Quote Originally Posted by NTSOG View Post
Hi Geezer,

They are a very stylish looking scope. Do you have any idea about their capacity to tolerate springer recoil? The one I found will go on a springer, but were they built for heavy or light 'duty'? Were they actually made, in the 1980s, with spring air rifles in mind or should I just be conservative and put it on a lower power rifle?

Jim
I genuinely cannot give you a definitive view.

I can give you my opinion.

I used a Japanese "ASI" branded Japanese 4x40 intensively (tens of thousands of shots) for ten years on an FWB Sport. At various points the mounts crept, and the scope crept in other mounts, and at one point the front lens ring came loose and had to be tightened, but the reticle did not break, and the adjustments worked.

I have also used a variety of older Japanese glass on springers with no problem. The only scope I have had break was a bargain-basement Chinese Simmons.

I have a feeling that the whole "springer rated" thing was as much a marketing ploy as a real thing. Fact is, cheap scopes break, especially on anything with significant recoil or spring surge. Most "airgun" scopes were not designed for airguns, they were designed for entry-level deer rifles.

Back in the day, the better NS/Bentley/Hakko/Optima/Beeman/ASI/etc Japanese scopes all seemed to work well on mainstream springers. Maybe not on Webley Patriots or Theoben Eliminators.

Ultimately, you have bought an old good scope for about 10-25% of what a scope of equivalent quality would cost new. It is worth a punt on a springer. Which springer?