Spotting Scope Recommendations???

A

abruzzi

New member
I recently bought a .270 Winchester with a fixed 6 X 42 Leupold scope as my deer rifle and have begun to shoot long guns for the first time with any real purpose. The great discovery is that 300 yards is a LONG way to check the group every four rounds. Seems like a spotting scope is the way to go here, but most are REALLY expensive.

Any suggestions here? Make?? model??? power???? price?????
 
i recieved my spotting scope several years ago for christmas.i had reguested it and my wife got a salesman at my gun store to pick it out.it is one of my most prised pocessions.i shutter to think how many hours i have spent traveling back and forth to check my target.it is a basic tasco variable(20Xto60X) and she probably paid less than $100.00 for it.it does well for me out to 200yds.good optics are high but basically you just want to see where the holes are.i hope this helps.

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cliff
 
I have a Swarovski ST80. I use it a lot for hunting as well as on my range. Nothing except the Leica comes close. One thing about optics is that you will get what you pay for. These retail for $1100-1200. Leupold makes an excellent spotting scope for about half the price.
 
IMHO 300 yds is going to be a tough job for any spotting scope on .270 to .308 size holes
unless the lighting is in your favor. Just a
thought.
Hank
 
My 15-40x Leupold does great at 200 for .223 holes. Unfortunately, we don't have a 300 yard range I can test it at for 30 caliber holes.

As a suggestion, try the Birchwood Casey "Shoot 'N See" targets which light up when you shoot them. Even hits at 300 yards should be easy to spot since the hits turn flourescent yellow against the black target background.

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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
 
Gary has a very good idea here. You just won't be able to do it at matches but will work great otherwise, go for it! My scope is a Redfield VI that I try my best to muddle through with. At 300 yds against a berm with the sun right and the mirage not too bad it can be done but not very often.

Most folks here know that I will gladly part with a bit of money to get results. Is a spotting scope that is not crew served that will pick up .270 holes in targets and backers at 300 + yds?

If you do, please let me know and I will happily report later. If you don't please don't waste my time and money.

Good Shooting!

Hank
 
The Swarovski will pick up the holes farther than 300 yards provided the heat waves don't get to bad.
 
Thank you M16! Cabela's has the ST80 at
$1299.99 They also have the AT80 which has a
45 degree eyepiece which I like. The specs and price are the same except the AT is 1/2"
longer. Suppose it would be the same or would it lose something making the turn?
Good Shooting, Hank
 
Hi Guys,- I have aLeupold 25X50 spotting scope. It has been sitting on a tripod in my living room overlooking a field next to my house for about 7 years. It on occasion has been in the field. I just recently started having trouble focusing it at distances greater than 200 yds. I called the factory and the representative said it could be lens seperation. Send it back. So I am.

The bottom line is that I was never really very impressed with it. I have Swarovski 8X56 Binocs that are crystal clear. Most of the scopes on my fifles are European and I would suggest you also go with the European Spotting scope, if the funds are there. I wish I had a better spotting scope. I only bought the Leupold because it is compact. If I had the money I would go with the Leica also.
 
The reason I bought the ST80 is because I use mine alot while hunting. I have it mounted on a gunstock for quick use. If you are only going to use it for target shooting then I would go with the AT80. Wholesale on them is around $1000 so $1200-1300 is not a bad price. One big advantage is the 80mm objective lens that allows you to use it in low light conditions. A friend of mine has the Leica and is very happy with it. They both make excellent binoculars as well. If you buy one you won't be sorry.
 
Thanks for the suggestions folks. To some extent it sounds like the truism -- get what you pay for -- applies here.

One possibility I had discounted but maybe shouldn't have. I have a fairly serious pair of Fujinon binoculars 7 X 50, nitrogen filled, internal compass, the whole bit. I may give them a try.

By the way I called up shoot-n-c a few weeks ago and they send you a couple of free targets free just for calling. They seemed to work pretty well, really, for the pistols I was using. I may get some more. If I use them for rifle, I'll let you know the results.

Also, in the grandiose pipedream category, I had this thought. If the budget for this problem is on the order of a grand, what would it cost to attach one of those little PC based cameras to a tripod about 3inches to the right of the target and beam the picture back to a PC at the shooter's stations.

Problem: Shot #1 puts PC camera in PC camera heaven.

Plan B: Skip the camera. Make the target itself a touch sensitive pad with an infrared gizmo that says: Base, this is mobile one. You're 2.3 inches high and 1.476 inches low. Using 180 gr 270 win at 300 yds you need to turn your Leupold one click up and two clicks ... You get the idea.

It also solves the problem of having nothing to look at after you actually get the sucker zeroed in. You know, the old, yeah, I remember, that hole wasn't here, but the other one was. Or was it the other way around.

Nuts?? Anybody know someone in the infrared business. They're used for printers and stuff now. Don't know the range. Touch sensitive pads were around for monitors, albeit accepting impacts somewhat lighter than 2500 fps.
 
Abruzzi, As we digress, check with Oheler Research. They have a setup with a system of microphones that plot your group using the doppler effect I would imagine! Hooks up to your laptop via cable and does a bunch of other neat stuff as well.

I'm going to start pricing AT80's myself!
Best to all,
Hank
 
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