Tuesday I am buying a rifle, and have been looking at scopes. When I bought my scope for my muzzleloader a few years back I got a 3-9x40mm scope. Now they have the 3-9x50mm scope for the same price that I paid for my muzzleloader scope. Is the bigger lens scope worth the extra money versus the 40mm scope? and would the 50mm scope give me a bigger viewing area and let more light in on low light shots (i.e. dusk or early morning)??
Rifle Scope Question
- Thread starter travle
- Start date
I'm not a fan of the 50 mm scopes as they require higher mounting rings and some lifting of your head for alignment.
They probably are a little brighter in low light, but my preference is for a low mounted scope and more natural eye alignment.
They probably are a little brighter in low light, but my preference is for a low mounted scope and more natural eye alignment.
Nhill
Well-Known Member
I also don't like 50mm scopes. But more importantly, I would not buy a Tasco.
What caliber rifle are you buying, and what scope are you looking at?
What caliber rifle are you buying, and what scope are you looking at?
well since no one likes the 50mm I will probably go with the same Tasco 3-9x40mm scope from Wal-Mart that I bought for my muzzleloader that I shoot a 295grain bullet and 100 grains of powder out off and that scope has been a good one IMO. I am buying at Savage 25-06
Nhill
Well-Known Member
If you like it, then go ahead and get another one.
I honestly think that it will let you down one day, and it might be the day that you are drawing down on a big buck.
Good luck and enjoy
I honestly think that it will let you down one day, and it might be the day that you are drawing down on a big buck.
Good luck and enjoy
DirtyBear0311
Well-Known Member
I have a 50mm and love it. Not to talk myself up but even though it is higher up, I can still get sup-MOA groups at the range and can hit whatever I want in the field. I dont say that to make myself sound good, but say it because I think that the 50mm doesnt really mess up how you shoot at all. I can still keep a good cheek-weld with the higher rings and I dont have to change my normal shooting style. Thats just me though. also, I have never owned one but I have never heard many good things about Tasco ether. Once again, thats just me. Good luck.
Well I never hear people talk up a Tasco either, but at the time I was looking for cheap with good magnification. That scope has done all I have needed it to. I can put 3 shots in a 1-2 inch circle @ 100yrds with my muzzleloader i'll take that any day. And I have laid out a deer at 100 yards with it. But that's me looking for something to get the job done at the cheapest price. Just like my muzzleloader is a CVA buckhorn magnum. read a review that sold me. It said I would put this muzzleloader up against top name brands and it would out perform it any day. So I got the gun and was describing it to my friend and he said that sounds like my CVA and then said i'd put it up against any muzzleloader and it would out do it. That gun only cost me $150 I think.
i love the 50mm scopes,i dont see them as any trouble,i dont see much difference at all in useing them
BigD_625
Well-Known Member
I have two of those walmart tasco scopes in the closet that may make it onto a .22. I had both of them on muzzleloaders that I had to re-zero each season with the same loads. Cost me much more in ammo than a good scope would have cost. I have a Nikon on each of the same muzzleloaders, and it's one shot to confirm zero each season.
I have 40 and 50mm scopes. The larger objective gives a larger field of view, but doesn't seem to gather light better. At least, I can't see the difference. The biggest difference has already been mentioned. Depending on your style of bases, you may have to have High Mounts.
I have 40 and 50mm scopes. The larger objective gives a larger field of view, but doesn't seem to gather light better. At least, I can't see the difference. The biggest difference has already been mentioned. Depending on your style of bases, you may have to have High Mounts.
I was talking to a friend of mine that knows way more than me about deer hunting. he said it doesnt matter the size of the objective lense if the tube diameter is the same. so if its a 50mm or a smaller objective lense if the tube is the same size u will not gain anymore light. as far as FOv The 50mm only offers one more foot at 100 yrds over the 40mm
Mid
Well-Known Member
Long time listener...first time caller
i lernt long time ago the the Wally World "blister pack" budget scopes were perfect for the type of shooting/hunting i did and MOA of a dinner plate was acceptable - "if you can hit a paper plate, you can kill a deer"....HOWEVER as my education level increased and my knowledge base became greater i have decided that 80% of the dollars i spend for a new shooting/hunting rig will go into glass/bases...a solid base such as DeadNutz Game Reapers and quality glass such as Leupold VXII and VXIII and Nikon Monarchs & ProStaffs will aid in an average rifle shooting better than average groups and will hold zero and stay clear in some of the most adverse conditions that Tennessee has to offer....my "go to" deer rig is Stevens 200/.243 Win with Nikon Monarch 3X9X40 - DeadNutz Game Reaper LOW - sighted it in with current load of Hornaday 105AMAX over H4350 3 years ago and have never readjusted scope setting and it will print clovers everytime i pull it out of the safe.....just my two cents
i lernt long time ago the the Wally World "blister pack" budget scopes were perfect for the type of shooting/hunting i did and MOA of a dinner plate was acceptable - "if you can hit a paper plate, you can kill a deer"....HOWEVER as my education level increased and my knowledge base became greater i have decided that 80% of the dollars i spend for a new shooting/hunting rig will go into glass/bases...a solid base such as DeadNutz Game Reapers and quality glass such as Leupold VXII and VXIII and Nikon Monarchs & ProStaffs will aid in an average rifle shooting better than average groups and will hold zero and stay clear in some of the most adverse conditions that Tennessee has to offer....my "go to" deer rig is Stevens 200/.243 Win with Nikon Monarch 3X9X40 - DeadNutz Game Reaper LOW - sighted it in with current load of Hornaday 105AMAX over H4350 3 years ago and have never readjusted scope setting and it will print clovers everytime i pull it out of the safe.....just my two cents
tasaman
Well-Known Member
I'd stay away from the Crapco I mean Tasco. Look at the classifieds section on here an you can get a real decent scope for a hundred bucks or less. Ebay is always an option and so is SWFA. Look for their trade in scopes.
Urban_Hunter
Well-Known Member
I fought the cheap scope battle fore years before giving in to quality glass. Everyone always said to expect to spend the same or more on glass compared to the rifle. Now, I would rather have a $100 beat to death rifle and Nikon or Leopold than nice rifle with cheap scope. I had a Tasco on my ML and one day I thought the reticle looked funny. It was way off and I couldn't get it zeroed in. I trashed it and bought a cheap Bushnell. I couldn't get it to focus AND see the reticle no matter what.
Football Hunter
Well-Known Member
Get a Leupold
Not sure what models this applies to, but less than 10 years ago "Trashco" bought some of Leupolds old equipment. I think a good rule of thumb is this...spend at least as much on your optics as you did your gun. Optics are most vaulable hunting tool, next to the obvious.
Not trying to be rude here, but to start off AT Hiker 10 years ago Tasco filed bankruptcy and was bought by Bushnell. So now Bushnell owns Tasco and Simmons Optics. Knowing from the line of work I do Bushnell scopes are more expensive than a comparable Tasco though they are built the same. I work for company that builds multiple name products, and the "name brand" or "top end" product sells for twice as much, but is built exactly the same. And i'm sure there are several on here that own these products that are made by the company I work for. Same applies for Wal-marts' Great Value brand. Wal-Mart doesn't have factories that produce all these products they pay companies that already have factories established to make them, but Wal-Mart owns the name. So if you buy Great Value paper towels you may be buying the same paper towels if you had bought Bounty, but at a cheaper price. I know this doesn't apply for Nikon or Leupold but just making a point that some people think things are trashy or not good products not knowing they are made by the same company that they believe have good products. When they are made exactly the same way, but might have one slight difference so they can charge more money. In the end you may just be paying for a name and not a product of equal physical value. I.E. Bushnell's 3x9x40 is comparable to Tasco's 3x9x40 and in theory made by the same company but the bushnell is $204 and the Tasco is $35. MY QUESTION WAS NOT THE BRAND OF OPTICS I WAS BUYING, BUT THE SIZE OF THE OBJECTIVE LENS 40MM VS 50MM. AS FAR AS ALLOWING MORE LIGHT IN AND A BIGGER FIELD OF VIEW.
No offense taken, I worked in the industry when all the lawsuite issues went down with them and Celestron. I didnt expand on my explanation because I didnt think it was relevant. But i still stand by my reponse, this all went down right around the same time the rifleman came out as well. Which walmart changed changed the industry standards and price structure of such scopes.
I also apologize for NOT expounding on your question of size, but if your line of work gives you insider info of this part of the topic I should suspect you know the answere to your question or someone who can. I also apologize for striking a nerve, I was expounding on those that were trying to steer you toward Leupold.
Albeit the 50 should gather more light, the 40 will allow truer further down range accuracy if your rifle allows lower rings and bases to be mounted. I personally mount a 50 on .30 caliber rifles and larger and use one piece rings/bases, but I also use higher end optics which gives great eye relief. It seems that most people who get a black eye from recoil use lower end scopes that have poor eye relief or they do not know how to adjust the relief.
If price is a concern, Tasco used to make a decent Varmit 6-14x42 for under $100 that had a great warranty and should stand up to the recoil of most center fire rifles under the .30 cal range.
Does Tasco still have the lifetime warranty they adopted post buyout of 2007 (when bushnell sold out)?
I also apologize for NOT expounding on your question of size, but if your line of work gives you insider info of this part of the topic I should suspect you know the answere to your question or someone who can. I also apologize for striking a nerve, I was expounding on those that were trying to steer you toward Leupold.
Albeit the 50 should gather more light, the 40 will allow truer further down range accuracy if your rifle allows lower rings and bases to be mounted. I personally mount a 50 on .30 caliber rifles and larger and use one piece rings/bases, but I also use higher end optics which gives great eye relief. It seems that most people who get a black eye from recoil use lower end scopes that have poor eye relief or they do not know how to adjust the relief.
If price is a concern, Tasco used to make a decent Varmit 6-14x42 for under $100 that had a great warranty and should stand up to the recoil of most center fire rifles under the .30 cal range.
Does Tasco still have the lifetime warranty they adopted post buyout of 2007 (when bushnell sold out)?
If you want a great scope buy a burris with the posi loc. Sight it in, loc it in and youll be good till you change ammo. I also buy 2 boxes of ammo at a time and make sure i get the same lot number. 40mm is plenty for deer hunting inside 300 yards.
tasaman
Well-Known Member
travle since you are comparing Walmart products I will try to enlighten you a little. Their tires for instance are made by major brand names. You are correct about that. The difference is the are made to inferior specs than the tires not for sale by Walmart. Walmart sets the price, company builds the product to meet that price point.
Just because the product appears to be the same to the casual observer how do you know? What gas was used to purge the scope? What coating was used? Is the coating only on the ocular lens? outside lenses only? or is it fully-multi coated? This is where your money is going.
There are some good inexpensive scopes out there. There are some that seem like good scopes until the stop doing their job. I'd rather not ever need the warranty than test it. Get a quality scope.
Just because the product appears to be the same to the casual observer how do you know? What gas was used to purge the scope? What coating was used? Is the coating only on the ocular lens? outside lenses only? or is it fully-multi coated? This is where your money is going.
There are some good inexpensive scopes out there. There are some that seem like good scopes until the stop doing their job. I'd rather not ever need the warranty than test it. Get a quality scope.
Thank you AT Hiker, and sorry for pointing you out though my nerve was hit well before you replied. It just got me when I know I own a Tasco, and from my personal experience I see absolutely nothing wrong with them as far as functionality. It has never let me down, and stays sighted in. And I understand now you have knowledge about Tasco that most people don't so I respect ur answer for that. I just did a little research on them and didn't seem possible for them to buy leupold stuff when going bankrupt. But that could have been before. Also thank you for truly answering my question on the 50mm vs 40mm. From what I am seeing on their website some scopes have the lifetime warranty and some just have a year. I understand the viewpoint from the recoil perspective also. I have a SKS rifle. The gun itself when fired has low recoil, but the bolt that slams back and then forward to load a new bullet has so much recoil that I have actually had a scope to break and the new one I cannot keep sighted in. In that situation I think a higher priced scope would perform better. In my situation price is a concern because I cannot afford the high end scopes, but I love to hunt. So I have to get what I can, and Tasco seems to fit my needs just fine.
Check out Midsouth Shooters Supply, its a old school mail order catalog that has a great selection and competitive prices. They have the Tasco I mentioned but it appears to be on back order...I think its around $90. Anything much cheaper than that I cannot help with, only because it has been a few years since I dealt with Tasco and the other lower end scopes.
If your close or drive through Clarksville you should be able to save on shipping and do a in store pick up too. Plus they have great customer service.
I completely understand the money issue. However, I made the mistake on using a $50 scope to have it fog up, I later bought one for right under $100 and it still serves its purpose on a .22. Long story short I spent $150 over the course of 2 years when I only needed to spend $100.
If you could run across a scope used online that has a lifetime warranty like Leupold for a great deal I would jump on it, if its inferior the company will take care of you.
If your close or drive through Clarksville you should be able to save on shipping and do a in store pick up too. Plus they have great customer service.
I completely understand the money issue. However, I made the mistake on using a $50 scope to have it fog up, I later bought one for right under $100 and it still serves its purpose on a .22. Long story short I spent $150 over the course of 2 years when I only needed to spend $100.
If you could run across a scope used online that has a lifetime warranty like Leupold for a great deal I would jump on it, if its inferior the company will take care of you.
I also noticed they have a brand that appears to be made in the U.S.A called Sun Optics. No warranty info and Im not positive its American made , but they are low price ($50). If you call Mid South or some other dealer they should be able to answer the warranty question.
Im not endorsing that brand just giving you some other options to look at.
Im not endorsing that brand just giving you some other options to look at.
I wish I did live close to Clarksville or any bigger city for that matter. I'm probably 2 hours from Clarksville and the next biggest city is an hour away. I know my Tasco is suppose to be waterproof/shock proof/ and fog proof. But I don't ever test the shock proof on any scope and I don't hunt in the rain. And I be honest I cannot remember if that scope does fog up in cold mornings. I wanna say I've seen it fog up atleast once, but nothing that has ever hindered me in a situation to shoot a deer. But sometimes in my case with money you have to take the bad with the good. as in it might fog up time to time, but it is still cheap.
Nhill
Well-Known Member
I understand that you are getting offended because people are telling you what scope to buy when you only asked about the objective size.
However; we aren't telling you not to buy a tasco just for fun, or just to boss you around. We are a community of hunters that like to help out our fellow hunters.
Most of us have had bad experiences or know someone that has had a bad experience with these low end scopes. About 10 years ago I bought a cheap traditions muzzleloader and a cheap tasco scope. I killed a few deer with it, then one day I missed two deer. After I missed the deer, I checked the scope, it would shoot a foot left, then a foot right, and so on. it was completely trashed, and it cost me deer.
I learned my lesson from that experience, and you will probably have to learn your own lesson in time.
However; we aren't telling you not to buy a tasco just for fun, or just to boss you around. We are a community of hunters that like to help out our fellow hunters.
Most of us have had bad experiences or know someone that has had a bad experience with these low end scopes. About 10 years ago I bought a cheap traditions muzzleloader and a cheap tasco scope. I killed a few deer with it, then one day I missed two deer. After I missed the deer, I checked the scope, it would shoot a foot left, then a foot right, and so on. it was completely trashed, and it cost me deer.
I learned my lesson from that experience, and you will probably have to learn your own lesson in time.
BlountArrow
Well-Known Member
Travle and others,
Not to hi-jack this thread, but since the issue was brought up about Wal-Mart I want to throw my 2 cents in as well.... Make NO mistake, just because Wal-Mart sales something that is the same make/model/form/fit/function it is NOT the same product that you will buy elsewhere in many cases. I can't speak for every product Wal-Mart offers of course, but I know for a FACT that the Remington 870 you buy at Wal-Mart is NOT made to the same specs and standards as an 870 you would buy at any other gun shop. I know for a FACT, Wal-Mart at one time (I was informed of this somewhere between 2003 - 2005) submitted to Remington a proposal by where Wal-Mart, in a nutshell, asked Remington to alter the mfg process in a way that would produce a more "cost efficient" product. How would Remington do this? Well, maybe a piece of the firearm that is metal could be made of plastic (i.e. portions of a trigger mechanism/spring retainers/pins/etc). Maybe instead of requiring a tolerance of .010" +/- 10% on certain machined products Remington could get away with only meeting a tolerance of .025" +/- 10% and thus save additional funds and be able to offer products to Wal-Mart at a lower price than the standard product that is offered for sale to other distributors.
I'm not saying a gun bought at Wal-Mart is a piece of junk. I�m not saying that every gun Wal-Mart offers is altered in this manner. However, based on the industry knowledge that I was very much involved in for about 8 years I�m fairly certain this same agreement exists with Mossberg and Savage at a minimum. Wal-Mart is concerned about being the Low Price Leader so it would not surprise me at all if many other firearms they offer have a similar agreement with its respective manufacturer.
Not to hi-jack this thread, but since the issue was brought up about Wal-Mart I want to throw my 2 cents in as well.... Make NO mistake, just because Wal-Mart sales something that is the same make/model/form/fit/function it is NOT the same product that you will buy elsewhere in many cases. I can't speak for every product Wal-Mart offers of course, but I know for a FACT that the Remington 870 you buy at Wal-Mart is NOT made to the same specs and standards as an 870 you would buy at any other gun shop. I know for a FACT, Wal-Mart at one time (I was informed of this somewhere between 2003 - 2005) submitted to Remington a proposal by where Wal-Mart, in a nutshell, asked Remington to alter the mfg process in a way that would produce a more "cost efficient" product. How would Remington do this? Well, maybe a piece of the firearm that is metal could be made of plastic (i.e. portions of a trigger mechanism/spring retainers/pins/etc). Maybe instead of requiring a tolerance of .010" +/- 10% on certain machined products Remington could get away with only meeting a tolerance of .025" +/- 10% and thus save additional funds and be able to offer products to Wal-Mart at a lower price than the standard product that is offered for sale to other distributors.
I'm not saying a gun bought at Wal-Mart is a piece of junk. I�m not saying that every gun Wal-Mart offers is altered in this manner. However, based on the industry knowledge that I was very much involved in for about 8 years I�m fairly certain this same agreement exists with Mossberg and Savage at a minimum. Wal-Mart is concerned about being the Low Price Leader so it would not surprise me at all if many other firearms they offer have a similar agreement with its respective manufacturer.
I can see your point when changing metal to plastic saves walmart on cost. I also agree that it may not be the same gun on the inside has what u buy at a gun store. but i deal with tolerances everyday and they are set to make sure that the parts align when you assemble the final product and to maintain a uniform product. they arent there to raise or lower cost. if u increase ur tolerance u sti have to have a way to check it to make sure ur in tolerance. so i dont see where that can save you money
BlountArrow
Well-Known Member
travle said:
It's called "re-work". I was just throwing out random measurements. The point being the more stringent the requirement the more difficult it can be to achieve that tolerance, however when you allow a more "loose" fit-up or tolerance it is easier to achieve and often doesn't require the same rework. You're right in that both would require inspection, but again you typically have a greater margin and less re-work. Another example, maybe use some form of pot metal instead of steel or an alloy instead of whatever...
Again, not saying all of Wal-Mart's products are like this. For example, did you know the Great Value brand milk in East TN (maybe other areas too idk) is contracted through Mayfield's dairy? Of course, you do get a clear jug instead of a yellow jug. Trust me, I don't throw out random claims on this forum - ever.
