Rifle Scopes Tubes.........

[wjwill]

What is everyone's take on the different size tubes? I personally have never noticed a difference between the 1" and 30mm tubes.

Can someone explain the real difference to me please.

Wesley

 

[Walsh]

Re: Tubes.........

You get more adjustment in a bigger tube. The main sizes are 1", 30mm, 34mm and USO has puts out a 35mm.

The bigger the tube, the more adjustment you get.

 

[stan462]

Re: Tubes.........

The bigger the tube the sturdy the scope and it gets more lite for later shooting.

 

[Halvis]

Re: Tubes.........

"I personally have never noticed a difference between the 1" and 30mm tubes.

Can someone explain the real difference to me please."

Sure, 4.6 mm. ;-)

 

[Spuhr]

Re: Tubes.........

In the past 1" tubes was used for fixed magnification and 3 times zooms, like 3-9, 6,5-20.
30mm was used for 4 times zooms like 3-12 and 4-16.

Then Smith u bender came out with their PM2 line in 34mm to get more elevation and many have folloved.
I suppose that it should be easyer to make stronger scopes in larger tubes as there is space for sturdier pieces.

For lightransmission the tube diameter means nothing.

Håkan

PS
The worlds first variables was Zeiss Zielmulti and Zeiss Zielmultar, with 1-4X and 1-6X they was introduced in 1922.
They had 30 and 35mm tubes.
A funny thing is that the eyerelief was constant over the magnification range, something a few bigger producers still not have some 90 years after Zeiss!

 

[OFIS]

Re: Tubes.........

i like my scope tubes as i like my women... thick with no scratches/dents

 

[leagle2]

Re: Tubes.........

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: stan462</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The bigger the tube the sturdy the scope and it gets more lite for later shooting.</div></div>

A lot of misinformation on the net

 

[exhogflyer]

Re: Tubes.........

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: stan462</div><div class="ubbcode-body">The bigger the tube the sturdy the scope and it gets more lite for later shooting. </div></div>

That's exactly what makes Counter Sniper such a good scope!

 

[dcjs]

Re: Tubes.........

Tube diameter <span style="font-weight: bold">can</span> have something to do with one or several of the following:

-Adjustment range: more space inside the tube means more room for erector travel
-Field of view on low power in variable scopes ("tunneling effect"): The reticle needs to be of a certain physical size, and in FFP scopes, the reticle sits on the front of the erector inside the tube. This means that FOV on low power (where the whole reticle is visible and not just the center) and the potential for lots of adjustment range are inversely correlated. Eliminating the tunneling effect while maintaining a large adjustment range in a certain tube diameter is one of the bigger challenges for the designer.
-Rigidity: If the wall thickness remains the same, a bigger tube is significantly more rigid.
-There can also be an influence of the size of the internals on the exit pupil, but in any reasonable design, that can be assumed to be kept to a degree where it does not affect image brightness.

Unfortunately it is hard for the customer to tell if and how the manufacturer is making good use of the extra space a bigger tube offers. If the same model is offered in 1" and 30mm for example, it is safe to assume that the optics are the same and there will only be a potential gain in adjustment range and possibly rigidity. The same goes for cases where the manufacturer has used the optics of a hunting scope and just put them in a bigger tube to create a "tactical" scope.
If the scope is designed from the ground up with a bigger tube diameter, it is possible to make it better both optically (while "optically" rather refers to FOV than image brightness) and mechanically in a bigger tube, but again, there is no equation that says bigger=better for all cases. Bigger can simply mean "more canned air", or it can mean "overall optically and mechanically superior design".