Rifle Scopes Scopes for Air Rifles

[Tactical22]

I know this title sounds laughable on the Hide, but I learned how to shoot as a kid with air rifles - everything from fundamentals to positions to range estimation and holds. I've killed more squirrels with an air rifle than any other gun, and it will take me a while to catch up to my record of 40-something with my Gamo. It's been years since I shot my air rifle, but I think it still has it's place, especially as precision .22 ammo is getting harder and harder to find, and I don't want to eat my supply of SK Jagd too quickly.

I've broken lots of cheap scopes on air rifles. The one I don't trust the one I currently have mounted. I'd like something in with a low end in the 2-4x range and a high end in the 10+ range, adj parallax, Mil/Mil. The other features are negotiable. Are there any scopes out there that fit these specs and will hold up to that harsh double/reverse recoil of an air rifle that don't cost 1K+

?Any suggestions? I've pushed the Gamo out to 50yards successfully, but it really helps to have holds and dials that easily correspond when you are shooting anywhere from 5 yards to 50 yards, often at very small targets.

 

[Kiba]

Not laughable at all, there are quite a few of us on this forum that fiddle with air rifles-- there's an ongoing air rifle thread in the rimfire section.

For me, there are a lot of scopes out there that look great for air rifle use until you realize they have 50Y minimum parallax adjustment. You might think you can get away with the 50Y minimum parallax adjustment until you try it and get frustrated taking shots inside of 50Y and dealing with both focus and parallax problems. 25Y parallax for an air rifle is pretty workable, 15Y is better, and 10Y or closer is best. Gives you a lot more options as sometimes you take rather close in shots with an air rifle.

For air rifle use I really like the Bushnell 3-12 x 44 FFP (G2DMR reticle preferred) and the SWFA 3-15 FFP. Both meet your magnification range requirement, both offer close range parallax capability (6Y for the SWFA and 10Y for the Bushnell), and both are mil/mil/FFP (which I prefer as it matches all my other scopes.) I think both of them will stand up to a springer-- I know the Bushnell will for sure having tried it. I haven't tried the SWFA on a springer though but I'm pretty confident it will work. You could call SWFA to verify.

The new Bushnell 3-12 x 44 LRHS would be another good choice; 10 mil elevation knob, zero stop, FFP/mil/mil, good reticle, and 7Y parallax. Supposedly there's a 4-16 x 50 LRHS version in the works that may be out late this year or early 2015.

There seems to be a trend on the air rifle message boards to gravitate towards cheap optics-- you see lots of talk about BSA, Mueller, Aeon, Leapers/UTG, Simmons, Barska, and scopes of that nature. Many of the participants recommend Hawke as their "high end" choice; I tried a Hawke (6.5-20 SF Tactical) on my first "real" air rifle and didn't care much for it. Somewhat murky glass, mushy turrets, and an RWS 56 T/H .22 magnum springer (29 ft/lb) killed it in very short order. I suppose coming from a Leapers the Hawke would be a huge step up but for me it was a huge step down from what I'm used to.

Speaking of optics and air rifles I just picked up a new scope for my air rifle last week, it replaced the Bushnell 3-12 x 44 FFP G2DMR that was previously on the rifle...

 

[steve123]

Kiba has summed it up perfectly for you.


OP, it might be a good time for you to consider trying a PCP air rifle. They sure are nice!

 

[cal50]

I have a BSA variable on my Airarms TX and it's held together and worked well for years. It's fun making head shots on bird sitting at the neighbors bird feeder 2 houses down......

 

[medic727]

Overall, I think a PCP (Pre-Charged Pneumatic) air rifle would be the best way to go. That's pretty much all you see at target matches & field target. Unless things have changed, I was told that a spring powered air rifle is very abusive to scopes. There are actually 2 recoil events: when the rifle is fired and when the spring reaches the end of its' travel. Scopes are built to take recoil in 1 direction. But, the spring recoil is in a direction where the scope lens mounts aren't really designed to handle. Maybe by now they've figured out a way to damp the spring. Just for reference: http://goo.gl/LNvLLP

 

[ScottyD]

I spend a ton of time shooting my air rifles, and I've been through a bunch of the lower end scopes rated for spring guns with 10yd parallax. Its hard to find a good variable FFP mil/mil scope with decent glass that doesn't cost more than $700 or so. Kiba is right on the money with his advice but those scopes are fairly big $$$ for your GAMO, I think. If you're willing to spend that kind of money, then I agree the Bushnell or the SWFA 3-15x are great choices.

If your budget is a little lower, my advice would be to look at something like the SWFA fixed power 6x or 10x scopes: built like tanks, great glass, 10yd parallax, mil based reticle with matching mil turrets… for $300. I'm more of a target shooter than a hunter so I've got a bunch of the SWFA 12x and 16x scopes on my air rifles -I'm convinced they are the best bang for your buck in that price range.

The only other low end air rifle scope that I would recommend is a Burris Timberline 4-14x for about $220. Excellent glass for the price, 7yd parallax, and a "ballistic-plex" reticle that works fairly well for hold-overs at air rifle distances, its a nice compact, light weight hunting scope, built well enough to withstand spring-gun recoil -but the downside is they are SFP and 1/4 moa turrets.

There's also that Midway BSA 4-14x FFP mil/mil scope for $250 that's good for 10yds, but the glass is not the best, and I don't think I would trust the build quality of the BSA with spring gun recoil. If you do make the jump to PCP, then you don't have to worry about the harsh spring-gun recoil beating up your scopes anymore…

KIBA: Nice S&B for the Edgun! I'm jealous! Is that a 5-25 or a 12-50!?! Have you looked at the March Scopes at all? That's the only other high-end glass I've come across that's good for 10yds. They make a few smaller/lighter models that I think might be a great fit for an air rifle…

 

[Kiba]

KIBA: Nice S&B for the Edgun! I'm jealous! Is that a 5-25 or a 12-50!?! Have you looked at the March Scopes at all? That's the only other high-end glass I've come across that's good for 10yds. They make a few smaller/lighter models that I think might be a great fit for an air rifle…

It's a 3-20 CCW H2CMR.

I have several 5-25 CCW H2CMRs; I tried one on the air rifle a while back. The 5-25 offers 10M parallax which is really nice for an air rifle. It was great for 50Y+ target shooting. Unfortunately it was not only a big heavy SOB on the air rifle but what I really didn't care for was the tunnelling from 5x-7.5x and the limited FOV down on the bottom end of the magnification range. That limited FOV made some of the close range "inside the barn" shots difficult-- even dialed down at 5-7.5x if the rat or whatever ran out of the FOV it was sometimes hard to pick them back up.

The 3-20 only has 25M parallax but the image is still very clear and in focus even down at 8-10Y at 3-4x magnficitation. There's only a slight amount of parallax error inside of 25Y with the magnification down on 3-4x, it hasn't caused me to miss any "close up" shots yet. Also, the FOV is huge at 3-4x. The 3-20 is also noticably smaller & lighter than the 5-25; overall it's a much better fit for the air rifle than the 5-25. If S&B had made the 3-20 with 10M parallax capability it would be even better!

With the 30MOA built into the rail on the rifle plus the 20MOA / 6 mil in the Spuhr there are 7.5 mils down (erector travel limit) and the full 26 mils up (double turn knob limited) elevation available from a 50Y zero. 26mils is good for about 240Y with the .25 caliber 25.4gr JSBs. I occasionally like to put soda cans out at 200Y and plink them. I use the rifle mostly for hunting & pest control between 35-140Y but it also gets a lot of paper target practice from 50Y-100Y.

I'll admit the scope is total overkill; I had a Bushnell LRHS on preorder to put on the rifle. I decided to try a 3-20 and it's going to stay, the LRHS is going to end up on my 10/22. Since I use the Edgun almost every day I figured it might as well have a really nice optic up top.

I have tried March in the past (a friend has a couple); love the size and weight, really like the turrets, they all offer 10Y parallax which is perfect, I could get used to the somewhat tight eyebox and narrow depth of field / parallax... but I really don't care for any of their reticles and that's the deal breaker for me. If March came out with a reticle similar to the G2DMR or H2CMR in the 3-24 x 50 I'd have at least one!

 

[Changed]

I have gone scopeless on mine. While optics can be an advantage at longer ranges I find the "iron" sights on mine to be a fare bit easier to pick up.

 

[JGorski]

I upgraded to this UTG after knowing my Beeman had only 7" of travel. This has 120", Illum reticle, gobs of eye relief(you need that on a pellet rifle, lol) With rings. And all for 100 bucks. Great scope for coming out of China.

Amazon.com: UTG 1-Inch 3-9X40 AO True Hunter IE Scope with Zero Locking/Reset WE, Rings and Lens Cover: Sports & Outdoors

 

[JGorski]

Kiba, If I had your money I'd burn mine.lol

 

[steve123]

I feel exactly the same way that Kiba does about the March reticles! I ended up selling my March 3-24 mostly because I despised the huge mil line numbers off the the right side of the vertical crosshair on the FML1. My favorite reticle is the H-59 so the S&B was the best fit for me. Darn S&B's have ruined me. It's a love - hate thing, love the scopes, hate the price.

Kiba did that Edgun come with the 30 moa rail or was it aftermarket?


Hey there ScottyD!

I was reluctant to mention the BSA 4-14 for a springer. One of these days I should call Midway to see if they'll honor the warranty if it broke from being mounted on a springer.

 

[ScottyD]

Kiba,

Thanks for all the good info. For a second there you had me all excited that the S&B 3-20 might do 10yds! haha..

I agree with you on that G2DMR reticle. I have a bushnell 6-24x ffp with the G2DMR on my rapid and think its a great fit. Fantastic reticle for air power shooting as well as centerfire. That scope is only good for 25yds but it works out fine for 99% of my air rifle shooting. I bet those new bushnell LHRS's are going to sell like hotcakes. I know I wouldn't mind owning a few!

I love all the elevation travel those SWFA scopes offer. I shim my rear scope mounts (PCP's only -where there's no recoil to worry about and you don't need a lot of torque to hold the scope in place) with strips of 35mm camera film negative. I figure 2 strips of that stuff is close to 20moa… I shoot steel with my air rifles out to about 200yds, and have to spin up 19 mils or so to get there. The Bushnell won't do it (I'll go up 10mils and then use the reticle), but the swfa turrets are happy to spin all the way up there with room to spare.

I like to dream of winning the lottery or something and putting top-end glass on all of my guns, AND air guns. Or maybe sell 10 of my cheaper scopes to get one REALLY good scope. I definitely have come to appreciate good glass, but I need to draw the line somewhere and try to be somewhat financially responsible! haha… I'm the guy constantly lusting over top-end glass, while trying very hard not to actually spend that kind of money!

 

[RomeoAlfa]

I went with the SWFA 3-15x42 for my Edgun, and I really like this scope for the money. I think it is also okay to use on spring air rifles, but you may want to double check with SWFA first. It focuses down to 6 meters.

 

[Kiba]

Kiba did that Edgun come with the 30 moa rail or was it aftermarket?

Ed made the 0.5 degree (30MOA) canted scope rail standard starting with the R3, prior to that it was not canted. Several guys on the air rifle message boards have bitched about not being able to get a zero on their R3s but that's because they were using optics with limited elevation travel. Also, it seems many of the guys on the air rifle boards feel their scopes need to be zeroed at the exact "optical center" of the scope and they're not happy with any other way so the 30MOA rail isn't conducive to that either. However, a set of Signature Zee rings with the offset inserts is an easy fix for that situation.

Kiba, If I had your money I'd burn mine.lol

Hey now, it's not like I posted a pic of a group of high end rifles all with high end optics leaning against a Snap-On toolbox like BigJoe does from time to time to make everyone drool... I just posted a picture of one measly air rifle.

It's not as bad as you think, in early 2013 I decided to sell off several rifles that I hardly shot or hadn't shot in years in order to finance good glass for my 6 favorite rifles that get used frequently. I also sold my 2 Daystate air rifles (an Air Ranger and an Air Wolf) to slim down the safe to only my absolute favorites. I don't miss those "back of the safe" rifles at all and really like all the new scopes on my rifles that actually get used frequently. I'm somewhat ashamed to admit partaking in the frenzy but Gunbroker was *very* generous in January & February of 2013... just cleaning out the majority of the Aussie .308 surplus that I purchased in 2001 and had been sitting under the bed ever since paid for 2 S&B 5-25s...

I have gone scopeless on mine. While optics can be an advantage at longer ranges I find the "iron" sights on mine to be a fare bit easier to pick up.

One thing I am missing is an iron sighted air rifle... and the Feinwerkbau 800 looks mighty tempting. A little expensive though... maybe next year.

 

[dAyLiTe]

I've got a Theoben MFR .20 that I use for regular practice on an 18 acre small holding, and have had the displeasure of using a MTC Optics Viper 4-16 on it. The glass is ok, but it's SFP, Mil Reticle and MOA turrets is a pita, which seems to be the norm for air rifle scopes. The closest 'cheap' option was Falcon Optics which are FFP, Mil, Mil.
I really should be following my own advice and get a scope that is the same cost as the rifle, as with all the upgrades, I'm well into $2000+ already on the MFR.
As my air-rifle is intended for Long Range rifle practice (both cheap and outside my back door to 100m), I will probably upgrade to a S&B 5-25 as it handles 10m parallax... and it'll be the same scope I'm wanting to put on my .260 AIAW. (practice what you shoot)
My biggest problem is trying to figure out what reticle to go for.

Here's a doc that I was working on trying to figure out FFP, Mil/Mil scopes that were both good for air-rifle and rifle. Would be great to get some collaboration and get a bit of a definitive list of who's who.

 

[steve123]

I've got a Theoben MFR .20 that I use for regular practice on an 18 acre small holding, and have had the displeasure of using a MTC Optics Viper 4-16 on it. The glass is ok, but it's SFP, Mil Reticle and MOA turrets is a pita, which seems to be the norm for air rifle scopes. The closest 'cheap' option was Falcon Optics which are FFP, Mil, Mil.
I really should be following my own advice and get a scope that is the same cost as the rifle, as with all the upgrades, I'm well into $2000+ already on the MFR.
As my air-rifle is intended for Long Range rifle practice (both cheap and outside my back door to 100m), I will probably upgrade to a S&B 5-25 as it handles 10m parallax... and it'll be the same scope I'm wanting to put on my .260 AIAW. (practice what you shoot)
My biggest problem is trying to figure out what reticle to go for.

Here's a doc that I was working on trying to figure out FFP, Mil/Mil scopes that were both good for air-rifle and rifle. Would be great to get some collaboration and get a bit of a definitive list of who's who.

I think you better bite the bullet and get that S&B 3-27, wink!

If you like a center dot and holdovers then get the H-59. I like the H2CMR too for a normal reticle because of the .2 mil lines on the horizontal crosshair. I use those .2 mil lines in the H-59 every time I shoot a rifle match whether it be air rifle, rimfire or centerfire.

And yes...using the same type of scope and reticle all the time goes a long way with familiarity during any imposed stress. This guy I met a while back had one scope that dialed the opposite direction/CW of what he was used to. I don't know how he got fuddled up so bad since the dial shows which way to turn but he did. Another guy was using a MOA reticle and holding off like it was mils. Heck, I've forgotten I was using a SFP scope while using whichever magnification suited for holdoffs and was wondering why I was missing for a while.

 

[dAyLiTe]

I think you better bite the bullet and get that S&B 3-27, wink!

not bloody likely at those prices...?

As mentioned I've got the dreaded MTC Viper 4-16 on my Air-Rifle and have been using it at 5x and up to see if a 5-25 will work for me, and I've had no probs finding targets at 5x... and a little more magnification can't hurt anyone.. right ? ( just not 27x more )... although that 3-20 does sound good... especially the size and weight, and as I zero at 25m, and I never shoot below 25m with my MFR (900fps).
Oh crap, I'm talking my way into this...

Yeah, reticles are a pita (especially where I am with the lack of availability to inspect them)... I really like the concept of the TReMoR2, but it doesn't work for less than a .223 as the WindDot curve is way out for .22 rifle and any air-rifle. The H59 is probably the only one to go for 'just holdover' (no turret) type shooting on the S&B platform, and I'll just have to create my own WindDot curve cheat sheet (or go Whiz Wheel). I also don't want to put a TReMoR2 on my .260 and have a H59 on my training air-rifle... as it would defeat the purpose in the first place.

That new MOA reticle from Leupold looks to be a very good compromise between busy and effective... pity it's MOA... and I don't think Leupold's go below 50y on parallax.


If someone could make a half decent FFP, Mil/Mil scope with 'ok' glass (as good as Optisan) for around the $750-1000 mark they would corner that entire market.

 

[steve123]

Overall, after owning more than a few of the high end FFP scopes out there, S&B has impressed the most. Everyone has their idea of perfection but no scope has been my idea of perfection so far.

The S&B 5-25 is very close. It has the tunneling issue which is the only thing I could pick on besides the size and weight.

The S&B 3-20 is very close also, but not having 10Y parallax and a slightly tighter eyebox are my only complaints.

A March 3-24x52 with a H-59 would be about as close to perfection that I could think of for me.

Maybe it would be better for you to think of the features you want in a scope the most then think of the ones considered most annoying. Then eliminate the failing scopes from your list.

I have come to respect the mantra, "better to have and not use then to need and not have" = closer parallax and/or appropriate magnification range. Unfortunately I can still recall most of the times I needed but did not have, LOL.

 

[Tactical22]

AWESOME feedback, guys. Skylar at SWFA confirmed that the 6x42 will hold up to spring-powered air rifles. I'd have a really hard time justifying putting a quality variable that cost $7-800 on my Gamo. I think the 6x would be workable, though, with mil-mil and 10yard and out parallax. Anybody have a used SWFA SS 6x42 they want to sell? I'm planning on the BKL 360 mount.

Kiba, that is an incredible setup you have there.

 

[RomeoAlfa]

AWESOME feedback, guys. Skylar at SWFA confirmed that the 6x42 will hold up to spring-powered air rifles. I'd have a really hard time justifying putting a quality variable that cost $7-800 on my Gamo. I think the 6x would be workable, though, with mil-mil and 10yard and out parallax. Anybody have a used SWFA SS 6x42 they want to sell? I'm planning on the BKL 360 mount.

Kiba, that is an incredible setup you have there.

I think the fixed 6x would be an excellent choice. Alot of the time on my 3-15 I find myself using around 7x on my Edgun.