older scopes which ones?

[Lanky94]

i got a couple of 1980-s-Japanese optics Scopes For Sale in the Scope Section

I cant access the sales section yet Antony.......Not enough posts yet!

Thanks though

[Muskett]

Yes, the Moonlighter was sold in seconds. Your pictures are rubbish by the way.
The Panorama scopes were quite good for their day.
4x40 Tasco really has to be seen up close.

Its a shame not more 6x40 scopes were offered over the 4x40's. At this build price parallax and BDC turrets were just asking for trouble. A 3-9 x40 was plenty to get a good sight picture but as already said the x9 wasn't always sharp at farmyard ranges. Coatings and soft alumnium bodies didn't help much nor wire cross hairs. Scope creep was rife as were dodgy turrets. Scopes just didn't survive well on spingers.

Dodgy scopes, tough triggers, iffy ammo, wobbly banana barrels, and twangy spring power plants.... its surprising we hit anything

Now its part of the fun.

[I. J.]

Dodgy scopes, tough triggers, iffy ammo, wobbly banana barrels, and twangy spring power plants.... its surprising we hit anything

Now its part of the fun.

Oh so true!

[MattyBoy]

I was never impressed with the Super Moonlighter either, preferring the Moonlighter. The two Tasco 3-9x50 (AG??) I had gave a really tunnel vision effect from the amount of masking and the light gathering wasn't much cop either. One came on a Air Logic so that might date it.
JD knew how to shoot and hunt an air rifle but he could use just about any rifle combination to get the job done. His HW80 was quite a lump but that is what you needed to tame the spring action. Got very drunk with him once. Very good shots can get most kit to work. Some of it was sponsorship (in the case of JD some of it was whacky backy, but he could sure shoot well).
The first batch of Jap scopes were really good for their time; a revelation. The airgun market for scopes was a new, well scopes could be made to a price that made it all possible. Soon competition and keeping the price realistic took its toll.

The 2 SuperMoonlighters I have are the early ones without AO - the same one that JD used (under sponsorship )

I really rate them - they would be from about 1981/82 IIRC I have them both on 1980s HW80s as a bit of a tribute to JD.

The "AG" Tasco was springer airgun rated - 4x32, 2-7x32, 4x40, 3-9x50 was the range I think. They are generally highly regarded I have then all except the 4x40 and like them a lot.

One thing I don't have is either a Hako or a Kassner :0 Were they a step up on all the others? Optima scopes were Hako I believe?

Matty

[lonewolf]

the earlier tasco scopes where made by hako in japan,they then went to china to save on cost,my titan optics is on parr with my leupolds so must be one of the earlier ones.

[Muskett]

My gripe with Super Moonlighters was their bulk rather than anything else. I couldn't see much, if any, improvement in light gathering between a 45, 50 or 56 with any of the scopes in this price bracket. A sharp 4x40 was as bright as any of them, though added mag sometimes gave a bit more definition on target. That ?x50 Tasco was as IJ stated like a 4x20!
Kassnar should have been better than they were.

Now if you had a Leupold, B&L, or higher end European scope then it was as if someone had turned the lights on. But they cost more than the gun and I'd be still doing the paper round.

A JD HW80 combination is something I have thought of a couple of times. Then I pick up a FWB Sport and get over it. He shot a .22 in the field, though his first airgun was a .177 Crosman pump (but that was all he could afford having just got out of the Army; he did some tricky stuff in the troubles. I didn't know him well but he definitely inspired many.) If you followed his writing he started with a .177 for penetration. Then switched to a .22 for rabbit shots into the engine room. By the end he still shot a .22 but generally only head shots. I stuck to the .177 and head shots from almost day one (circa 1978). Now its the norm/expected. The greater part to it all is that modern rifles, ammunition, and scopes can give the consistency and accuracy to pull off these shots in either calibre. In 1980 a pigeon head shot was tricky even at point blank. By 1986 it was doable out to 30m and today possibly 40m and beyond. How things have changed.

[Lakey]

Nobody has mentioned Pecar scopes. A quality German rifle needs a quality German scope. Pecar are built really strongly and have wonderful light gathering abilities due to superior glass and lense coatings. They are really good value at the moment with really good 4 x 36 models going for around £150. Just bear in mind that most are 26mm tubes. I have had a wonderful 8 x 56 on my .30-06 deer rifle for the last 10 years - works a treat !!

Lakey

[Lakey]

Check this one out

Bay of Evil item number 181231759754 nothing to do with me but a lovely little scope for not too much money

[junglie]

Nobody has mentioned Pecar scopes. A quality German rifle needs a quality German scope. Pecar are built really strongly and have wonderful light gathering abilities due to superior glass and lense coatings. They are really good value at the moment with really good 4 x 36 models going for around £150. Just bear in mind that most are 26mm tubes. I have had a wonderful 8 x 56 on my .30-06 deer rifle for the last 10 years - works a treat !!

Lakey

Yes the best old scope I have is a pecar champion 8x45,you can change the turret mech & reticule on them. They are steel tubed too. Bombproof & very clear optics(when reparelaxed to airgun ranges.) I wan't too impressed with the super moonlighters when they were about. I remember a mate in leics one evening trying to see some bunnies through his about 30m away. He couldn't see them clearly enough to shoot even on low mag & was shocked when I handed him my innova with a little bushmaster 2.5x32 £22 scope on & shot one easily with it. Size isn't everything with scopes as the little simmons 1.55x20WA proves.