Bad eyes,,so expensive scopes?

[joeranger]

I just bought a Thomson Center fire 6.8 when it was on sale at Bass Pro. ($250) I have always bought expensive guns and put cheep glass on them. I now have the ability to buy good glass. My eyesight is going so i am thinking spend more on the scope.
I am thinking 2-300 max, small game. Some paper punching. $1,000 max?
Will a good scope compensate for my eyesight?

[jclayto]

Check out Athlon Optics. Very good glass at affordable prices. I own the Argos 6-24 and it is impressive.

[Onward Allusion]

It's the scope. Clear glass allows me to do 1 MOA from a 10/22 at 100 yards on a windless day. Spend the bucks. Definitely worth it for older eyes.

[hounddawg]

You can get some decent glass for less than 500.In that price range I am partial to Clearidges. Clearidge is not a well known brand outside of the air rifle community, but they are excellent quality scopes for the money. They are some tough son of a guns, if a scope can stand up to a spring operated air rifle they can stand up to anything. I have two one of which is going on 15 years old now and been on everything from a .22LR to a 300 Win mag and still tracks as good as the day I first put it on. The newest one is on my AR10. Clearidge uses decent Japanese glass and are assembled in Michigan. You might want to look into the Ultra XP5 with a German #4 reticle, it is easy on old eyes yet still fine enough for target use.

http://www.clearidgeoptics.com/ultra-xp5-s/1819.htm

Here is a good article on the German #4 Reticle and why you want to consider it - https://thenewrifleman.com/why-the-g...4-still-rocks/

edited for clarity

[NoSecondBest]

See an ophthalmologist and get an eye exam. Get glasses that correct visual aberrations. No matter what you spend on a scope, a scope will not correct the myriad of visual imperfections you can have with your eyes. You may have early onset cataracts also. It’s nice to own better/higher end scopes, but they simply aren’t a way around vision correction. Once you get your eyes as good as they can be made, look at scopes then and you’ll be surprised how good the quality is on many less expensive scopes.

[Hawg]

You can get a good Leupold with a lifetime warranty for around 300.

[Logs]

Most of my optics are Leupold and some I bought preowned so saved money there and they are great scopes. The higher power ones past 12X start to get expensive, but I am sure they are worth it depending on your application. Most of my Leupolds are 3x9 or 4x12.

I picked up a Athlon off Amazon several months ago and felt it was a bit heavy and didn't focus very well at short distances like 25 feet which is what my indoor 22 range is. I put it on my Ruger 10/22 and it works good enough.

I bought a used Vortex 6-24x50 off ebay used for $200. So far it was worked for me very well from 25 feet to about 110 yards which is as far as I can shoot on my property. The front objective allows me to dial in the focus for different distances. I see no reason something like this would not work for what you are wanting to do.

Good Luck

[jmr40]

You can get a decent scope in the $200 range. The Burris FF-IV is the only thing under $200 that I've found to be acceptable and it isn't much under $200. Most everything else much under $200 is probably a waste of time.

In my opinion the $300-$500 scopes are the sweet spot. With optics I've found that most everything at a certain price point is very similar in quality. It comes down to which features are important to you.

Thing to consider are eye relief, weight, length, reticle design, and how easy the controls are to use. Some scopes are either too long, or too short to work well on some rifles. On a hunting rifle most guys try to keep the weight reasonable. Not so important on a target rifle.

Don't go crazy with high magnification. Lots of guys with poor eyesight think more magnification will help. Once you get above about 10X there are some negatives. If I had $400 to spend you will get a better quality 3-9X40 scope for $400 than a 4-14X40 scope at the same price

[hounddawg]

jmr40 pretty much nailed it on every point. Too much magnification can bite you on the rear in mirage conditions and when hunting. Too large a scope can throw the rifle off balance and require the scope be mounted too high for a good repeatable cheek weld. Too thick a reticle or too gimicky a reticle can obscure the target, too thin a reticle can be hard to find in a hunting situation.

[Nathan]

In this range, I have 2 Vortex PST Gen 2 optics at $600-$800 that are really good optics. I have tried the Vortex Viper $400 and it was as good optically, but had too basic of a reticle for long range. Also, I have a Sightron SIII Benchrest scope that is exceptionally clear at about $900. They make other lower power scopes that are clear. I’ve tried Athlon $650. Optics were very good, but the reticle was a bit thick to my eyes. Of course I replaced it with a thinner ffp reticle that is hard to see at low power without turning the light on!

For your ranges, it would be great I think you have to decide capped turrets or exposed and if a more expensive reticle beyond duplex offers any value.

Once you decide reticle, turret style, then I find most scopes in a certain weight and price range to be close optically. Some like Athlon might be $100 or so cheaper for the same level performance. Unfortunately, you have to buy a lot of scopes to find out the differences optically.

I can only tell the difference between pretty good $200 and very good $800 in the shade, mirage, and making tough dialing shots. There is no optical judgement that you can make in the store. And unfortunately, while we all list the scopes we like, it is based on our eyes and how we think the images should look.

[std7mag]

As was mentioned, a scope isn't going to correct your vision.
It just magnifies.

Otherwise, try to get the best scope that you can afford.

I have lesser expensive ($100) scopes that i use to hunt with.
Some are better than others. The majority of my scopes are in the $200-300 range.
I tend to stay away from adjustable objective scopes.
Getting set up, and having to then reach out to the front of the scope to adjust it is a PITA to me. And that's at the range. In a hunting situation, no way!

From my experience.

Leupolds are nice, but pricy for what they are.
Vortex Crossfire IIs give decent quality for your money. But flare out fairly easy.
I got rid of the Diamondbacks, as they were no better than the Crossfire for double the price.
Sightron has really decent glass for the price. And they have good turrets. Common complaint is the fine reticle, but i like them.
Burris Full Field has been a really good scope for the money. Good glass, decent turrets.
Again, fine reticle.

I've recently started using Crimson Trace.
I picked up one of their discontinued Series 2.
And looking hard at their new Hardline series.

[stinkeypete]

My scope corrects my vision. I just change the focus to match my eye, and now I don't need my glasses to shoot.

It's not going to correct floaters or cataracts, of course.

I would not spend more than $300 on a scope, as you can get some nice scopes for that money. Leupold, Burris and Swift for me.

[RC20]

IMPORTANT: If you scope has Parallax adjustment on it, not matter how high end, the settings may not be right for real target focus. You may have to set it for 150 yds at 100, or 75 yards at 100 yard target.
The newer type side Knob type is the Parallax. The Front Parallax is the same in a different location, once you learn to ignore the distance and get the target clear, a lot of cross hair issues are gone.
Look at your target, turn that front or side focus until the target is clear, then your cross hairs will work right (mostly, some may have issues with some cross hair or dot)
The difference is that the ocular is the reticle/cross hair/dot focus and the Parallax is the target focus. Get the Parallax first then the cross hairs/dot.
The cross hair /dot focus may change a bit depending on the lighting conditions and need adjusting. Not an issue on thick cross hairs (my experience)


You need to break this down in some logical groupings.

What I do know is my eyes do not like some scopes (Leupold included). Something about the cross hairs just don't focus right.

That said, a higher end scope gives you much clearer clarity. As noted by others, there are sleepers out there.

Hunting: 3-9 and good solid cross hairs. I have put two Redfield Revolution scopes on the family hunting guns. Solid. But they are NOT target scopes.

Target Shooting: Dilemma city. You want thin cross hairs or (better for me) a dot. You don't want the cross hairs to disappear.
I have two true target scopes.

NightForce: That is the best one, 8-32 with a dot. I can sight on a 3/8 circle at 100 yard with it (the dot is like 1/8 MOA. Its parallax is not accurate, once I figured that out (learned from reading) its been stellar as the dot is clear (yes I have to adjust the ocular to make the dot clear)
I do not go full magnification, 18 works with that scope as its so clear.

Cabella's: My sleeper, 6-20 power, 1/8 inch clicks, a bit busy reticle but easily sees the 1/2 inch clear inside (black border) target squares. I can use the vertical dots on the 3/8 Rounds.

[std7mag]

Sharpness of the reticle isn't done with the paralax adjustment.
It's done with the diopter adjustment at the eyepiece.

[RC20]

Please read the post again.

I noted that Target Focus is done with Parallax and that reticle focus is done with the Ocular.

I will amend the cross hair issue. If your target focus is not good, then the Ocular focus for cross hair is also not good, it keeps shifting and or changing.

Get the target focused via Parallax and then you can adjust the Ocular to get a sharp reticle/cross hair /dot and good to go.

That may change in different lighting conditions and need a bit of adjustment but it will adjust vs erratic and a constantly shifting problem with the target out of focus.