best all round hunting scope advise please

[Davey K]

Alot of rabbit shooting is done in low light levels ( dusk / dawn ) and rabbits are small and tend to blend in low light.
since you only have 12fpe, you must be more clinical than someone using a rimfire, ( with 100fpe ).
All im saying is pay for better glass - you rarely regreat buying quality-

Lastly, you dont have to spend a £1000 on a scope , but a £100 scope wont have the same light garthering abilities .... Sirslots

I take your point Slots and you are right, the more you pay for optics the better the light gathering qualities are. BUT the whole process is subject to the reality of diminishing returns. Yes a £400 scope will be a lot brighter than a £100 scope but a £800 scope will not be 100% brighter than a £400 scope. So you have ask yourself what is the best trade off between quality and price, bearing in mind you are engaging targets at a much shorter range than most high priced scopes were designed for.

If money is no object then the old rule of spending as much on the scope as the gun can apply. But with quality PCP's costing anywhere from £500 - £800 you are looking at a fair wedge.

Thing is, people have been shooting rabbits with air guns for decades. Back in the day, something like the Simmons Whitetail Classic

http://www.jsramsbottom.com/cgi-bin/...SM_simmons.HTM

would have been state of the art and the 50mm variant retailed for £450 new. JSR are now selling the 40mm for £72.95 and the 50mm for 129.95.

Second hand you can pick up a deal like this

http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/show...hlight=simmons

a 50mm, 20 mag version for £105!

I've hunted with these scopes in near dark and their light gathering capabilities are brilliant. The modern obsession with mildots means they are now a ridiculous bargain.

You won't ever regret buying quality but you'll feel a warm glow if you buy quality and you don't pay much for it!!

[Sam Vimes]

Thing is, people have been shooting rabbits with air guns for decades. Back in the day, something like the Simmons Whitetail Classic would have been state of the art and the 50mm variant retailed for £450 new. JSR are now selling the 40mm for £72.95 and the 50mm for 129.95.

Glad I don't shop where you do! The most expensive I ever saw the 3.5-10x50WTC was £225 but if you shopped around you could get them at around £190.

[sir-slots-alot]

Good point, and may be my knowledge of £100 scopes is out of date, so I will gracefully bow to your experience on the subject.

But I still think on a rifle as expensive as the one on this thread deserves a treat.

Thank god we dont all like the same things --- .... Sirslots

[jagxkrs]

Pretty much what Sparky and Gary have said, if I had to go for one in that range for hunting it would be Bushnell Legend 5-15-40

Bit More go fo a Leup VXIII

[adibabi]

Got myself a falcon menace 4-14x44ffp for around £220. all i can say is WOW. By far the best scope I have ever used. clear picture even in low light and the fixed focal plane is great.

[Two200's]

Hi

appologies if this was already mentioned, but a scope like the Big Nikko, will stop the mag from flipping out.

atb

[sir-slots-alot]

[QUOTE=Davey K;3255150]I take your point Slots and you are right, the more you pay for optics the better the light gathering qualities are. BUT the whole process is subject to the reality of diminishing returns. Yes a £400 scope will be a lot brighter than a £100 scope but a £800 scope will not be 100% brighter than a £400 scope. So you have ask yourself what is the best trade off between quality and price, bearing in mind you are engaging targets at a much shorter range than most high priced scopes were designed for.

You are quite right about diminishing returns, and that also goes for air rifles.
A thousand pound air rifle will not be twice as accurate as a £500 gun , and yet people, including Craig will pay for that few extra percent it gives and the pleasure of owning top gear.

[samthedog]

Too be honest the choice is endless and its up to you how much you want to pay,for hunting you have

WTC 3.5x-10x50
Weaver V 16
MTC range
New Sidewinder from Deben
Bushnell range

The list can go on, but same as anything you really need to look through them before you decide as what someone else likes you may not.

Pete

From that list I would choose the Weaver V16. Best scope for the money. I have a WTC and although it's a good scope it has nothing on the Weaver.

[Aeroman]

Good advice up there and I'll add my 2p as well...

Rather than cover the same ground as trodden by Shady and Sparky et al. and say "look through as many as you can and go with what suits you, sir" I'll give another take...

People change their rifles. Some more frequently than others, but with new developments and such, people will upgrade to the next gucci bit of hardware. Advances in rifle hardware have been progressing quite quickly of late but I'm not sure that scope technology will. If this is so, then quality optics will be just that. Quality.
I work to the principle of getting as much scope as you can afford and buy the scope once, as I've changed rifles over the years buying and selling, but not bought too many surplus scopes as once I have a scope i am happy with, the rifle wearing it may change but the glass will stay. I've aqquired scopes as combos with rifles I've bought, and given some away to various causes, and mounted others on other rifles I have kicking around.

To recommend a scope now, i can tell you what I would be looking for and what I have that does the job, and why. But ultimately we go back to what "suit you sir!".

Depending on the type of hunting I'm doing....
I would be looking for.
Good light transmission
Reticule I'm comfortable with.
Forgiving parallax error (seems to vary from scope to scope a little even with the same model)
Magnification range not too great, which seems to help with the above...

DMP 4-16x56 Mildot IR. 30mm tube, Sidewheel parallax. Good build, sturdy, mine is one of the really early ones, so Jap optics IIRC. Does the job but relatively heavy. Turrets and sidewheel exposed to knocks, but repeatibility is excellent and is forgiving to me getting my eye position slightly wrong.

EB Sniper 10x42 Mildot. Sidewheel Parallax. Bombproof build, though turrets and sidewheel exposed. Medium weight and goes a good 'un.

Bushnell 6-24x40 4200 Mildot. True Mil at 12x mag. Used one of these for HFT for a couple of years to good effect. Not too heavy but yery long body tube, and front parallax which is more awkward for hunting if you adjust your parallax. Not very forgiving to mispositioned eye. Sam uses the 5-15x40 Legend which is shorter, lighter weight and does the job just as well.

Runing out of time, but i may include a few more when i have time

[craig.25]

thanks to all for pms
if someone has a leup they want to trade for a nikko diamond 10-50x60 (with green turrets )
let me know
or some quality glass they want to part ex with

[onlyme]

my first post in an absolute age ! (ive been to busy shooting, with my time hunting as its all i do nowadays),
if like me you hunt daytime, dusk and nightime, there are scopes ideal for all situations, but if its going to be a tool as my kit is nowadays, you should always go for something you find yourself completely at home with in use, forget the twidley knobs and paralax scopes, if its a hunter setup you want useability over form and bragging rights... my views are a fixed parralax scope, with amazing light gathering ability at a price that wont be a painful price to pay if you dink it on a fence or in the footwell of the 4x4... for ease of use , something like a hawke map 6 with a 50mm objective (cheap but great). simmons whitetail if you can get on with a duplex ret. and if you want a light sucking demon, something like a s&b 8x56(my first choice) if its more daytime sniping, id go for a leup vIII ... you pay for what you get, but remember your only shooting out to a relativley close yardage so optically its never going to be to hard ...people have an obsession with high mags whats wrong with shooting with a lower mag and gaining a massive advantage at nightime?
im a massive massive fan of the big nikko and i occasionally get my one out when im ammo testing, but for the field its just not practical, to big , to heavy and would make me want to waste time fiddling.... i know this because ive done it on my rimfires !!!!
good luck on your choice as its a very personal thing.... id just jump on a few shoots with mates and use there kit ! see what you like and can use 110% spot on and get something similar that reflects your wanted spend nothing wrong with copying if it works....