Hi

[Adam Norrie]

I’m a falconer who has got back in to air rifles. More out of necessity, I have good populations of grey partridges on the various farms where I fly my falcon, but the crow and magpie numbers are rising. I would like to see the greys stay at the numbers they currently are so I need to give them a helping hand. I have been looking at the HW100 .177 carbine, crikey, the last gun I had was a Wembley Omega .22, a great rifle that took great shots at very good ranges. I will be applying for my FAC, but that will take some time, so the HW will fill the gap. Just need to narrow down a very good scope. Any advise would be appreciated. Thank you.

[TonyL]

Hi Adam and a very warm welcome.

I'm not a scope tart but, when I looked recently, I noticed that there were some special offers on the fine Nikko Stirling 3-9x40AO Panamax. I'd love one of these and, if I had the available budget, would be snapping one up whilst still available. I think I saw them on offer at sub £80?

I'm actually happy with a good quality 32mm objective lens, it's just that that Nikko seems amazing value and I like the scope when I've tried them. That's a decent range of available magnifications for real world use, in my book, plus an objective that isn't overly large. Nice and clear optics, too, although that can often prove to be a personal thing, so you could really do with having a good look through one, which might prove tricky at the moment.

Enjoy your return to our wonderful sport / hobby.

[rapidresponse1]

welcome to the forum bud

[gsxrman]

Hi Adam

Nice choice of rifle.
I would pair it with a nice Bausch & Lomb(Bushnell) Elite 4200 6-24, so you can Range Find too which comes in handy as Maggies and greys are a smaller target than you think.
Or, see what the HFT boys like at the minute and use the 10x Mag in/out of focus method.

[angrybear]

I’m a falconer who has got back in to air rifles. More out of necessity, I have good populations of grey partridges on the various farms where I fly my falcon, but the crow and magpie numbers are rising. I would like to see the greys stay at the numbers they currently are so I need to give them a helping hand. I have been looking at the HW100 .177 carbine, crikey, the last gun I had was a Wembley Omega .22, a great rifle that took great shots at very good ranges. I will be applying for my FAC, but that will take some time, so the HW will fill the gap. Just need to narrow down a very good scope. Any advise would be appreciated. Thank you.

Scopes are a very personal choice, don't buy without trying several, your eye is not my eye, what is crystal clear to one of us may be a blurred mess to the other.
The same is true of the reticle, some people want the most basic dot or cross, while others want multiple aim points & windage marks, ultra fine lines or thick heavy ones, illuminated ret ?, first or second focal plane
and of course price range Once you start going up the price range you realise how poor some of the cheaper models are.


Make sure you're up to date with the conditions on the general licences before shooting prey.

[Neil54]

If you buy a named brand like Hawke you can't go far wrong.
Generally the more you pay the better the glass.
You may not notice any difference on a sunny day but at dusk the better glass comes into its own, but that is only the last half hour of daylight.

[Adam Norrie]

Really appreciate the reply’s regarding what scope I should go for. I have been looking at the Hawks scopes, seems a lot of the package deals with HW100’s come with choice of Hawke scope.
I would try some out but lockdown doesn’t allow that. To be honest, I won’t put cost ahead of a good scope, I don’t want to changing it a couple of months down the road, so I would rather spend and be happy.
General license will be applied for. 👍

[gsxrman]

At the end of the day though it is all your choice really.
Good glass is good glass and looks good with all eyes.
Poor glass is poor glass and only looks ok with poor eyes.
I would choose quality of glass over magnification, coupled with good mounts and good rifle, you are onto a winner.