What kinds of scopes did you use as a kid?

pk5333

can't hit the broad side of a barn
Full Member
Minuteman
Nov 29, 2021
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Northeast Ohio, USA
Random thoughts...

I'm 37. When I was a teenager, shooting relatively cheap guns with cheap scopes for deer hunting, I was typically using Tasco, Bushnell, and Simmons, 3-9x40. I remember my dad had an old 6x Redfield widefield that I thought was pretty decent.

Back then, I thought my Simmons was a good scope. But I didn't actually know any better, until one day I looked through a Nikon ProStaff, and was blown away at the optical clarity. Then a few years later my uncle got a mid-range Leupold, and again, I was blown away. I often reminisce about the days when I thought a Nikon ProStaff was the end all be all of rifle scopes.

And many of the most popular scope companies today didn't even exist 20 years ago. Seems like Vortex just popped up out of nowhere and now they're everywhere.

My entry into "precision" was a New England Firearms, break-action 223 with a bull-barrel and a cheap BSA scope with some ridiculous magnification, like 40x or something. Fun gun, I regret selling it.
 
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My dad taught me how to shoot and he knew almost nothing about guns.
Grew up with crappy $50 scopes on my rifles but he had a Nikko Stirling Gold Crown 4x32 which seemed like the best scope ever.

After a few years started buying my own stuff, Simmons, Nikon, Burris, etc, but nothing worth much more than a few hundred dollars.
I spent a good 10 years playing around with rubbish scopes, didn't know the hight end stuff like S&B or Premier existed, knew about the NF NXS but that was out of my price range and a teenager.
I remember looking at buying a Bushnell ET 6-24x50 after reading the article on Snipercentral but couldn't afford it.

If only I had the options available now days, I coud've saved myself 10 years of shit scopes and just bought some of the lower end Athlon stuff, kids these days have it easy I tell you.
 
The first scope I really remember using as a kid was the Tasco 2-7 that came on the Marlin Model 60 that my dad got for me. Back then though I mostly just shot .22's or shotguns, I didn't really get into scoped rifles until my late teens.

I miss some of the options that we had available back in the day. Bushnell's 3200 10X was a damn fine scope for the money with a hella amount of travel and pretty good glass. MidwayUSA had an exclusive version for a few years that was mil/mil, I wish I'd picked one up.
 
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yeah I'm old
 
had a daisy model 98 with a cheap ass scope but it was all mine lol . I'd never forget that Christmas I had a blast shooting snowballs and fence posts tin cans tree branches I was hunting wabbits .
 
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Simmons whitetail was the pinnacle for me. Still had it on my 25-06 until 2 years ago simply because I knew exactly where it would hit without any adjustment, hold over dots, etc- cause there aren't any. But it was dead nuts on till the day I took it off. Like said before, a cheap argos would have blown all our minds 20 years ago.
 
I never owned a scope until my eyes started changing when I hit 40 back in 2017. I don't really like them much for hunting, I almost always feel like I have the wrong one on the wrong gun. When shooting at paper its always the same story; the first group will be decent but my eyes get tired and watery much after that. I can extend my shooting time by keeping both eyes open but that is just a different kind of fatigue. My new personal best is a 5.5 inch group at 400 yards with a 4x redfield on a .223 Remington 722 (rebarreled) with bottom tier Federal Frontier ammo. I'd rather be out in the field.
 
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I had a Tasco World Class 3-9x40 that came on top of my Remington 700 ADL in 7mm that my dad bought me for my birthday a long time ago. Kept in on there for years because I didn’t know any better and it held zero.

I had a Simmons 8-Point 3-9x40 that came on a H&R .243, which was the first rifle I ever bought.

I still have both the rifles and the scopes, but the scopes came off years ago and are now sitting in a box.
 
First center fire, 3rd scope.
Savage 110 GNS (no factory sights and had a welded on Weaver type base) in 7mm-08 and a 3-9X Tasco World Class TV view scope.

I thought the scope had a wide field of view and later compared it to a regular 3-9 Tasco.
Found out that they just clipped off the view along the top and bottom...


I still have the rifle and scope. The scope sits in the safe along with the other unused optics.

My first two scopes were on a Crossman 766 and a Marlin model 60.
Both scopes were those little skinny bitches that you can buy now for like $8.00.
 
My first scope (19 so still a kid in 1990) was a Tasco World Class Plus 36x50. I think I paid $250-ish and had it on a Savage 110. I shot 2 vehicles with the rifle (funny story). I kinda miss that scope.
 
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Bushnell 4x on my first rifle, then after returning from Vietnam, I had a Redfield Widefield and another Redfield 3x9. Finally moved on to Leupold’s for the rifles. We used Burris 7X handgun scopes on our silhouette guns with a Luepold and Bushnell 2x6 thrown in. Finally, all of our rifles have been equipped with Leupold’s. None of the Luepolds have been bad, some have been outstanding.
 
Always had a decent rig as a young kid & forward (dad's) custom built Rem 700 BDL's -Leopold optics, Jewls triggers etc. When it came to hunting gear, dad bought decent SHIT. May have came home from school to no water, maybe no electric, empty fridge & occasionally the phone being disconnected but sumbitch had his priorities straight!! 🤣
 
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My grandmother worked at Sears, so my house was always full of Sears finest. I had a Sears 4x scope on a Crosman air rifle. My first 30-06 got a Redfield Widefield 3x-9x and still wears it to this day.
 
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Leupold VariX III 4.5-14 was on my 300WSM A-bolt, first deer rifle I got when I was 10. All my dad's rifles had some kind of Leupy Vari-X on it so that's what I ended up shooting the most until I got old enough and started buying my own stuff. Still have both the scope and rifle.
 
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My first scope was a 6x Redfield Widefield on an M77 250 savage. Traded it and $40 to one of my dads friends that owns a pawn shop for a Leupold M8 6x. Thought I had the best there was. My cheap Nikon buck master has far better clarity. But that rifle and scope are still together in my safe.
 
Back then, I thought my Simmons was a good scope.

Simmons were plentiful, but they weren’t considered cheap when I was a kid.
Honestly, in the 80’s, Simmons wasn’t a bad scope. Heck, even Bushnell low -mid range were often made in Japan. Now you cannot touch Japanese glass under $1200!

I used a Weaver K4 out to 350yds regularly back then I remember sighting in took a while to get the reticle to move and then settle down.

Now I’m considered a total optics snob in my hunting party with a Vortex pst gen2!
 
Circa 1980... Tasco 4X on a Crosman 760 pump. Circa 1985... then a Tasco 3-9 on a Diana 48 after saving up! Shot it so much with the reverse recoiling airgun that the glass blew out of it and I went back to iron sights.
 
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