JSR 3-9x50 PX Pro IR

[Hellequin]

This is my first go at a review so I hope it's of some use to someone...

I bought a new "Bargain Basement" scope from JS Ramsbottom and tried it out for the first time today, however I'll start from the point of order!
As most will already know, JSR are good to deal with. The scope arrived by standard delivery less than 5 days after ordering and the order went in on a Friday night so I'd consider that good service.
It was well packaged in firstly a plain cardboad box, then bubble wrap, then another box with the scope details/pictures on the outside. It came with flip up lens covers, sun shade, a lens cloth, instructions and 2 batteries for the illumination. The flip ups are plastic and not the best quality but for this price I can't complain at that!

On unwrapping I was pleased to see that the overall length of the scope wasn't excessive (something important to me as it was going on my 95k) and that the general quality looked good. The zoom and PX rings were slightly tight to turn but smooth. I mounted the scope on the 95 and had to make a few adjustments as the eye relief is quite short, almost too short really. The optics were nice and clear, better than I expected for the money anyway! The reticle has four thick posts then a very fine central cross with the mildots (more of that later) and also two colours of illumination. You can have red or green and it's turned on and adjusted for brightness by a sidewheel, levels 1-5 but really the first 2 are bright enough, level 5 makes the cross and mildots a bit fuzzy.

I took the gun out to zero today and started at 10yds. The scope turrets are lockable and have to be "undone" slightly with an allen key (provided with scope) in order to adjust the POI. I'd already roughly optically centered the scope (I wound it all the way out, counted 440 clicks in total and wound back 220) so got straight on with it, setting the PX ring to 10yds and mag to 9x. The first group of 3 went an inch low and the same amount to the right. Another 6 shots and it was bang on, so far so good.
I then moved out to 30yds which is my preferred zero for a 12ftlb .22, and adjusted the PX ring accordingly. There isn't a 30yd mark on the ring, it goes from 20 straight to 35 so I had to use a bit of guesstimation for this. Anyway, three shots were fired and all went about 4-5 inches low!
I moved back to 10yds, adjusted the mag to 3x and it still went way out. I then re-zeroed with the PX ring on my 30yd "guess point" and shot groups at 10, 20, 30 and 40yds, all were fine and consistent. I then adjusted the PX ring back to 10yds and the POI shifted again.
I'm not sure if this is something which has happened to other JSR scopes but it seems to be a fault with this one.

The gun and scope were shooting fine if the PX ring was left alone, I had no trouble at all hitting my pigeon spinner at 30yds every time so I went off in search of tree rats. Just over 3 hours later, 3 squirrels in the bag and I was happy. I'd missed a couple but that was neither the gun or scope at fault, just me.
I was out until 4pm and have to say that the optics on this scope are very impressive, clear pretty much to the edge and nice and bright. The woods I shoot can get quite dark which is one reason I chose this scope, for the 50mm objective and the IR. As I said before the cross hair and mildots are quite fine so it can be easy to "lose" them. I tried the illum which helped a bit in certain circumstances, but not always. I'll have to see how that one goes the more I shoot it I guess.

Well that's about it for now really so to sum up...

Good points-

Value. At 65 quid you get a lot of scope for your money.
Optics. Nice and clear, as good as some much more expensive scopes I've had.
Useful illuminated reticle.
Accessories. Flip ups, batteries, sun shade, lens cloth & allen key all included.

Not so good-

Shifting POI when the PX ring is used.
Eye relief is possibly too short, personal taste on that one though.

Undecided-

Reticle. It might be just a bit too fine, time will tell on that one.


Overall I have to say the scope is good value, despite the shifting POI when the PX ring is turned. It has nice bright optics, decent magnification for legal limit hunting and seems to be robust enough to stay on the 95. I've thought about contacting JSR over the POI shifting but may just keep the scope as it is, I don't really use the PX anyway.

That's it. I'm no longer a review virgin Let me know if I've missed owt and how I got on...

ATB
Paul

Update as of 07/12/07 Well I've now sent the scope back to JSR to be checked and tested to see if it's faulty. Having thought about it, even a 65 quid scope should work properly when you buy it new and the POI shift when using the PX ring was too much to "just put up with". I will post a further update when I hear from JSR.