Spotting Scope Recommendations

[Laurie]

Vince (The Gun Pimp) has asked the key question. What are you going to look at? If a single wind-flag, it's purely clarity / magnification / light gathering in poor light etc. If it's to get a broad picture (literally) of the target line, a wide field of view becomes crucial. By their nature and applications (developed primarily for bird watching these days), most spotting scopes are about getting a fantastic close-up view of a relatively small object.

For shooting, that's fine for the TR competitor and the plotter in team shooting. The problem with this is that FOV limitations tend to dramatically inhibit what you see, three targets at 1,000 yards, a single flag and so on. Most variable eyepieces tend to be too high magnification, too limited FOV even on their lowest setting. So, the minimum mag fixed power eyepiece, which is usually designated as WA too is often the best option - assuming that the make and model chosen has this as an option which may not apply for budget models.

The other factor is weight and bulk - yet another thing to hump off and on the firing point. OK if you can drive close to your peg and/or there's not a change of distance that has to be done on foot. It's not just the scope weight, as you want a pretty steady and heavy stand unless you want to spend the match wasting time (and losing points) having to constantly readjust the scope aim onto whatever you've chosen. having tried several combinations over the years, I've ended up with an expensive and heavy stand, the Ewing, plus a compact relatively light scope, the Opticron GS52 bought secondhand via Ebay and since had the variable eyepiece that came with it replaced by a 21X WA fixed eyepiece. Ideally, it would be lower power still. Some of the more expensive scope-makers offer 13X eyepieces.

The other thing to note is that eyepiece magnification depends on the scope body model. Buy some very large body 80mm objective lens scope and you may find your minimum magnification is 30X or 40X with a very limited FOV.