Compact scopes for springers - advice please

[Jacklurcher]

Morning all.

I have a HW97K (sub 12 ftlb), which I bought secondhand with a Hawke Fastmount 3-9 x 50 scope already fitted. As I understand it the 'Fastmount' scopes are a budget version of the Vantage, with a 2 piece tube and less layers of coating on the lenses.

I'm fairly happy with the scope, although it does seem to have blurry areas at longer ranges and higher magnifications. It's also a bit big for the rifle (IMHO), and the objective sits a bit too close to the loading port when it comes to loading.

I'm thinking about fitting a more compact scope, first thought was a Hawke Airmax 30 4-16 x 44 side focus. There's a great guarantee, it's rated for springers, looks a good reticle, gets good write ups, although I have seen some commenting on very stiff parallax and IR adjustment.

As a bit of a wildcard there's the vector optics Veyron 4-16x44 ffp. Specs wise looks similar to the Hawke, and is FFP rather than SFP, which seems nice. 5 year guarantee, says 'suitable for air rifles' but doesn't specify that it's rated for springers. Again generally positive reviews, but it seems suspiciously cheap (to my mind) at £180 from optics warehouse.

Other factor is that I wear glasses. I believe compact scopes have a smaller 'eyebox' when it comes to getting a good sight picture, not sure if that could be an issue for me.

Any thoughts or personal experiences with the above, or similar, scopes would be extremely welcome.

[clipper]

I have the Airmax 30SF Compact 4-16x44 on all four of my springers (2 TX's, ProSport, HW80) and the 6-24 on my HW100

Nice and clear, only thing that was stiff on mine initially was the rotary illumination control

I wear glasses, varifocals, and have had no issue with the rear lens (40mm from memory?).. providing head and eye alignment are good you should have no issues

My only criticism is that the reticle is very fine; clearly marked, very usable, but on a darker target or background could get lost - switch on the illumination and its not a problem at all

[CapitalBee]

I've tried a lot of the larger scopes on my springers, but have gone back to the good old 2-7x32 in most cases. For general plinking and hunting, they'll meet your requirements.

[flyingfish]

Optisan cp for me. About to buy a third

[Travis299]

I agree with what the others have said about the Hawke Airmax 4-16 x 44 mm IR, SF scope which has been excellent for me with no problems after about 9K shots at 17 FPE with my HW95 .22.



This model was not yet available when I purchased the 44 mm model and may be of interest to you.

https://uk.hawkeoptics.com/airmax-30...40-amx-ir.html

Scope specs for reference.

[foby75]

I have a Hawke 4-16 x 44 on sale as I am hugely reducing my springer collection but I think they are superb scopes. Have owned and returned two Veyron FFPs to OPW - really disappointed in both optically, poor eye box, but it was ropey IR that led to the returns, The Hawke IR is excellent, and complements the fantastic fine reticle which is great for hunting, plinking and targets. Have also owned and sold 2 Optisan Cps 10 x 32 and a 3-12 x 32 - nice scopes but no IR. I wear varifocals and have no problems with the Hawke Compacts, the Opticians were ok in that respect and the Veyrons were terrible.

[cptman]

I agree with what the others have said about the Hawke Airmax 4-16 x 44 mm IR, SF scope which has been excellent for me with no problems after about 9K shots at 17 FPE with my HW95 .22.



This model was not yet available when I purchased the 44 mm model and may be of interest to you.

https://uk.hawkeoptics.com/airmax-30...40-amx-ir.html

Scope specs for reference.

These are flippin awesome, I have two

[Murphy]

4 X 40.

[Jacklurcher]

This model was not yet available when I purchased the 44 mm model and may be of interest to you.

https://uk.hawkeoptics.com/airmax-30...40-amx-ir.html

Scope specs for reference.

Thanks very much for that. For a sub 12ftlb rifle 3-12 seems a better fit than 4-16 magnification. I'm assuming with a 30mm tube the image should be reasonably bright.

Thank for all the replies. Food for though, although I'll obviously need a look through one before splashing the cash!

[PaulH]

I have the 3-12 x 50 MTC Copperhead on my HW 97k a very nice clear optic

[PCPShooter]

I've tried a lot of the larger scopes on my springers, but have gone back to the good old 2-7x32 in most cases. For general plinking and hunting, they'll meet your requirements.

As above


Not sure what decent 2-7 s are around now, Nikon Gen 1 were FANTASTIC, Vortex 2-8 SF Excellent too
I'm not keen on Airmax Hawke

The cheap Wolf's get good reviews _

[4end]

Morning all.

I have a HW97K (sub 12 ftlb), which I bought secondhand with a Hawke Fastmount 3-9 x 50 scope already fitted. As I understand it the 'Fastmount' scopes are a budget version of the Vantage, with a 2 piece tube and less layers of coating on the lenses.

I'm fairly happy with the scope, although it does seem to have blurry areas at longer ranges and higher magnifications. It's also a bit big for the rifle (IMHO), and the objective sits a bit too close to the loading port when it comes to loading.

I'm thinking about fitting a more compact scope, first thought was a Hawke Airmax 30 4-16 x 44 side focus. There's a great guarantee, it's rated for springers, looks a good reticle, gets good write ups, although I have seen some commenting on very stiff parallax and IR adjustment.

As a bit of a wildcard there's the vector optics Veyron 4-16x44 ffp. Specs wise looks similar to the Hawke, and is FFP rather than SFP, which seems nice. 5 year guarantee, says 'suitable for air rifles' but doesn't specify that it's rated for springers. Again generally positive reviews, but it seems suspiciously cheap (to my mind) at £180 from optics warehouse.

Other factor is that I wear glasses. I believe compact scopes have a smaller 'eyebox' when it comes to getting a good sight picture, not sure if that could be an issue for me.

Any thoughts or personal experiences with the above, or similar, scopes would be extremely welcome.

Only one place to look, Ali Express, if you cannot find one to your liking on there it does not exist. Find your scope, check all of the reviews not only AE ones but generally. If the scope is with Bestsight, Westhunter, CL Sports or direct from the manufacturer they should be good, I have purchased from all of them. Vector and Visionking have sites on there and any scope from them will be much cheaper than buying similar in the UK.

[Squirreler]

Check out the specification of the Veyron on the Vector Optics web site. I have 3-12x44 in FFP and SFP. Don't be fooled by the price, they are compact 245mm and the build quality is excellent as are the lenses. They are shock tested to 750g so fine on a springer.

Cheers, Phil

[bootneckbob]

I have a 97 although it's rigged for FT and running a Leupold 20-50. I also have a Umarex M4 running the Elltech Veyron 4-16x44 which I bought as a cheap compact scope for the M4 springer (break barrel). Scope is great bearing in mind I'm used to Leupold glass. I would say being FFP x10 is great for the ret, winding down to x4 obviously opens up the picture, but the ret is very fine indeed. x16 is quite chunky but still good. The M4 is hardly a refined springer and the scope is fine; to good for the rifle if I'm honest.

[ricardolamos]

I have a Hawke 4-16 x 44 SF and it is a very nice,clear scope with a good reticle.The only thing which would be a useful addition is IR and you need to go up to the Airmax level to get this.

The Airmaxes are very good scopes,as are the MTC Copperheads and I have personal experience of both.

Quite a few folk at my club have Westhunters but I have no personal experience with them.