Spotting Scopes

[The Rattler]

I was an avid hunter in grade school and high school in the late 50's through the late 60's, but did not shoot a firearm again until early this year. Among my guns are 3 long rifles. I only shoot them at gun ranges because I now live in a big city. The only time I ever used a spotting scope was about 2 months ago. It was borrowed.

All of my long guns have iron sights (no scopes) and my gun range will not let me fire the guns at distances longer than 50 yards. However, some ranges may let me shoot at longer distances, say 100 yards.

I would like to buy a spotting scope to fit my needs, but I am a total novice about such scopes and have no instincts about the subject. I would like to spend less than $300 on the scope and small tripod.

Can anyone give me advice about this? Are such set ups available in that price range? If so, what brands are recommended and where would you suggest that I find them?

I have read and even studied the information entitled "How To Choose A Spotting Scope For Shooting," found at http://www.opticsplanet.com/howto/ho...-shooting.html, but that is about all I know about the subject. What other characteristics should I be looking for?

Any comments or advice will be greatly appreciated. My knowledge is close to nothing so a little guidance is needed.

[zukiphile]

I am not an expert, but perhaps my recent experience will make more sense to you since I am also in the shallow end of the knowledge pool.

First, I thought it was important to eschew the sort of creeping optics snobbery that can arise from too much Internet shopping. I too spent a lot of time looking at spotting scopes at Optics Planet. The problem with looking at a lot of $300 scopes is that after a while the $600 scopes do not look all that expensive, and after a while one wonders whether he should just buy a $1200 scope.

I have found a sub $70 20-60x 60mm spotting scope wearing the widely detested "Simmons" label to be completely adequate for finding 22 caliber bullet holes at 100 yards. The tripod that came with it is another story. The 12 or $15 tripod that comes free with a lot of spotting scopes should be tossed, or saved for use with a chronograph.

When I started this process, I thought "I will try the cheap tripod first and then see if I really need anything better". The problem is that the cheap tripod is so rickety that you would not be able to get a clear image out of the very best spotting scopes if they were sitting on that sort of tripod. With my cheap spotting scope, I can read a license plate from 300 yards, but not if it is jiggling.

How does one keep his spotting scope from jiggling? I have found two viable solutions. If one is shooting off the top of his car, resting the spotting scope on a sandbag or pad seems to work very well. If one is shooting at a range, a large and heavy tripod with a really stable head works.

Do you want to spend $100 or $200 on a tripod? Of course you do not. I followed the advice of one of the other writers here and found one secondhand on craigslist for $10. This was a fellow 15 min. from my home who had been a videographer for a band. A telephone call and an hour later and I had a very large tripod that had seen better days, but was completely adequate for my use.

My experience is only one data point for you, but I hope it helped.

[The Rattler]

Thanks, Zukiphile, for your prompt reply. Any other responses will be very much appreciated too.

Zukiphile is "talking my language." I just want something functional for my present purposes. I want it to be inexpensive because whenever I buy something for the first time, I find out later what refinements or improvements I would be willing to pay for in a 2d item. Now, I don't know enough to know what those items are. Of course, I may not even need another scope.

If I don't know much about spotting scopes, I know much less about tripods and their attributes. I note where Zukiphile bought a used one on Craigslist. That's a good idea, but I do not know what to look for or what to avoid. Can you, or anyone else, help me out there? Is there some place on line that I can read about it?

Thank you very much.

[zukiphile]

Shopping for tripods is no easier than shopping for spotting scopes. There are a lot of gizmos available on spotting scopes, fluid action heads, pistol grips, etc., that one just does not need.

I like the tripod to be heavy enough that I do not inadvertently tip it over. Fortunately, video tripods tend to be pretty heavy. The really important feature though is that the head should lock up and be very stable. That is hard to get in a cheaper, all plastic head. However, if the head is rated for something much heavier than your spotting scope, a video camera for instance, it should suffice.

Some people buy very expensive tripods, which tend to be lighter, then hang a weight on the tripod to make it more stable. I imagine that works well, but I have never tried it.

[wogpotter]

A suggestion if I may gents.
In Optics you pretty much get what you pay for. Better glass, better fittings & so on cost money so you want a high resolution set of glass. Not fancy bells & whistles which you also pay for.

There is a source of high quality telescopes at reasonable prices though.

Amateur astronomers! Those guys just love fancy bells & whistles like computer aided tracking & so on which you don't want or need. Try what I did. Check for a used, good condition telescope of about a 3" ~ 4 1/2" mirror configuration. Don't buy into the fancy mounts, just go for a good brand like "Meade" or "Celestron". They frequently come with several different eyepieces & the image quality is, frankly astounding. Mine shows clearly .30 cal holes in white paper at 200yds. I have 3 eyepieces that came with it & they give 36, 72 & 128 X magnification, which is way more than enough. Its the QUALITY you need, not a bigger, but fuzzier image. Most telescope makers frankly exaggerate the power to nutty degrees, most of which are so blurry as to be useless. There was a rule of thumb in telescopes. "You get 20X per inch of front glass diameter" keep that in mind when you see that 90mm but 250X mag advert.

You will have to buy a couple of accessories to convert from astronomy to spotting, like an "Erecting Prism", but you're still looking at a total budget of under $200~$300 simply because they are "obsolete" for astronomers if they don't have all the latest fancy gadgets fitted & that drive the price way way down.

Here is my $180 setup.


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[g.willikers]

Or you can just use a decent pair of binoculars.
At 100 yards, my hefty ten power works just fine, as long as it's adjusted correctly and held steady.
It was made/sold by one of the major camera companies and cost less than $100.
The type of target, color and thickness, and the light, all have a lot to do with how easy the holes are to see.

[jmhyer]

Yes. I would submit that for <200yards, something like this is all you would ever need.

http://www.telescopes.com/binoculars...podpackage.cfm