Could this $65 scope be a real sleeper?

[Te Anau]

http://www.walmart.com/ip/CenterPoin...Scope/10248654
&
http://centerpoint.crosman.com/rifle...ure/CPA416AORG

Ive recently been researching $100 illuminated reticle scopes and during my quest this scope repeatedly pops up at forums all over the web as being an amazing scope for the money.People talk about it out of the blue when someone is asking about a completely different scope.The people who highly recommend it are using it on everything from .22lr up to .300 Win mag.My local Wal-Mart has them on the shelf as we speak.

[rickyrick]

I have a centerpoint plain ole red dot on one of my shotguns. The bushnell banner was on the shelf too when I bought it

[Doyle]

I've got a hunting buddy that swears by them.

[black mamba]

If it's even reasonably good, then for $65 it's a bargain. I wouldn't expect it to hold up to a lot of recoil, or be very bright at dawn and dusk.
For 90% of hunting it would probably be OK, but it's the other 10% of the time that most game is taken.

[Mobuck]

I've used a lot of low priced scopes over the years and some were adequate for most purposes. If a Walmart $65 scope was much good, I'd be super surprised. The price at Wally would be 40-50% higher than the equivalant quality at a mail order like Natchez or MidSouth.

[viciouskitty]

I have one of those Its been on my 10-22 for 2 years it also served a brief stint on my AR. It has performed superbly glass is clear out to 600 yards the only time it gets a little fuzzy is at 16x at close range. Thats to much magnification for me anyway. With my 22 i can make hits with it out to 200 yards easy. I know a guy who uses it on his AR out to 600 yards and he loves it.

[Doyle]

The price at Wally would be 40-50% higher than the equivalant quality at a mail order like Natchez or MidSouth

You mean Wally would be 40-50% lower than Natches or MidSouth right?

[wnycollector]

I have a CenterPoint 2-7x32 scope on my CMMG .22 upper and two CenterPoint 3-9x32 scopes w/AO on two .22 rifles. All three scopes cost me a total of ~$100 They have held zero for ~2 years and several thousand rounds. I even had the 2-7 scope on my Saiga 5.45x39 for ~1K rounds with no ill effects or loss of zero.

[Mobuck]

in my experience Wally will be higher even with shipping on the others cause you'll have to pay sales tax which will likely be 1/2 of shipping

[GONIF]

At that price you don't have much to Lose . Save the reciept just in case .

[Mike38]

I had a Simmons scope on a .223 Handi Rifle. After about 10 years the scope finally gave up the ghost. So I installed a Center Point 4.5-16x40 that I picked up from WalMart. So far, 300 rounds later, it’s still working fine, but that’s not much of a test of longevity. With this Center Point scope, I did get the best group I ever have with this rifle. 100 yards, 5 shot group size measured 0.515 inches. Not bad for a $200 rifle and a $75 scope.

[Loader9]

If you don't mind that it's an air gun scope, Crosman Adventure Series to be exact, then it should be a winner. But I'd avoid putting one on a magnum rifle.

[Palmetto-Pride]

Like others have said at that price your not taking much risk and save the receipt I think Wal-Mart has a 90 day return policy on scopes. So every 89 days just take it back and start your warranty over.............

[JerryM]

I learned many years to refrain from buying cheap scopes for hunting rifles. Some may do OK when the weather is good, but when hunting in snow or freezing cheap scoped are likely to fog.

I suppose a cheap scope on a .22 for squlrell hunting would work, but not for any serious hunting.

Jerry

[b5.5dan]

The Center Points are incredible little scopes. I got one for my 10/22 and decided I would give it a shot on some of my other rifles. It's held up great so far, and since I got the $60 model for my 10/22, I'm VERY strongly considering the big brother for the 30/06.

I don't think anyone is going to say that this will outshine Nikon glass or beat out a $1k scope. No one would argue that. However, if you have that kind of bread to spend on a scope, you won't be looking at this anyway. If you have ~$150 to spend on one, I would recommend spending $60 or $70 on this and buying a few extra boxes of ammo.

Good stuff!

[Fusion]

Here is a good review.
http://www.opticstalk.com/centerpoin...opic25025.html

I had one after reading so much good about it, and although I let it go with a gun, I would purchase another one if I needed something to put it on.

The one I had tracked nearly perfectly and was repeatable which really surprised me. It also seemed pretty durable although I never was really that hard on it. It never lost zero for me though. Plus you get a lot of features for the money. In these departments, I felt it was great for the money.

What I felt it was severely lacking in was glass quality. I've heard people saying it was as good as the glass in the Bushnell Elite 3200, Nikons, etc, and all I can say is that anyone that says that has never actually owned any of the others mentioned. Honestly, the glass on the Simmons 8 Points and similar I've used has been a fair bit better. I found on lower powers like 4-10 it wasn't too bad, and was decent. It would work for nearly any hunting situation you got into, but it was lacking in low light. Past 10, the image quality started going downhill as the power went up. By the time you got to 14-16x it got to where unless you eye was perfect behind it, it looked really washed out looking. Almost like someone had thrown a smoke grenade in front of you. It was useable in broad daylight, but wasn't great and wouldn't be in any kind of low light situation.

That said, that was the only downside I saw to it, and like I said, the glass on the lower powers in most cases was fine, and I feel I could hunt to the end of legal hunting hours with it. It was really only the higher power range I thought was pretty bad, and even it was useable in daylight.


That said, I'd recommend it if the size isn't a problem (it's a pretty large scope) for your application and you don't need spectacular low light performance, and are on a budget it seems like a good option.

One other thing that worries me about it is the warranty. It has a lifetime warranty, but I think I remember reading that it requires the receipt and it seems like a lot of times these types of warranties are hard to get honored. I just wonder how it will be in 20 years.

If you are spending $150 like a poster above mentioned, and want a hunting scope I think you'd be much better off with a Burris FFII as you will be getting much much better glass, however if you need a tactical scope in that price range this does seem to be the way to go. Plus if you don't like it Walmart will take it back, so it's worth a try.

[L_Killkenny]

I've had a couple CP 2-7x's. Initial impression was that they were heavy and ugly. That never changed and never will. The first one I had wouldn't hold zero to save it's life, tried it on 2 guns. A .30-30 first but thought maybe the bad shooting was just the gun so next I put it on a 10/22 that's shooting qualities were known. No better, just a bad scope. Back to Walmart for #2. Still ugly and heavy but this one held point of aim and it's adjustments were consistent from click to click. Glass was OK but had a small FOV and you could actually see A LOT of the bell end thru the scope when shooting. More than likely this was because of the lit crosshairs but I've never noticed as obviously on any other scope.

Overall for $70 or so you can't complain. I'd say it felt more solid than a Simmons 8 Point (which I think is one of the worst scopes ever made) but not as good as the BSA's and other Simmons scopes I've owned.

While it may be cheaper online (haven't checked myself) there is no way you could talk me into buying one online. Their main advantage is they are sold a Walmart so if you get a bad one it's a cheap(gas money) and very easy exchange.

Basically, spend another $30 and you'll be happier.

LK

[kokopelli]

I would only worry about the reviews from people who actually own one- not what someone 'thinks' would/could/might happen...

I have the 50x on my .308 Howa. It has performed flawlessly, no fogging, clear view at all ranges, and yes- very visible in bright or low light.

I'm not marketing these things or trying to make myself feel better about my purchase. I was very skeptical about it, but I figured for the price I would try it out, and return it if it was crap. I put the scope on my Howa 1500 Ranchland -which is a compact, rubber Hogue stocked rifle in .30 that has the recoil of an elephant gun. I am very happy with it, and the next scope I buy will be a Centerpoint.

I've had/have Bushnell, Nikon, and Leupolds as well.

[hornetguy]

One other thing that worries me about it is the warranty. It has a lifetime warranty, but I think I remember reading that it requires the receipt and it seems like a lot of times these types of warranties are hard to get honored. I just wonder how it will be in 20 years.

If a 70 dollar scope did everything I wanted it to, then crapped out 20 years later.... I believe I'd just skip the warranty return option..

I DO see your point, though... I have a Leuopold that has locked up on me... won't adjust power at all. I need to send it back. It probably has had 200 rounds shot under it. Valid warranty service is a good thing. It's just that a $70 scope is sort of in the "disposable" class, in my opinion.

[timelinex]

There's nothing sleeper about it... It is what it is... Buying anything from walmart you can't go too wrong, if it doesnt work then you return it. I'm a big advocate with going with cheap scopes from walmart when your just starting out and not sure if your gonna stick with the sport...

But as I said there is nothing sleeper about it, it just does whats minimally needed for a scope to do. As long as you can see through it and it holds zero, then its good enough to shoot at regular distances. Which is 90% of the battle. If you want the other 10% thats when you really gotta start paying. Technological advances has made that minimum very easy to achieve for manufacturers.

I started with one of these from walmart on my 22. Everything seemed great but at the end of the day I figured out it wouldn't hold zero. Which is completely fine because I can go exchange it easily and chances are I'll get one that would hold zero. I ended up just returning it and getting a $150 'tactical' BSA from midway. It holds zero and has nice big turrets, the glass is sharp up to 50 yards and past that its fuzzy but I can still see what I'm aiming at so it works. Compared to the walmart one, I felt like it was AWESOME. Long story short, its currently on my 22 and still works. My next scope was a $500 vortex viper. It's much more clear than the BSA, has nicer turrets, a nice reticle, and many nice features. It made the BSA look like I was looking through a milk jug.
Now, I just replaced that vortex with a $1000 Dollar FFP vortex PST. It's super clear at distances(I shoot up to a mile occasionally), it has many more nice features than even the last viper, the turrets and reticle match, the reticle is very nice, its FFP and compared to all the other ones its MUCH more rugged and feels like it can be run over by a car. Overall, It does everything better than the last viper(even though the last viper was very nice as well).

No matter how many features or how nice the $1000 scope vs the $50 dollar one is, it aint gonna make the shot for me. So even though Im a big believer in the cheap optics having their place as long as they work, I wouldn't downgrade my new PST for anything. The $50 dollar scope will get me there but so will using irons. When you start having the need to find and hold onto a small target at 1760 yards, cranking the turrets back and forth for hours, ranging targets, doing holdovers and other things where clearer optics will help and more rugged design will prevent the turrets from failing. Thats when its just as nice going to the higher quality optics from a low quality one, just like its nice going from shooting irons to a scope. Let me tell you, there are people that shoot irons to 1000+ yards and will out shoot most of us, so its deinitly not a NEED to have any scope for that matter..

[Crankylove]

I have a 4-16x40 Centerpoint on a .30-06 I bought from my brother. The scope came on the gun, and I don't have a replacement for it yet........so it's still on the rifle.

Initial impression was that they were heavy and ugly. That never changed and never will.

Couldn't agree more.

Aside from the weight and size of the beast, he biggest gripe I have about mine is that when I turn up the magnification past about 7X, you get nothing but blurs in the scope. A big, heavy scope with lots of magnification I can deal with, but a big heavy scope that is stuck on 6X all the time is worthless.

As soon as I get the funds rounded up, it will get replaced by a 4-12X40 Redfield Revolution, or another Leupold Rifleman.

[shooter_john]

I built up my Savage .22 to replicate my .308's and I used one of the Wally World CenterPoints mainly so that I could stick with the mil dot reticle. I have been nothing but impressed with it FOR WHAT IT IS and FOR MY PURPOSE. I wouldn't put one on my .308's or any other serious use gun, but for a 'trainer' .22 it is very suitable and well worth the price paid.

[cwtitan]

I had one on a Marlin 795 .22 and it worked great. Seems like it does everything that a sub 100.00 scope should plus.

[Jeff56]

I've seen a lot of positive reviews of that scope from people who had them on everything from .22's to 30.06's and above. Being cheap doesn't always mean being bad. I have a Simmons scope that I paid just over $100 for that is an excellent scope. It does a great job with light gathering, it doesn't have any glaring distortion issues, and the AO adjustment works very well. I have it on my Savage 12 LRPV and it has never once lost zero. I had it on a 30.06 before that and it never lost zero there either. I shoot a quarter of a mile at the gun range with the LRPV and I can shoot 2" groups at that distance with it.

[tobnpr]

Thing is, a lot of guys shoot the same distance, at the same range, most- or all- of the time.

So, they zero at say, 100 yards, and never adjust the elevation or even the windage...

As long as the scope holds zero, there's never an issue...and the scope will "function" perfectly. It doesn't matter how clear the glass is, or how accurate the clicks are- they're never used.

Now, if you're a long range hunter, or target shooter, that's constantly dialing up twenty mils of elevation, and compensating for windage , that's when the precision and repeat-ability of better scopes becomes evident.

If that .25 MOA click is really .20, or is not exactly the same each time, any minor deviations at 100 yards quickly become evident when you multiply by ten when shooting at 1,000.