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I know this is subjective - but what are decent, what are a waste of money and what is a good scope capable up to 1000yds.

Probably a popcorn moment for some, but interested to know from those that have bought and hated or loved.

First thing is always going to be your budget. But in my humble opinion a Sightron S3 8-32×56 takes some beating.

Alan

My budget only reaches out to 200m, but at short ranges there are loads of quite adequate, cheap sights. Nikkos and Hawkes in the sub £200 category work fine for range use.

(Not what you asked I know, but just my limited experience)

I would also suggest Sightron, they are well priced work well and there is good UK support from the importer not that I know of it ever needing to have been used :)

Spencer54 wrote:I know this is subjective - but what are decent, what are a waste of money and what is a good scope capable up to 1000yds.

Probably a popcorn moment for some, but interested to know from those that have bought and hated or loved.

OK - 1000 yards - if you want to hit it you need to be able to see it - I would suggest a minimum of 32 power. As many scope are of the 'zoom' variety - I would look for an 8-32.

At the bottom of the range we have the Chinese scopes - some are cheap i.e around £150 - others, with a bit more marketing like Nikko Sterling and Hawke, ramp the price up to £500.

Next, we come into the decent scopes - like Sightron who offer excellent value but think £800.

Thirdly, we get into the quality market - expect to pay between £1000 and £2500. Think Nightforce, Leupold, March, Schmidt & Bender, Japanese Vortex etc.

Some of the Chinese scopes are highly 'shootable' but don't pay too much for the same product with a different label on it. If you want a good honest Chinese for £125 try one of Fox Firearms offerings. Then, when you know a bit more about scopes and have had a look through a few high-end scopes you will be better placed to make a decision for your first 'proper' scope.

OK I'll give Fox a look, and once I'm rolling Sightron - ive heard nothing but good things about sightron.

Anyone have any experience of the SWFA offerings the web if full of decent reviews for them.

I had a bad experience with a sightron on an NRA owned RPA .308 which wouldn't track, but who knows what had been done to it - would have been fine when new I am sure. For sub £200 you can't really go wrong with hawke, but I would suggest spending a bit more on vortex, or if you want to spend more than that, sightron, then nightforce, and at the top of the pile march. Depends on how rich you are feeling :-)

Sightron all the way. You can pay 2 - 3 times more if you want to, but you won't get any more scope for the money.

The Fox 10-40x50 is OK, but you're going to struggle to use it out to 1000 yards. It's definitely the cheapest of the 'possibles'.

Some of the Hawke range is very good, too. The Endurance is very good value for money at around £350, but again, you might struggle at the really long distances.

The 8-32 Fox scope is more than usable out to 1000 yds - you will not 'struggle' in any way (it's a better scope than the 10-40 version) A visit to Diggle Ranges on any 1000 yd day will verify that.

But, it's Chinese - don't expect Nightforce, Sightron, March quality but optically, it's more than adequate at 1000 yards.

Yes - you can pay a lot more for Hawke and other Chinese offerings but why?

There is currently a falcon menace x25 scope o sake on the airgunbbs site for under 200 I used an 18x version on sunday to 1000 yds without any problems other than the wind! If you are starting out then all you need to do is are the target! I shoot with people who have spent 2k on scopes and great as they are they dont help that much with the wind! In my opinion the menace range are very underated and punch well above their weight.