Looking for a scope

[onlyjourneyman]

My whisper came with a scope--if you want to call it that. I'm going to replace it with a better one.
I talked to a guy at a local gun store and he said that I would need a high end scope because of the "forward and reverse recoil"??? My silent response was "WTF??"
I'm spoiled by the top end glass on my deer rifle, but I don't think I need to spend 10 times the price of the air gun for a scope to shoot cans off the fence.....
Has anyone ever heard of this??
I REALLY don't have a problem digging out an extra Leupold, but I DO have a problem buying rings from this store if this sales guy is "B S'ing" me. (no pun intended)
I'd appreciate your feedback.

 

[Ritten]

If you were shooting a .338lm with a brake, then I could see having to take that into consideration, but on an air rifle??? Sounds like he might consider a Simmons to be a high end scope.

 

[Request Dust Off]

I have heard it plenty of times before according to several guys that supposedly know.

Air rifles can tear up scopes that are not rated for air rifles.
They may or may not depending in what scope/rifle combo.

If it is fact or BS I can't say firsthand. I would not risk a good scope to test the theory.

 

[Ritten]

I would not risk a good scope to test the theory.

I would.

 

[dirty_sanchez]

If you mount a scope that isn't designed to take the violent back and forth vibrations of a spring air gun discharge gives, you'll promptly kill the scope.

If you don't believe me, go ahead and mount that spendy centerfire/rimfire scope on a spring gun and let us know what happens.

If this new airgun of yours uses CO2 cartridges, or you pump it up like an old Benamin/Sheridan, a regular scope will survive.

I have a Simmons Pro Air 6-18x40 mounted on a Beeman R-7 that was worked over by Jim Maccari. It'll powderize baby asprin at 50 yards. This scope was designed for springers.

Dirty

 

[mike308]

Go to air gun express and get a air gun scope.

 

[Suburbazine]

You have to buy an airgun scope for airguns. Anything else will not stay set.

I use Bushmaster, but it's no longer produced.

 

[Ritten]

You have to buy an airgun scope for airguns. Anything else will not stay set.

Sorry, I gotta call BS on this one. I have a hard time imagining an air rifle spring action being more violent than the back/forth thrust of a braked .50BMG or other long range centerfire cartridge. An SWFA super sniper scope is rated for .50 BMG and does not claim to be an airgun scope. Any QUALITY scope should be able to handle a spring loaded air rifle, and with airgundepot.com listing BSA's as air gun scopes, it just proves my point.

 

[GIJeaux]

Sorry, I gotta call BS on this one. I have a hard time imagining an air rifle spring action being more violent than the back/forth thrust of a braked .50BMG or other long range centerfire cartridge. An SWFA super sniper scope is rated for .50 BMG and does not claim to be an airgun scope. Any QUALITY scope should be able to handle a spring loaded air rifle, and with airgundepot.com listing BSA's as air gun scopes, it just proves my point.

No BS guys. It has to do with the "forward" impact not the recoil. A conventional scope is made to only deal with rearward recoil as this is all it has to deal with. In a spring powered air rifle it must deal with both forward and rearward.

Pyramid Air is a site that can get you up to speed.


http://www.pyramydair.com/site/articles/scopes-part1/

http://www.pyramydair.com/site/articles/scopes-part2/

http://www.pyramydair.com/site/articles/scopes-part3/

Be well guys.
Al

p.s. They do take questions and give educated answers based on years of experience.

 

[GIJeaux]

And by the way BSA does make Air Rifle scopes that are reinforced specifically for use on spring powered air rifles. There is a difference.

The "SWFA super sniper scope is rated for .50 BMG" mentioned by ritten is probably not a standard scope either. onlyjourneyman says he does not want to spend 10 times the price of the air rifle for a scope so the above mentioned scope is probably not an option.

Like dirty sanchez points out, this is for spring powered guns and does not apply to CO2 or pump pneumatics.

Just some more info for you guys.
Be well.
Al

 

[Ritten]

Most braked magnum calibers will destroy cheap scopes in much the same way you see happening on the spring air rifles, however.....a quality built scope (high end Leupolds, Bushnells, SS, Nikon, on up) are built to handle both rear and forward recoil.

The point I'm making is that the OP doesn't need a scope made specifically for air rifles, but any QUALITY made scope will handle it.

There is a chart online that I am desperately searching for that shows just how much, and how sharp, the measured recoil is with a brake vs. without.

 

[highstandard40]

Sorry Ritten, but this has been proven over and over. And the fact is you don't have to buy an expensive high dollar scope for it to survive a spring piston gun. In fact, a $800 Leupold will bite the dust on a piston gun while a $60 airgun scope will not.

You can believe it or not, that's your choice, but facts are facts. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

 

[GIJeaux]

Sorry Ritten, but this has been proven over and over. And the fact is you don't have to buy an expensive high dollar scope for it to survive a spring piston gun. In fact, a $800 Leupold will bite the dust on a piston gun while a $60 airgun scope will not.

You can believe it or not, that's your choice, but facts are facts. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

+1

 

[Ritten]

Ok.....Part of my above statements are wrong the way they're worded, and I'll admit it. Perhaps I need to clarify my point. Airguns WILL tear up a scope that's not built to handle those forces. I've never mentioned price though, in all of my posts I've used the word "quality". A lot of the air gun guys recommend the Bushnell Elite scopes.....they are not listed as "air gun scopes" by Bushnell but are considered shock proof and "magnum recoil proof". It's the same thing with the Super Snipers.....a conventional scope also. I've seen Leupolds get torn up on a lot of conventional rifles and I'm sure they'd get torn up on air guns, but I see they make an EFR scope designed for the air guns. This doesn't so much refer to it's construction, but rather an Extended Focal Range. highstandard40, depending on the year and model of $800 Leupold scope I hope you sent it back to get a new one since it was most likely defective.

Once again....a QUALITY built scope should handle an air rifle.
http://www.lasc.us/RangingShotRifleAirGunScopes.htm

 

[Ritten]

Where I got the link from and in regard to Leupold scopes...

http://www.airgunadvice.net/viewtopic.php?t=6608&highlight=leupold

 

[Suburbazine]

The shock isn't straight forward and back in an airgun either. My .22 springer vibrates worse than the 7mm Mag. Shoot long enough, eventually hands will go numb.

 

[GIJeaux]

The shock isn't straight forward and back in an airgun either. My .22 springer vibrates worse than the 7mm Mag. Shoot long enough, eventually hands will go numb.

Roger that. I thought about that last night and was going to mention the reverberation today. You beat me to it.

I hope that enough info has been presented to the OP so he can make an informed decision as to what he wants to do.

Be well guys.
Al

 

[kajuntriton]

Sorry Ritten, but this has been proven over and over. And the fact is you don't have to buy an expensive high dollar scope for it to survive a spring piston gun. In fact, a $800 Leupold will bite the dust on a piston gun while a $60 airgun scope will not.

You can believe it or not, that's your choice, but facts are facts. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

This is a TRUE FACT! I lost the T-shirt but I think I still have the HAT!!

 

[Zeek]

I use this scope on my R7 and could not be happier.
http://www.straightshooters.com/hawk/hawk41240airmax.html

Since I only shoot specific species of birds, it allows me to positively identify them before I shoot or not. It also doubles as a spotting scope when punching paper.