunndog]

For cheap and cheerful I swear by jsr 6x32's........honestly they are fantastic for the money, clearer by far than the mtc mamba I had

From js ramsbottom under £40

 

[subzeer0]

Hawke Airmax 30 on mine...its clear as clear can be

 

[njc110381]

I have an MTC Mamba Lite on my .22lr. I used to have one on my .223 but sold the rifle. The new owner still uses it. They're very well made scopes and have good backup from MTC should you have any problems.

You should be able to pick up a used one for about £100. That's what I paid for the one I've just put on my LR about a month ago. It's not a Schmidt and Bender (I put those on my bigger rifles) but at 1/10 of the price it's a fantastic piece of kit.

Edit... Mounts wise, just use a quality set. Sportsmatch aren't bad for the money. The HW80 is a nice rifle but does knock scopes about a bit - I have one myself in .177 and it killed the cheap scope that it came with. I can't remember what's on it now as I don't use it much.

 

[DurhamBushcrafter]

Hey all!

So I own a HW80K .22 , with a cheap and cheerful scope (which is now not holding any sort of zero!) so I was wondering with the vast experience you chaps have, if you could point me in a good direction. I'm not sure if the variable zoom, illuminated crosshairs, range finders are any good or worth the extra money? Also do I want a one piece scope mount or two?
I know the scopes need to be spring rated or something? I think that's what broke my last one!
It's mostly used for rabbits/pigeons (mmm rabbit stew).
Budget wise, I want to be less than 100 but I'm willing to pay more for a 'buy once' type of thing, good quality stuff
Thanks in advance!!

Spring or Gas ram gun... DEFINITELEY a full length scope mount, plus a mount stop if the rifle is drilled for one. this stops scope creep. My HW80 had a fair bit of recoil and used to be hard on scopes i cured that with the scope below, had it for two years, used every day on the farm i lived on untill i sold the gun when i was skint broke.........oh i wish i had kept it!

i use one of these and they are excellent http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hawke-Spo...t=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item565cf52ebb mine is the HK3009 3-9 x 50 excellent value for money at just under £45

 

[HillBill]

For that budget... I'd get a Nikko Stirling gold crown Air King. Designed for springers... come with one piece mount which is solid, has a nice fine mil-dot reticle, free flip up covers.. decent enough glass. I have 2... one on an 80 and one on a 97k. They don't lose zero.

You should get a decent bit of change from £100.

The last one i bought, a 4-12 x 42 cost about £70

http://www.airgunbuyer.com/Showproducts.asp?cat=Telescopic Sights&SubCat=Nikko Stirling Scopes

 

[leon-1]

Nikko Stirling, Hawke and AGS actually make good budget scopes. You are not shooting over a massive range so you won't require huge amounts of magnification so don't get drawn into the the "Higher levels of magnification make it a better scope" thing. Military snipers are shooting over extreme ranges and using relatively low magnification on their scopes. It provides a better field of view and better light transmission.

Look at exit aperture (objective lens divided by magnification, you are after something that'll provide a figure of 7 or 8 ideally). The reason for this is that this will give you a better level of light transmitted and be better for dawn / dusk shooting.

Clarity of optics, whether they are coated to aid light transmission, all go into making a better scope.

I would go with the best I can afford when it comes to optics, but you have to remember what you're putting it on, there would be no point in putting a Leupold, Swarovski or a Kahles on an air rifle unless you are doing some severe FT shooting and you have a customized and tuned blueprint rifle.

If I could afford it I'd go with Bushnell, Simmons or Redfield on an air rifle, remembering you need a good range on the rifle to really get the best from these. The likes Bushnell of a 3-9 x 40 bushnell has a quarter inch adjustment at 100 yards. If shooting bunnies that means that at 25 yards 4 clicks will equal a quarter inch adjustment.

I prefer to use single piece mounts on air rifles as long as it doesn't interfere with the bolt or pellet tap. HW80's are break barrel so I'd go with single piece mounts with either a built in or seperate arrestor block.

 

[HillBill]

Nikon ProStaffs are supposed to be VERY good glass for the money... I can vouch for Redfield too... again, good glass and made by Leupold.

Only thing with these scopes is you need to reparralax them for air gun ranges, or they will be out of focus on higher mag

 

[stonepark]

I just but a Nikko Mountmaster 4-12*50 on my 25cal ram Supersport (comes with mounts) and not having any trouble with zero shift... mine came from that well known auction site for £45 delivered.

 

[lannyman8]

I use Hawk on my FAC rifle and they are good bits of kit on a very good budget. they dont lose zero and most if not all are FAC rated scopes, my one is on the .243 and she kicks like a mule brother, so spring rifles will be fine, as i said they are FAC rated.

allot of people bang on about how you need to spend a fortune on scopes,IMO that is not needed,yes maybe if you are shooting .243 or .308 out to 800-1000 yards that may be the case, but when using an air rifle or .243 for foxes out to 300 yards why waist the money mate.

£ 30-40 will get you a good scope that will do more than what you need for a spring / air rifle.

regards.

chris.

PS forgot to say the mounts from hawk seem to be good to,they have held zero for me and are designed for the FAC scopes so should be alllllll good.

 

[Tommyd345]

It looks like I'm probably going to go for either a hawke. Possibly the Hawke Optics Sport HD 3-9x40 AO Scope w/ Mil Dot IR Reticle. Or the 3-9x40 Mil Dot Nikko Stirling MountMaster AO. Nikko is a tad cheaper, both look good, both say they will withstand a powerful air rifle. Only reason I'm swaying towards the hawk is my previous scope was a nikko (granted it was like 20 quid) and it broke pretty fast. Anybody got either of these scopes? Thoughts and opinions?
Thanks

 

[Mr Wolf]

I use Hawk on my FAC rifle and they are good bits of kit on a very good budget. they dont lose zero and most if not all are FAC rated scopes, my one is on the .243 and she kicks like a mule brother, so spring rifles will be fine, as i said they are FAC rated.

allot of people bang on about how you need to spend a fortune on scopes,IMO that is not needed,yes maybe if you are shooting .243 or .308 out to 800-1000 yards that may be the case, but when using an air rifle or .243 for foxes out to 300 yards why waist the money mate.

£ 30-40 will get you a good scope that will do more than what you need for a spring / air rifle.

regards.

chris.

PS forgot to say the mounts from hawk seem to be good to,they have held zero for me and are designed for the FAC scopes so should be alllllll good.

Spring air rifles are harsher than firearms on scopes

 

[lannyman8]

direwulf, i can say for sure that my .243 loaded with 55 grn pills and 42 grains of powder for foxes is WAY more kick than an air rifle, just saying...

regards

chris.

 

[HillBill]

Agreed. The recoil is harsh and torsional, not straight back like a rimmy or centre fire, these dont have a spring piston slamming into a cylinder head just below the scope, causing massive shock/vibration to be applied to the scope. Cheap hawkes aren't highly rated for springers.

Spring air rifles are harsher than firearms on scopes

 

[HillBill]

Still less harsh on a scope. Your shoulder might feel it more...., but the scope doesn't

direwulf, i can say for sure that my .243 loaded with 55 grn pills and 42 grains of powder for foxes is WAY more kick than an air rifle, just saying...

regards

chris.

 

[lannyman8]

It looks like I'm probably going to go for a hawke. Possibly the Hawke Optics Sport HD 3-9x40 AO Scope w/ Mil Dot IR Reticle. Great reviews everywhere and at 70 quid, within budget! Has anyone got this one or similar? I'm about to look at the Nikon ones
I'm going to go to my local shop and maybe have a look at some, try find me a bargain!

sounds good to me, the mil dot will help when shooting at different ranges too, all you need to do is spend an afternoon shooting targets at set ranges and use the dots as impact points, make a small card with the results and Velcro it to the side of the scope or stock for a quick reference.. ie 30 yards one dot down 35 yards 2 dots down ect.

regards.

chris.

 

[lannyman8]

I did have a Nikko Stirling or maybe it was just Nikko,cant remember with out looking, but thats been on my BSA for about 25 years with no problems and was not an expensive scope.... maybe worth a look as i KNOW they work fine for years...

 

[HillBill]

Nikko build em for springers.

 

[lannyman8]

cool....

let me go look see if i can take a pic for yas all