The trouble with equipment in places like where we live is that the place is harder on the stuff than we would ever dream of being. Bushnell still have a major repair centre in Vancouver, and before buying any optics, it's well worth checking what "local" repair centres the other brands have and their warranty. My old bins still work well, but I'd say that's the exception.
There might be a lot more to our little segue into shooting than is immediately apparent.
When I shopped for the expensive Fusions, I was interested in something specific and for sure they weren't going to let me go for a walk with them or borrow them so that I could check them under various circumstances. What I could do though, was to bring in my bins with which I had decades of experience, and check out both the optics and ergonomics against those. I spent quite a while at that in one of those huge stores in Alberta, and when I did buy them and took them - I was later satisfied that my assessment had been good. I'm sure that the sales clerk thought that I was crazy checking bins of 12X standing and not bracing them, but I'm used to holding things steady - and what I wanted to see was how those worked in such circumstances. But ergonomics are a big deal.
When I look for cheaper bins for the truck. the fact that the Trophys were light wasn't lost on me- nor was the hours I spent testing them. I'll sure be looking for looking for something easier to carry then my old B&L's or my present Fusions, and I'll be taking the Trophies when looking. It'll take some looking because I'm open to lower magnification values and larger objectives now that I'm thinking that even 7X50's need not be incredibly heavy to be durable. Things are complicated since I might be spotting for my grand-son and in Alberta moose and even deer have to be scrutinised for disease. It might be that I revert to my old ways which worked well for bear coats - so 10x50's and a light spotting scope of 20x.
Things should be simple with a spotting scope, but as we've seen here I like something light and packable of fixed power and Robson needs a high power scope for his use. A person really has to know their uses - far before deciding on what brand or price level to buy.
When I shot and so spotted in silhouette my partner and so spotter had cataracts. My eyes were good, but he shot a .44 in all categories. While you would figure that a high velocity bullet would be harder to spot, they spatter before the target even moves. With a .44 hit the target moves fast, so you are trying to figure the hit on a moving target... Add to that that the trajectory of a .44 is very steep. To cut to the chase, you need to spot the bullet in flight, and then it gets easy. But in order to do that you need a scope of no more than 20X. Most people are amazed the first time that they see a bullet in flight, but the problem with spotting for a .44 at longer ranges is that you need to be able to do it most of the time.
For sure if called on to spot for shooters using an XP, then I would use a scope just like Robson suggests, with really heavy tripod. The stuff used in XP's is fast and streamlined so with few wind effects or trajectory issues. But it's still being shot out of a pistol with open sights so the shooter needs very accurate feedback if the point of impact is changing. And it takes something better than 20X to call cm or inches at 200M. Same for spotting .22 bullet holes at 200M or beyond. Fortunately I had use of such scopes.
I've lost some stuff today so let's get this bit up...
There might be a lot more to our little segue into shooting than is immediately apparent.
When I shopped for the expensive Fusions, I was interested in something specific and for sure they weren't going to let me go for a walk with them or borrow them so that I could check them under various circumstances. What I could do though, was to bring in my bins with which I had decades of experience, and check out both the optics and ergonomics against those. I spent quite a while at that in one of those huge stores in Alberta, and when I did buy them and took them - I was later satisfied that my assessment had been good. I'm sure that the sales clerk thought that I was crazy checking bins of 12X standing and not bracing them, but I'm used to holding things steady - and what I wanted to see was how those worked in such circumstances. But ergonomics are a big deal.
When I look for cheaper bins for the truck. the fact that the Trophys were light wasn't lost on me- nor was the hours I spent testing them. I'll sure be looking for looking for something easier to carry then my old B&L's or my present Fusions, and I'll be taking the Trophies when looking. It'll take some looking because I'm open to lower magnification values and larger objectives now that I'm thinking that even 7X50's need not be incredibly heavy to be durable. Things are complicated since I might be spotting for my grand-son and in Alberta moose and even deer have to be scrutinised for disease. It might be that I revert to my old ways which worked well for bear coats - so 10x50's and a light spotting scope of 20x.
Things should be simple with a spotting scope, but as we've seen here I like something light and packable of fixed power and Robson needs a high power scope for his use. A person really has to know their uses - far before deciding on what brand or price level to buy.
When I shot and so spotted in silhouette my partner and so spotter had cataracts. My eyes were good, but he shot a .44 in all categories. While you would figure that a high velocity bullet would be harder to spot, they spatter before the target even moves. With a .44 hit the target moves fast, so you are trying to figure the hit on a moving target... Add to that that the trajectory of a .44 is very steep. To cut to the chase, you need to spot the bullet in flight, and then it gets easy. But in order to do that you need a scope of no more than 20X. Most people are amazed the first time that they see a bullet in flight, but the problem with spotting for a .44 at longer ranges is that you need to be able to do it most of the time.
For sure if called on to spot for shooters using an XP, then I would use a scope just like Robson suggests, with really heavy tripod. The stuff used in XP's is fast and streamlined so with few wind effects or trajectory issues. But it's still being shot out of a pistol with open sights so the shooter needs very accurate feedback if the point of impact is changing. And it takes something better than 20X to call cm or inches at 200M. Same for spotting .22 bullet holes at 200M or beyond. Fortunately I had use of such scopes.
I've lost some stuff today so let's get this bit up...
